Shreyas Talpade: Surprised that our subscribers are in the 18-45 age group

Shreyas Talpade 45The theatrefilm actor launched Nine Rasa on April 9 which has 100plus hours of content including plays in regional languagesIf education to shopping to movies can move online why not theatre It was this idea coupled with his urge to help the theatre community that prompted Shreyas Talpade to launch Nine Rasa earlier this year The OTT platform dedicated to the performing arts features 100plus hours of content that includes long plays oneact plays short skits solos poetry story readings and musicalsldquoHad it not been for the pandemic I would have never thought of doing something like this I wanted to help in any way I couldrdquo begins Talpade When the lockdown brought the curtain down on the theatre world in March 2020 rendering many unemployed the actor joined forces with several theatre groups to discuss the possibility of an online platform A conversation with cousin Rajesh Kutti mdash who owns the IT firm Probox mdash set the plan into motion as far as the technical aspect was concernedTalpade was confident about handling the creative responsibilities of the job mdash after all as an actor who had been an integral part of Marathi theatre working with Chandralekha Theatre company he knew more than a thing or two about plays He began commissioning projects and by November 2020 had created jobs for ldquoalmost 1500 people This included actors directors writers light and makeup dadas A lot of people thanked us saying that they could celebrate Diwali because of the jobs provided by usrdquo he recountsOn April 9 2021 after months of generating content and building a robust library the platform went live The months since have been an exhilarating ride each day bringing a new challenge or surprise His biggest lesson so far The youth is more interested in the arts than he gave them credit for ldquoWe were surprised to see that majority of the subscribers are in the age group of 18 to 45 years When we launched the platform we assumed the 45plus age group would be our target audience But the data shows that the ground reality is opposite It makes us believe this has potentialrdquoCurrently Nine Rasa mdash which is available at Rs 59 a month and Rs 599 a year mdash includes stage hits such as Aye Ladki Hindi Atithi Devo Bhawa Marathi and Pause GujaratiTalpade now heading a team of 20odd people intends to expand its reach by featuring regional content ldquoThe content creators can be in any part of the world All they have to do is send the script across If we greenlight it they can shoot it and wersquoll put it up on our platform Ninetyfive per cent of the content that we have is exclusive Renowned artistes like Vijay Kenkre and Rasika Agashe are creating Marathi and Hindi plays for usrdquoWith the first phase of the launch becoming successful the Iqbal actor is working on enabling livestreaming of plays in the coming months The creative satisfaction aside he hopes to empower theatre artistes through the initiative ldquoHad there been enough money and exposure of my craft I wouldnrsquot have shifted from theatre Through this if we are able to generate regular income for the artistes there are crores of actors who will dedicate themselves to theatrerdquo