Why Nawazuddin Siddiqui Is Quitting Shows For OTT Platforms

"The platform has become a dumping ground for redundant shows," said Nawazuddin Siddiqui

Bollywood superstar Nawazuddin Siddiqui said he will stop working in productions made for India's booming streaming market, calling online platforms a "dumping ground for redundant shows." India's population of 1.3 billion people has attracted streaming giants Netflix, Amazon's Prime Video and Disney's Hotstar, all keen to tap into a vast and fast-growing market. Nawazuddin Siddiqui, a celebrated film actor, starred in Netflix's first Indian original series Sacred Games, released in 2018 to international acclaim.

But the 47-year-old told entertainment site Bollywood Hungama in an interview published on the weekend that "quantity has killed quality" on the so-called over-the-top (OTT) web platforms. "The platform has become a dumping ground for redundant shows. We either have shows that don't deserve to be seen in the first place. Or sequels to shows that have nothing more to say," he said.

"It's become "dhanda" (Hindi for racket) for big production houses and actors... Major film producers in Bollywood have cut lucrative deals with all the big players in the OTT field. Producers get whopping amounts to create unlimited content."

He added that the "excitement and challenge around the digital medium" that he experienced while working on "Sacred Games" was gone. "When I can't bear to watch them how can I bear to be in them?" he added.