Gurmeet Singh Talks About How Inside Edge Was an Eye-Opener
On the Filmy Charcha podcast, Mirzapur director Gurmeet Singh shares how Inside Edge introduced him to the OTT space.
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Before finding his niche with Mirzapur, Gurmeet Singh had worked on Inside Edge, a trailblazing series set to bring him national acclaim.
On The Filmy Charcha Podcast, Singh was heard talking about how an opportunity to work on Inside Edge came his way just when he needed it most.
It was at a time when the director's next feature film wasn't clicking.
Gurmeet attributed his foray into the world of over-the-top streaming to a visionary filmmaker Karan Anshuman, who saw potential in a new genre and encouraged him to make a show for the medium.
Gurmeet attributed his foray into the world of over-the-top streaming to a visionary filmmaker Karan Anshuman, who saw potential in a new genre and encouraged him to make a show for the medium.
Back then, the concept of binge-watching was alien, and India's established stars and popular faces didn't know what to make of it.
But Excel Entertainment saw promise in the idea and was willing to take a chance, giving Singh an important lesson in OTT.
Inside Edge Gives New Insights
Inside Edge was Prime Video's first ever Indian original, and its creators had to go full-length to understand how groundbreaking it was to make.
At the time, there was next to no knowledge about the commercial viability of the medium.
However, for Singh, the experience taught him to look out for opportunities in ambiguity.
It is through the advent of OTT that long-drawn television serials and their shallow characterisations have found a new home.
For someone like Singh, such a prospect opened up a new avenue to make films that involved building a universe around a particular set of characters.
Like he said himself, the experience was seminal in his creation of Mirzapur, which also involved building a sprawling fictional town and complicated family drama.
From Smartphones to Screens
On the podcast, Singh also spoke about how people's relationship with screens has evolved to adapt to the new mode of watching.
In one of the many entertaining anecdotes from the podcast, he spoke about veteran actor Kulbhushan Kharbanda's bewilderment at making a show that would not go on the TV or theatres but on phones.
It is a far cry from where the medium is today, with established shows looking to make their way to theatres.
Singh's journey from Inside Edge to Mirzapur, therefore, serves as an important lesson in the evolving nature of entertainment in modern India.
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