Millennial generation. Young, restless they are experimenting and innovating. And we look forward to a lot from this talented duo.
Amey has been the recipient of prestigious Vinod Doshi scholarship. A prolific actor, who has been an energetic force for television, theatre, films and is conducting interesting work for digital series.
Nipun Dharmadhikari, a Director, Actor & Producer, he has been featured in the Forbes magazine as a musical play revivalist and that is a huge recognition on a world-class level!
Amey & Nipun have been together since their college days and have collaborated on many projects for theatre and online digital series.
What excites you about today’s world of entertainment?
Amey – The fact that there are so many avenues open for a newcomer to be absorbed in the Industry is a very interesting phase we are looking at. Unlike in the past when struggle meant hardship and hand-to-mouth existence, currently with Television, Cinema, Theater, Digital content there are ample opportunities to enter into the industry. This is so encouraging for a newcomer. If you have that spark in you as an artist or the required skills as a technical person, the chances of you getting the work of your choice are huge. When we started “Casting Couch” as a web series, there was deterrent or barrier for us to begin that! We are being able to create content as we want and project what we feel.
Nipun – The flexibility to participate and perform in various mediums is exciting at this point in time. Look at the platforms available – Television, cinema, theatre, web & events! The fluidity to partake in these various mediums is exciting. This is essential for the growth of the entertainment industry on the whole. Since audiences for every medium are different, it is challenging to meet the requirements. A writer would need to approach a different style for say Web series and definitely a different approach for television series. The skill set is the same but the sensibility of each media is different and unique.
What is your Big dream Amey & Nipun?
Amey – I relish in Daydreaming. I do that constantly. It’s a new dream everyday, Its not like I think of the long future, what is of importance to me is the recent future. I dream of being able to produce the type of work I believe in. In the long-term, It would be terrific to create a Production setup and a Theatre platform on the lines of Prithvi theatres that is a boon for experimental theatre industry.
Nipun, – To be able to do that ONE movie that will be special and good and will become a benchmark and then carry on making good movies! On a serious note, my passion for concept and writing has made me come into this industry by choice and to become a Film maker of repute is what this journey is all about. The germ of a concept begins in the mind and then takes a form of its own. This is an interesting space of creative collaboration wherein people come together to create something beautiful and the synergy that takes place during the time is amazing.
I am a Storyteller and to create films is my dream.
Will Digital content be a game changer for the Marathi entertainment industry?
Amey – Too early to predict that Digital content will rule. It may disrupt the viewing patterns keeping in mind the conventional audience and the youth who are digitally connected. But to state that Digital entertainment shall become the prime focus may not happen that soon. When a new medium emerges, it is tempting to jump to conclusion and get carried away as it being “THE” medium of expression. Cinema is huge and that cannot be ignored. Cinema has its own challenges of being successful at the box office, piracy issues, and availability of viewing on the mobile handset and so on. But nevertheless, Cinema rules currently for classes and masses. There are players such as Bharati Digtial Party (BaDiPa) who are consciously making an effort to create good content for Digital media and it will percolate and have its own followership slowly. It is a process. The approach is professional with high quality of production values and that is the reason “Casting Couch” produced by BaDiPa is viewed on digital media with much enthusiasm.
Look at the competition around. Netflix who are big-time players are making forays into the digital world and are bound to get aggressive in their marketing approach. Casualness in thought and execution has no takers and this applies to Digital Content creation as well. We have entered into the digital world; let us see how it evolves.
Nipun – The future is Digital media. The pace at which changes are happening in technology is astounding. The pattern in which entertainment is consumed on mobile, laptops, PCs, television is very very interesting. It is getting more and more personalized and focused viewing and hence focused creation for niche audiences. It is being predicted that interactive television content will be the next big thing. Isn’t this in lines with individual preferences? There are certainly challenges in digital world but I do believe that in times to come, this will be one of the significant medias that shall emerge as a strong competition to conventional medias.
Innovation or stability..What excites you Amey?
Acting is all about risk taking and that is instability intrinsically. There are no set rules or norms in this industry. Having tasted success in television debut I could have stayed there for more stability since there was acceptance at the audience level but I consciously moved away not wanting to get comfortable and safe in that zone. Apart from Acting, I have was involved in various activities such as a Director at times during my days of theatre at college level, being backstage helper and so on, it is now clear to me that my strength and focus shall entirely be as an Actor and that is what I want to do.
“ ACTING IS MY KARMA”
What are the emerging trends that you foresee for the Marathi entertainment industry?
Amey – What we are currently witnessing is dearth of experimentation in the Television content. It is the same formulaic content that is being produced and which is certainly not entertaining.
What we are witnessing is the box office failures of Marathi cinema’s wherein only one single player is generating Hits and the rest in spite of being decent in content are finding success elusive.
It seems to me that even though we have made progress in production values and so on..it is yet a long time for us to stand firmly on our feet as a Rock solid entertainment industry. But the encouraging and positive aspect is that in spite of being knocked down, we are still standing
Nipun – I have stated this earlier in my answer and reiterating it again. Web content shall certainly emerge as a strong entertainment source. There are fewer constraints here to work on and the creative process is supreme with excellent writers and actors participating in the creation. No hassles of distribution! It can be viewed by the entire world!
With the world getting more connected and with the youth being more mobile and travelling all over, exposure to different cultures and acceptability to new movies of the world is happening. Their idols are world level and their thought process is global. The exciting result of this is that new concepts can be created in the cinema which shall be viewed by the fresh audiences.
Television has the highest mass penetration and the biggest audience numbers. Change there too is evolving. We are looking at channels accepting and trying out limited series concepts and that is working wonderfully.
Theatre and especially Marathi theatre is revered and the high that the audiences experience and the actors experience cannot be described in worlds. Inspire of the tremendous hard work at physical level that the entire production crew and actors need to undergo since it requires performances at different cities, theatre gives lot of scope of experimentation and will continue to thrill the audiences.
Recent Comments