DIANA FERNANDES
Bollywood superstar Saif Ali Khan who played the role of Sartaj Singh in ‘Sacred Games’ one of the most popular series on Netflix, believes that streaming has been very liberating for actors and filmmakers.
Khan was speaking at a discussion with Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos at the four-day World Audio Visual and Entertainment Summit (WAVES) held recently at the Jio World Centre, Mumbai.
“Earlier, we had to conform to rigid formats. Streaming has liberated actors and filmmakers from those constraints. Now, people across the globe can watch our stories, which they might have missed in traditional
cinema,” he said.
Elaborating on the democratisation of filmmaking in India, he said, “Audiences can access diverse stories anytime, and creators have more freedom to tell them. It’s a continuous cycle of watching and making.”
Addressing the co-existence of cinema and streaming, Sarandos said, “Cinemas are not outdated. Streaming and theatres are not competitors. They can move ahead co-existing each other as the market before us is huge.”
Saif echoed the sentiment, adding that the most meaningful projects for him are those rooted in Indian culture. “If someone abroad asks me about my films, I talk about ‘Omkaara’ or ‘Parineeta’ — films deeply connected to our culture. There’s something incredibly thrilling about telling our own stories to the world,” he said.
Both Sarandos and Saif praised WAVES as a platform that amplifies the creative synergy between global and Indian storytellers. “If the ideas presented here work, they’ll succeed beyond imagination. WAVES is a fantastic platform for that momentum,”
said Sarandos.
