Nawazuddin Siddiqui Expresses His Disappointment In Streaming Platforms: Shuruat Passion Se Hoti Hai, Fir Dhandha Ban Jata Hai

Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos was recently slammed by filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, after he said that he should have launched Netlix in India with something "more populist" than Sacred Games in 2018. For the unversed, Sacred Games, starring Saif Ali Khan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui, was the first Indian original of the streaming giant.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui expressed disappointment in the Indian streaming platforms. He said after Sacred Games season 2, he has done over half a dozen films across OTT platforms like Netflix India, Prime Video India, and ZEE5.

"Irrespective of any platform or any process, it starts out as great and then turns into a market. Baazar toh ban hi gaya hai. Studios in India keep saying we need ‘commercial’ qualities attached to every project. I don’t agree with that. If the product is of a certain quality, then the commercial aspect eventually gets attached to it organically," Siddiqui told SCREEN.

He added, "If you keep giving so much importance to the commercial aspects in art, then it’ll cause a lot of damage. Toh yehi hua hai, over a period of time, shuruat bahut passion se hoti hai, fir uska dhandha ban jata hai (That’s what’s happened, they start off with a lot of passion, then they just turn it into a business)."

Earlier, in an interview with Puja Talwar on her YouTube channel, Siddiqui called out Bollywood for its formulaic content and copying content from South films. "In our industry, the same thing is repeated for five years straight - then, when people get bored, they finally let it go. Actually insecurity bohut badh gayi hai. Unko lagta hai ek formula chal raha hai toh usse chala lo, ghiso isko. Aur usse bhi pathetic yeh hogaya ki yeh 2, 3, 4 (sequels) hone lag gaya. (Actually, insecurity has increased a lot. They feel that if a formula is working, they should keep milking it, overdo it. And what's even more pathetic is that now there are 2, 3, 4 sequels being made)," he said.

Anurag Kashyap had also earlier told The Hindu that he wanted to stay away from film people as the industry "has become too toxic". "Everyone is chasing unrealistic targets, trying to make the next Rs 500 or Rs 800 crore film," he said.