How the pandemic made Chhichhore fame actor Tushar Pandey realise he “should do more on the web”

Many actors have pivoted to the digital medium in the recent past and actor Tushar Pandey has been no different. The Chhichhore (2019) fame actor says it was during the two years of pandemic he realised that one cannot just keep looking at big screen projects to get ahead in their career.

“It wasn’t fear that, ‘Oh, cinemas are not open so what is the point of taking up such projects’. I am weighing both of them equally in terms of reach to the audience. It (OTT) has given everyone like me a face. It is not easy to do solo lead for a cinema and expect the same amount of audience. For new age actors, OTTs have become a great platform to show audience our talent. Pandemic has been a reason behind my decision and also because I just want people to see more of me,” Pandey tells us.

The actor, who has starred in web projects such as Aashram and the recently released Homecoming, says his understanding of the streaming space has evolved in the last two years and he has become more receptive to it.

“My first web experience was with Aashram, till then my only understanding was films. I started understanding how fun it (OTT) is a medium for an actor. The amount of focus on characters is more than in a film. The number of scenes… that way experience is that OTT is a brilliant medium for an actor to dive in,” he adds.

But it wasn’t an easy call for him, as Pandey says after the massive success of his film Chhichhore, which released a year before the pandemic, he was not sure as to if doing OTT projects would dent his big screen prospects.

“It was very weird and it gave me the time to understand what kind of work I am looking for. Sometimes when you do something so big, it gets difficult to clear your mind and understand what you want out of it. That way it has been good. Last year I shot for a few projects on OTT which would come out this year,” he ends.