Actor Akshay Oberoi and director Sahir Raza can heave a sigh of relief. Their hard work of the past two years has borne fruit — the audience has been lapping up their latest web series, Illegal. "I never expect my shows to be hits," laughs Oberoi, flashing a streak of self-deprecating humour.

Where the Neha Sharma-fronted series has been enjoyed by a section of the audience, it has also been called out for being a soap opera masquerading as a legal drama. Oberoi is unfazed by the criticism as he defends, "More criticism [coming your way] means more people are watching the show. I've been blessed with critical acclaim in the past [Gurgaon, 2017]. This time, I am happy that it has reached a wider audience. Sometimes, my most critically acclaimed pieces of work were watched by all of 10 people."