Swapnil Joshi: I hope 2022 is better than the roller coaster that 2021 was

Like everyone, Swapnil Joshi too had his share of highs and lows. In a chat with us, Swapnil spoke about the year gone by, his expectations from 2022 and why OTT is not a replacement for cinemas or TV. Excerpts:
This was full of ups and downs for everyone. How was the year for you?
Personally, I went through the same things as everyone else – anxiety, lows – because the future was uncertain.Already a year had gone by since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and no one knew what else would be in store. The year was extremely tiring, hectic and unnerving. My kids are 5 and 3 years old; we couldn’t explain to them what was happening, why there was a lockdown, why they couldn’t go down to play. The good thing was that all of us at home stayed healthy. Plus, I got time to bond with the kids because I was home. That was the silver lining for me. Professionally, it was very different. MX Player’s Samantar 2 became a hit, I was also doing Chala Hawa Yeu Dya, then Bali
released. I think barring being on stage, I did everything else this year. To sum up, I think 2021 was a roller coaster filled with mixed emotions.

You were among the Marathi stars that ventured into the OTT space and got widespread recognition. But as a consumer of the space, what did it bring to the table?
The OTT space was definitely going to be dominant in a few years, but the pandemic sped up the process as everyone started consuming content at home. Global avenues opened and viewers, including me, got a variety of content to choose from. For makers, it opened a treasure trove. There were stories that were not fit for the traditional platforms; they couldn’t be turned into TV serials that went on for 600-700 episodes, nor could they be adapted into plays or movies. OTT platforms gave ample scope and freedom for such stories to be turned into web shows.
There’s talk about people not wanting to go to cinemas anymore because everything is available at home. Do you agree?
I don’t agree with this. Back when India witnessed the TV boom too, people had said the same thing – that TV will eat into the cinema business – but that didn’t happen. It’s not an OTT v/s cinema or OTT v/s TV battle. OTT, cinemas and TV will co-exist because each has a charm of their own.

With so much content available digitally, lines between regional cinema and mainstream Bollywood have blurred. At the same time, there’s talk about the need of censorship in the online space. Your take?
The line has started blurring, and it’s blurring very fast. In another five years, there’s not going to be regional and mainstream content – it'll just be good and not-so-good content. As for censorship, I pray and hope that it stays away from OTT platforms, because that will just take away from the originality in storytelling. Having said that, keeping censorship at bay is an equal responsibility of the makers and some aren’t taking it seriously. See, if abusive language and bold scenes, or frontal nudity for that matter, are absolutely necessary to take your story forward, it’s fine to include these. But if these are just gimmicks to grab eyeballs, then it serves no purpose and is bound to create issues. I feel self-censorship is important for makers, as well as the discerning viewers.
2022 is round the corner. What are your expectations from the year to come?
I hope we say goodbye to the COVID-19 pandemic. Things have slowly started getting back to normal and no one needs another disruption. But there’s always the hanging sword of new variants and spike in cases which I genuinely pray we bid adieu to in 2022 at least. On the work front, two films that I had shot earlier will be released. I will start working on two web series, and I want to do either a play or a limited-episode serial on TV. I have turned entrepreneur and my new venture will launch soon. Let’s see how things shape up and what 2022 has in store.