Director Aditya Kripalani’s award-winning independent film Main Actor Nahin Hoon—starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Chitrangada Satarupa—has arrived on Amazon Prime Video India after a successful journey across the international festival circuit and theatrical releases.
Following Mouni (Chitrangada Satarupa), an actor in Mumbai, and Adnan Baig (Nawazuddin Siddiqui), a retired banker in Frankfurt, the film explores an intimate emotional exchange between two strangers during an online video call audition.
Comparing the film’s digital release to its previous theatrical runs, Kripalani highlighted the overwhelming volume of viewer engagement since streaming began. “The OTT response is very different because the theatrical response would have reached maybe 25,000 people, but the OTT response has already reached lakhs. It’s done 1.3 crore minutes in the first 13 days… The reach is much, much more, and people can write to you from anywhere, whereas the theatrical was dependent on which cities we were able to do it in.”
He added that transitioning across festival circuits, UK theatres, Indian cinemas, and streaming platforms provides a unique sense of fulfilment for an independent creator. “It feels very good, but I think it feels best when it’s on an OTT platform like Prime Video now because it can reach many more people. Very difficult to reach people otherwise. The biggest problem in filmmaking is to reach an audience.”
Shot simultaneously in Mumbai and Frankfurt over 28 days with actors performing live over video calls, the production presented unprecedented technical hurdles. “The logistical challenge was to be able to stream both camera feeds to my iPad in one location so I can see the frames constantly from both countries; that was the biggest logistical nightmare. And it worked. We had to go and do a recce to see which patches of road, rail, and tram have good network coverage throughout and then repeat all takes on that same patch.”
To help keep the project’s production viable, lead actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui opted not to charge a fee—a gesture Kripalani sees as a vital model for indie cinema. “Nawaz sahab not charging really helped the production because we could bring the film into a limited budget. That really helped. Otherwise, the budget becomes haywire, and then recovering the budget becomes very difficult. I think all people should learn from that and do that more because that keeps cinema cheaper and you can tell different stories. Otherwise you’re stuck to telling formulaic stories.”
Known for bold, intimate storytelling in works like Tikli and Laxmi Bomb and Not Today, Kripalani offered a candid view on the current climate for independent filmmakers. “It’s not easy to sustain independent filmmaking in India because it’s not a seller’s market anymore. It’s a buyer’s market, and it’s too lopsided… Independent filmmaking in India at this point is near impossible. It’s taken us three and a half years to get to this point after shooting the film.”
He also clarified the role distribution partners play in an indie film’s journey. “Platoon 1 and Reel In were distributors; their backing of the film has not helped the sale or anything like that. They see the film; if they think it’s a decent film, they take a cut and then generally take a fee. But it’s a distribution service. The rest of the entire marketing—every person going to a theatre is going there because you and your team are doing the marketing.”
Following the release of Main Actor Nahin Hoon, Aditya Kripalani is stepping into live theatre. “I am working on my first play. We are going to start casting for it soon.”
