With OTT, good actors not relegated to just villain roles, says Kay Kay Menon

Hindustan Times

16-06-2025

Mumbai, Actor Kay Kay Menon says OTT has opened up a lot of opportunities for artists unlike the past where only top stars got to portray heroes and many like him were pigeonholed in villain roles.
At the trailer launch of his upcoming series "Special Ops 2" in Mumbai on Monday, Menon, a versatile actor known for his roles across genres and mediums, spoke about the variety that has come with OTT.
"We come from that time where there were only theatrical releases, there was no OTT. So those areas were booked for you know what ... We good actors used to play villain characters. But now it's opened up completely. We as actors now have a chance to enjoy ourselves with whatever talent we have. That's what OTT gives us," he told reporters here.
The actor, known for his roles in "Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd", "Haider" and Mumbai Meri Jaan" as well as OTT series "Farzi" and "The Railway Men", said he loves playing the role of RAW officer Himmat Singh in "Special Ops".
"I know Himmat Singh in and out. I also know that I don't know anything about cyber ... So I don't know anything about it ... And for me to kind of get into it... it was an interesting actor's journey. I just acted like I'm an expert, that's all," he said about the new season.
The show became a runaway hit when it premiered on the streamer in 2020. It was followed by another installment called "Special Ops 1.5: The Himmat Story". The sequel is slated to premiere on JioHotstar on July 11.
Director Neeraj Pandey said there is no dearth of "unheard and untold" stories in the spy genre and it naturally becomes a magnet for any storyteller "whether it's the producers, the platform or whoever you would like to sit and the unsung hero".
"Also, because these are operations which are covert, they are classified, they are under possible denial. That's the reason not too many people are aware of these operations, these adventures. I feel that it's a compelling enough reason for us to bring it to the audiences. The proof of it is that they enjoy it and they want more of it. Our endeavour is to bring newer stories and keep discovering, searching for newer stories in this domain and take it to the audience," he added.
Kher, who is reprising her role of Juhi Kashyap in the series, said there are limited roles written for women and expressed her wish to portray all the possible shades.
"As an actor you want to play all roles, be it grey, black, white, orange, yellow. You want to keep working, but for women there are particular roles which people don't write about and you always wonder why."
She also credited Pandey for writing fierce women characters. Kher gave the example of the director's film "Baby", which featured Taapsee Pannu in an interesting spy role.
"So he's somebody who's always done it. And I was just lucky that I got to play Juhi," she said.