MUMBAI: Filmmaker Ali Abbas Zafar says his upcoming Amazon Prime Video series "Tandav" gave him the much-needed break from box-office pressure and made him more fearless creatively.
Created and directed by Zafar, the nine-part political drama features an ensemble cast headlined by Saif Ali Khan, Dimple Kapadia, Tigmanshu Dhulia and Kumud Mishra Zafar is known for helming big-scale Salman Khan blockbusters, including "Sultan", "Tiger Zinda Hai" and "Bharat".
The director said with "Tandav", which marks his digital debut, he sensed a liberation, which the big screen could never offer him.
"Web is a very liberating space for any filmmaker or storyteller. When you make a film for cinema, you have to tell a story in two hours. Their box office decides whether you have made a good or a bad film."
"You are more fearless when you work on web and you can tell stories (of all kinds). My last three films have been with Salman Khan, and with that box office sits like baggage on your shoulder," Zafar told reporters.
Set in Delhi, "Tandav" aims to take viewers inside the closed, chaotic corridors of power and uncover the manipulations, charades as well as dark secrets of people who will go to any lengths in pursuit of power.
"Tandav" brought Zafar closer to his roots as an artist, said the 38-year-old director.
"I have been saying this to myself and my close friends that, when I used to do theatre in college, I would be very happy working on the stage because I was working without any fear and I felt the same on 'Tandav'. I felt this is something very honest and true to me."
The director said his commercial sensibility came in handy while chronicling the universal story of politics and greed.
"Because I have a commercial sensibility, I want the story to reach the maximum number of people, (so) I have tried to use that ability to tell a story that's universal."
"Politics inherently is universal. You can't sit on the side. Even being apolitical is taking a political stand.This is not just a story of India but of every country, set-up or dynamics," he added.
"Tandav" will start streaming on Amazon Prime Video from January 15.