One of the first Bollywood stars to have explored digital medium, the actor is glad the film had a direct-to-web release, thus reaching a wide audience. “Theatres can never give us the reach that the web gives us. OTT is a democratic platform. There is a monopoly on theatres. Good films often don’t get adequate screens. In such cases, you can’t decide a film’s fate basis its box-office run. In contrast, even if a terrible movie is released in 5,000 screens, it ends up making R20 crore at least.”

He feels that the OTT boom has brought about a much-needed shift in perception of films and given actors a level-playing field. “This year has proved that a film’s [commercial] success depends on the number of shows in cinemas. One can manipulate the number of screens in theatres, but not on OTT. No matter how big a superstar you are, you will get the same set of audience [as any other actor] in digital entertainment.”

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Did you know?

During his struggling days, Siddiqui had tried to unsuccessfully land a role in Sudhir Mishra’s Calcutta Mail (2003).

Cast your vote for the Hitlist OTT Awards

Nawazuddin Siddiqui has been nominated in the Best Actor (Male): Film category for Serious Men. The other nominees are:  
  
. Adil Hussain: Pareeksha (ZEE5)
. Amitabh Bachchan: Gulabo Sitabo (Amazon Prime Video)
. Anil Kapoor: AK vs AK (Netflix)
. Kunal Kemmu: Lootcase (Disney+Hotstar)
. Vikrant Massey: Cargo (Netflix)

Log on to www.hitlistottawards.com to cast your vote.

You can also vote via SMS. Send HITLIST <space> category name <space> your choice (a/b/c as on the website) to 57575.

Voting lines close on February 9.