mid-day's 42nd anniversary: Surprised that our subscribers are in the 18-45 age group, says Shreyas Talpade

Shreyas Talpade

Shreyas Talpade, 45

The theatre-film actor launched Nine Rasa on April 9, which has 100-plus hours of content, including plays in regional languages

If education to shopping to movies can move online, why not theatre? It was this idea, coupled with his urge to help the theatre community, that prompted Shreyas Talpade to launch Nine Rasa earlier this year. The OTT platform, dedicated to the performing arts, features 100-plus hours of content that includes long plays, one-act plays, short skits, solos, poetry, story readings, and musicals.

"Had it not been for the pandemic, I would have never thought of doing something like this. I wanted to help [in any way I could]," begins Talpade. When the lockdown brought the curtain down on the theatre world in March 2020, rendering many unemployed, the actor joined forces with several theatre groups to discuss the possibility of an online platform. A conversation with cousin Rajesh Kutti - who owns the IT firm, Probox - set the plan into motion as far as the technical aspect was concerned.

Talpade was confident about handling the creative responsibilities of the job - after all, as an actor who had been an integral part of Marathi theatre, working with Chandralekha Theatre company, he knew more than a thing or two about plays. He began commissioning projects, and by November 2020, had created jobs for "almost 1,500 people. This included actors, directors, writers, light and make-up dadas. A lot of people thanked us, saying that they could celebrate Diwali because of the jobs provided by us," he recounts.

On April 9, 2021, after months of generating content and building a robust library, the platform went live. The months since have been an exhilarating ride, each day bringing a new challenge or surprise. His biggest lesson so far: The youth is more interested in the arts than he gave them credit for. "We were surprised to see that majority of the subscribers are in the age group of 18 to 45 years. When we launched the platform, we assumed the 45-plus age group would be our target audience. But the data shows that [the ground reality] is opposite. It makes us believe this has potential."

Currently, Nine Rasa - which is available at Rs 59 a month and Rs 599 a year - includes stage hits such as Aye Ladki (Hindi), Atithi Devo Bhawa (Marathi), and Pause (Gujarati).

Talpade, now heading a team of 20-odd people, intends to expand its reach by featuring regional content. "The content creators can be in any part of the world. All they have to do is send the script across. If we greenlight it, they can shoot it and we'll put it up on our platform. Ninety-five per cent of the content that we have is exclusive. Renowned artistes like Vijay Kenkre and Rasika Agashe are creating Marathi and Hindi plays for us."

With the first phase of the launch becoming successful, the Iqbal actor is working on enabling live-streaming of plays in the coming months.

The creative satisfaction aside, he hopes to empower theatre artistes through the initiative. "Had there been enough money and exposure of my craft, I wouldn't have shifted from theatre. Through this, if we are able to generate regular income for [the artistes], there are crores of actors who will dedicate themselves to theatre."