OTT has democratised the playing field: Actor Roshan Mathew

ott has democratised the playing field: actor roshan mathew

As an actor who is relatively new, how do you feel about the headway that you’ve made so far?

I’m actually not somebody who does a lot of looking back very often. I sort of believe in going with the flow, and that is basically what inspires me as well.

I always have a list of people in mind, and I think I’ve told you this before — during one of the earlier times we spoke. I always have a list of people in mind with whom I want to work, whom I wish to work with. The leverage to work on this list keeps growing because every new filmmaker that inspires you, so it’s always going to point in that direction forward. Looking back, I do, maybe that’ll happen when a few more years pass. And, you know, I don’t know, maybe when the distance traveled has been long enough that it deserves a look back. As of now, I’m just looking forward.

I noticed you first in Anurag Kashyap’s film then the Malayalam film Moothon…those were high standards that karma set for you.Do you feel the opportunities for an actor have expanded on the OTT platform?

Yes, I think the emergence of OTT platforms has provided a stage for actors of all ages, ethnicities, shapes, and sizes, and people who speak all languages.

It has democratised the playing field. It’s good to see how it’s now a fair playing field. So, all our projects, no matter how big our star status or how relatively unknown we are as actors, end up on these platforms. It’s fully up to the audience to watch what they feel like watching.

There isn’t one deliberately given more of a spotlight than others. So, I think democratisation has happened in terms of the reach that projects have, and then it’s really up to the audience and what they want to watch. So, that creates opportunities for actors.

Use the time to focus on the content or how you can make your project unique, stand out, fresh, or different from the rest. It doesn’t matter. It’s just a way to flex, people looking for the right tact for the findings, rather than the most bankable actor.

You play a guy deeply devoted to ecological balance in your just released webseries? How much of a Nature lover are you in real life?

I am very much a nature lover. I need nature; I need greenery around me to be able to breathe, to anchor myself. Also, the fact that I’m from Kerala helps.

The house where I grew up, where I spent most of my childhood, is at a place called Changanassery in Kerala.

When I was growing up, it was a house filled with basically a rubber estate, so it was filled with trees all around. My dad is an aquaculture graduate, and he’s always been interested in plants. We’ve always had a thick, lush garden at home, and even today, I am in Kochi right now.

How important do you feel is it for an actor to do the cinema that he or she believes in?I think it’s very important that you genuinely believe in because the sort of inspiration and motivation that comes from working on a project that you genuinely believe in is irreplaceable.

You can generate motivation; you can try to inspire yourself, and it will be part of the job when you work on projects. But it’s just so much more organic, easy, and beautiful when it happens by itself, and that always seems to happen by itself when you genuinely believe in the work that you’re doing or what the project is about, or trying to achieve the condition it’s trying to set.

Out of curiosity, you play a herpetologist in your latest web series… Do you like snakes?I have actually been scared of snakes for pretty much all my life. I also grew up in a house where snakes were pretty common around us. It wasn’t a very rare sight to come by. I’ve always been very scared of snakes except when I went to do my bachelor’s degree. I had a friend who was a photographer, and the campus had variety of birds and some animals and some snakes.

So, this guy used to hold snakes and he really loved them. I think a little bit of that slowly started brushing up on me. And the fear factor slowly started going away. And obviously, being a part of that web series helped. So I don’t think I’m unnecessarily afraid of them right now.

Your choices so far have been quite eclectic…have you signed anything in Hindi after Darlings?

Yes, I have actually signed and shot for two more projects. One is a film introduced by Junglee with Janhvi Kapoor, me and Gulshan Devaiah it’s called Ulajh Ja as of now.

The second is a series and an original for Sony Liv directed by Chandan Arora. I am very excited and looking forward to both these projects. Apart from the two Hindi projects, I have a film waiting to be released in Malayalam. It’s a very sweet love story. And there is a movie that I’m excited about that will be coming in a month or so.