Their appropriate understanding of viewers turning to OTT platforms for content consumption is evident in the slate of projects they've backed since 2017. The formula behind arriving at acclaimed projects, including the Emmy Award-nominated Inside Edge, Mirzapur and Made In Heaven, says Excel Entertainment's co-founder Farhan Akhtar, is merely giving a nod to projects that "excite the team". "If you like a script, and want more people to know of it, you back it. If it doesn't resonate with you, it doesn't mean no one else will like it. It's simply not for you," says Akhtar.

Prod him on the future of webseries content and Akhtar admits that, keeping consumption trends in mind, the focus remains on fiction. "However, I would [eventually] back non-fiction, because I find it fascinating. Currently, the platforms [in India] want to focus on fiction. I'm waiting for the day when that will change. [With] biographies and real-life crime, there's so much more to explore. That's also what people will end up watching," says the actor, asserting that he too is often mesmerised with stories inspired by real-life. "I head to the non-fiction category first in a book store. I find truth is truly stranger than fiction and the kind of things that happen in real life, if depicted on screen, are likely to invite the response: 'Yeh kaise ho sakta hai?' That's amazing."