Gulshan Devaiah: "I don't have the pressure of the sword of the box office collection hanging on my head"

The emergence of streaming platforms has sparked the era of storytellers in the industry with the willingness to express and explore narratives that mirror reality. While content has evolved owing to digital exposure, the easy accessibility and anonymity have led to audiences expressing their unfiltered opinions. Individuals are no longer afraid to use the media to express their views. And today, these views/opinions can be seen making or breaking industries and individuals, including Bollywood. But do these opinions take away from the growth of storytelling in the industry? The actor par excellence, Gulshan Devaiah shares his thoughts.

Gulshan Devaiah, who has been the favorite of all critics with his performance in MX Player’s recently released show Shiksha Mandal, said, “I've always said that with OTT platforms, there is more work for everybody now. It is empowering to storytellers. It is a little different from the cinema business model and liberating in many ways. I don't have the pressure of the sword of the box office collection hanging on my head, but I have other smaller daggers that are hanging. That being said, I feel people have so much outrage in them and they waste it on things like Bollywood. I think they should direct it to scams, as these matters have not been solved yet and make it relevant. When people exploit loopholes, it's not fair on all of those who work and study hard.”

Shiksha Mandal also features Gauahar Khan and Pavan Raj Malhotra in pivotal roles. With a socially relevant premise and equally talented cast, the series reveals corruption, fraud, cheating and criminal conspiracy that affects vulnerable students in India. The show is currently streaming on MX Player.

MX Media

MX Media has built the largest digital entertainment ecosystem in India with 1Bn+ app downloads on Android, 300Mn MAUs globally and 200,000 hours of content across 10 languages. MX Media includes MX Player - India’s #1 OTT, as well as MX Games, MX Music and more. MX Player offers a critically acclaimed slate of MX Original/ Exclusives, movies, web series, TV shows and news. The app is available across Android, iOS, Web, Amazon Fire TV Stick, Android TV and OnePlus TV amongst others.

About MX Player

MX Player is India’s largest growing OTT platform today with a large and diverse audience base in India as well as a global reach of 17+ markets including UAE, US, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Nepal, Afghanistan, Srilanka and Maldives amongst others. It currently operates on an ad supported model and with a keen understanding of the pulse of the audience, it has recently had several record-breaking shows across genres like Bhaukaal, Aashram, Matsya Kaand, High, Samantar and Campus Diaries. It is also the only OTT platform to deploy H.266 technology that cuts down video streaming data consumption into half. According to the App Annie State of Mobile Report 2022 - MX Player ranks #2 in India and at #6 Worldwide in terms of the Downloads in Video Streaming.