Bollywood goes digital as celebs explore web format

The influx of good content in digital space has already lured Hollywod biggies and now Bollywood stars have started embracing the trend with names like Shah Rukh Khan, Saif Ali Khan and Rajkummar Rao exploring the medium.
While Shah Rukh's production house Red Chillies Entertainment and streaming giant Netflix are working on a series based on the book, "Bard of Blood", penned by Indian author Bilal Siddiqi, Saif would be making his debut in the space with original series titled "Sacred Games".
The web series directed by Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane, is based on the critically acclaimed novel of the same name by Indian author Vikram Chandra.

The series produced in partnership with Phantom Films, is set in Mumbai, and it touches upon the world of crime, corruption, politics and espionage that lie beneath India's economic renaissance.
Rao, made his foray into the medium with "Bose Dead/ Alive". The actor, who had a great year on the big screen, played Subash Chandra Bose in the series by Ekta Kapoor's ALT Balaji.
"The digital medium is the future and I am glad to be part of this new revolution. This is the platform where filmmakers will be telling their stories on, in future.

"It is a new medium. Your material is there for posterity and is not subjected to the weekend game or the Monday test or all the parameters that the box office has created, " Hansal Mehta, creative producer of "Bose Dead/ Alive" told PTI.

Another actor who was seen in a ALT Balaji original series was Nimrat Kaur. She starred in the web series "The Test Case".
This year, Amazon Prime Video released their first Indian original series in collaboration with Farhan AKhtar's Excel Entertainment.
Titled "Inside Edge", the series marked the web debut of actors Richa Chaddha and Vivek Oberoi.
"Baahubali" star Rana made his debut in the space with fictional web series "Social".
In the coming year, director Kabir Khan will be making his debut in the online arena, with digital original series titled "The Forgotten Army".
The project is based on Subhash Chandra Bose's Indian National Army and the director has already started shooting for the project.

"Till now we were consuming audience with international series like 'Game of Thrones', etc. The moment we start making it in our language Hindi in that scale, I am hopeful it will be consumed here as well. It is the future. I decided to jump into it as it is the future..." Kabir said.
Veteran actor Anupam Kher is also producing a web series based on the India-Pakistan War of 1971.