Barkha Bisht Sengupta opens up on playing Begum Anar and the booming OTT space!

MUMBAI: ‘Mukhbir: The Story of a Spy’ on ZEE5 has been in the news for it’s gripping storyline and stellar performances. Recently while catching up withBarkha Bisht Sengupta, the actress expressed her thoughts on success of the series and social media,“I do believe that social media has gotten a little overbearing, it's just become a space where anybody says and reacts in any way that they want to, because they feel it's their right to do so. But I think I'm wiser than being affected by all this. I'm smarter than that. I understand that it's social media, it's just a very small space in my life. So, no I do not get bothered by things. I think it's just that sometimes people are frustrated, and they want to vent out at certain things, sometimes people just want to have an opinion because they want to, sometimes people just want to feel important, so a lot of that I just ignore. There's also a lot of love that we get on social media, we get a lot of validation and appreciation. I think I'd rather focus on that and let it be. Having said that, I don't let that get to me either, so like I said, it is just opinions of people and loads of people. So, there's really not much that you can do about it. Yes, I am very much a part of social media, but it does not affect me”When asked in  hindsightabout her future projects, Begum Anar said, “I am suddenly on a couple of OTT platforms, ZEE5 definitely being one of them. I think somebody at ZEE5 loves me (laughs). I'm really glad that I’ve done two shows for ZEE5. I think the web space is a wonderful space for actors to be in right now. I have been doing television for the longest time and I've just kind of gotten out of that space, not like I intended to, it just happened with once when the lockdown happened and post that it just kind of automatically got me on to doing other things. And yes, OTT was one space that I really wanted to explore, primarily because of its content. It has amazing and different content. You can play different characters for a short time and move on, unlike television where you are doing relatively similar content and characters for a very long time. So as much as I love doing TV and I have loved doing TV for so many years, I think the web space is something to watch out for. It is the future of entertainment. Everything is moving on to the web. Everybody is watching shows on the go, on their phones, iPads, laptops. I think that is definitely the future. I just think it's created this wonderful space for actors where we can challenge ourselves as actors, play roles that are different and extremely challenging for us as actors that bring out more in us, make us push our boundaries and that I think it is one of the most wonderful things that can happen to an actor. So, I'm extremely happy about the web space. OTT space has also evolved a lot, it started with the aim to create something different. A lot of makers wanted to get more creative with the space because it allowed them to do that, but it has definitely evolved because when I see some of the shows now, some of the content that we have now, in terms of scripts, performances and actors, there are so many people that I’m watching and I'm like, ‘Wow! Where did these people come from?’. So, it's really evolved, and it is still evolving. I think it's done really well and I'm hoping that this continues because I love working here and we are only evolving with each show, with each passing year we are creating more and more good stuff”Since the premise of the espionage spy thriller is inspired from the India-Pakistan scenario the actress concluded, “I am not a very political person honestly; I just wish peace for both the countries”