From the moment web-series took off say six-seven years ago with the House of Cards, it has been very exciting. For me, it was a new way of telling stories because somewhere being a film critic you end up watching too many films and they all start looking the same. In those two hours there are only that many things happening with the characters and so it becomes a bit predictable.
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I found the two-hour format limiting. Making web-series was very fresh, a whole new way of telling stories. The characters don’t have to end in a certain manner, they don’t have to follow a set up like ‘crisis, climax and resolution’. It was almost like books because it has so many ways of telling a story. Plus there is so much pressures that comes with cinema that it was very constricting. What was also difficult was the casting because a lot of actors didn’t want to take up the roles at that time. With Mirzapur, it was totally different as I could pick who I wanted to, plus I was spoilt for choice in terms of actors.
It also takes a lot of time commitment but for me it’s a lot of fun. With films you might have one writer and it would get lonely but here, you are working with five writers hunting for the best ideas hence, there is a whole different way of doing things here. Mirzapur had three directors and we were doing our own bits. If you are doing things all by yourself it’s overwhelming and it also drains you. Web-series are just three times a film!