That sweet spot between TV and OTT

A still from POW: Bandi Yuddh Ke

In 2016, Nikkhil Advani had created POW: Bandi Yuddh Ke, a thriller that had international sensibilities but was designed for the television audience. Today, it is being cited as a prime example across writers' rooms as OTT players are moving towards TV-plus. Many streamers hope to increase their audience base by adopting the TV-plus model, which will blend the mass appeal of telly shows and quality storytelling of web series. Advani, whose Mumbai Diaries 2 recently dropped online, views TV-plus as a great way forward. "All platforms have roughly 20 million subscribers [in India]. The viewer base of Disney+ Hotstar is higher because of the Indian Premier League. If you want to move to a wider audience, you'll need to go down the zone of what TV has been doing."

Advani points to POW, a slick espionage thriller that was adapted from Israeli show Hatufim. At the same time, the show explored desi themes that were expected to resonate with viewers. "We had a single mother in Sandhya Mridul's character. We spoke about a young bride and her desires. These are all TV characters, but the idea was to bring something new. The attempt with Mumbai Diaries and Rocket Boys was similar. I don't like how people see TV-plus as poison. We need to bring the larger audience to us. Otherwise, we'll continue speaking only to 20 million subscribers."

But in chasing quantity, would quality not be compromised? "It will [be affected]. But I am more excited to reach out to a larger audience. Plus, we get the scale of the show we want to make. Quality may be curtailed, but that's where we have to keep the balance as storytellers."