Throughout the area of every week, Dulquer Salmaan would have made appearances on each our laptops in addition to the large display screen. His maiden internet collection, Weapons & Gulaabs, drops on-line tomorrow, adopted by the Malayalam film, King of Kotha, subsequent Friday. To him, the truth that the 2 distinct tales are reaching audiences by way of completely different platforms exhibits that now is an efficient time for content material. “Wherever there may be nice content material and no matter alternatives we get as actors, we’ll seize them,” he smiles.
It’s this ardour to inform unheard tales that introduced him to Weapons & Gulaabs, additionally that includes Rajkummar Rao, Gulshan Devaiah and Adarsh Gourav. The Netflix providing marks his OTT debut, however to Salmaan, the medium is secondary. What primarily issues is whether or not the story resonates with him. Raj-DK’s quirky crime comedy, set within the fictional city of Gulaabganj, delivered in that regard. “You don’t take a look at which medium these tales are being performed out on. You’d quite do nice work than assume, ‘Oh, that is internet. I’ll look ahead to a theatrical providing.’ Weapons & Gulaabs was a straightforward option to make due to how its world seemed and the way the characters have been. It stood out from all of the [offers] I used to be getting. We’ve got had many severe collection, however this was a clutter-breaker. I used to be the final one to come back on board. I needed to expertise Raj-DK’s world. Additionally, I had been curious to see how long-format storytelling labored,” he says.
However each shift brings with it execs and cons. As a lot as Salmaan is thrilled about unconventional tales getting their second within the solar, due to digital leisure, he worries in regards to the demarcation of movies. “I really feel dangerous in regards to the labelling [of movies]. Typically when a movie doesn’t discover acceptance in theatres, folks say, ‘This was an OTT movie.’ When a movie turns into large on-line, the chatter is, ‘This could have been launched in theatres.’ Who decides that? I’m hoping we will proceed to attract audiences to theatres. Some [middle-of-the-road] movies want encouragement [by way of footfall, otherwise] there may come a time after they gained’t get made. All types of movies should get made. Perhaps we’ll attain a time the place OTT [platforms] could have solely exhibits, and movies will likely be largely [meant for] theatres.”