Besides being a recognition of their acting capability, the move by American streaming platforms to cast Indian actors also improves the proposition of the individual project or the platform in a growing market like India. For the actors, this means instant recognition across countries where these shows are streamed, better chance of appearing in a full-length Hollywood film and making good money.

India is a huge consumer market and the inclusion of Indian actors is to make the Indian entertainment audience aware and interested in foreign series and hence open up a huge market for them, said Harikrishnan Pillai, co-founder and CEO, TheSmallBigIdea, a digital and social media marketing agency. “Though a film still has higher prestige than an OTT show, purely because of the captive ecosystem of a theatre, web series have the potential to live a longer life through multiple series and spin-offs,” Pillai said.

A Netflix spokesperson said it’s great to see how entertainment industries in India and around the world are finding synergies. “It’s now increasingly possible for talent on-screen and off-screen to collaborate across the world, which brings unprecedented opportunities to the creative communities,” the person said.

Interestingly, it was only gradually that film actors in India started appearing in web shows made in the country. Unlike Hollywood stars, Indian films actors have traditionally avoided both television and web shows. That has changed with the kind of traction that some Indian shows on streaming services got. Prashant Deorah, CEO, Puretech Digital, a Mumbai-based digital agency, said, “While popular actors were initially wary of these platforms, seeing their content garner fame, they are now willing to experiment with long-format shows that have high recall value.” Edgy content has always been the secret sauce for most content creators, be it in India or internationally, he added.

Since content on streaming platforms is all online, discovery of talent has also become a lot easier. Sonya V Kapoor and Amrita Mendonza, co-founders M5 Entertainment, a celebrity and brand collaboration agency, feel that OTT platforms have opened up a wider pool of opportunities for talent across the world. “It has also allowed people involved in casting to check out a wide variety of work when they are scouting for talent because it’s all available online. The process of casting will always remain the same, but this opens up a channel for the production house rather than just agents pitching their talent,” they said.

Most global OTT giants would pay actors more than what they would get for a full-length feature film in India, said Karan Taurani, senior vice-president at Elara Capital Ltd. “The fee may ultimately depend on the time allotted by the actor and the budget and scale of the show but it would definitely be at a premium,” Taurani said. That said, a blink-and-you-miss-it kind of role might draw more flak from the domestic audience, said Sidharth Singh, co-founder of marketing agency CupShup adding that it may not be wise to go for a role in an international show just for the sake of it.