From Shah Rukh Khan to Sushant Singh Rajput, there are many stories of actors making it big in the film industry after starting their career on TV.
While success stories from small screen to silver screen are not unusual nowadays, what could become a new trend is talent coming from a new space --- the short video sharing platform.
The growth in the short video sharing space is not only resulting in more people showcasing their talent but such platforms are also becoming launching pad for many.
One such story is of 23-year-old Sajith Sivan who resides in Kerala and drives an auto rickshaw to support his family. For extra income, Sivan also plays the instrument Chenda.
And that's not all. Sivan, who had to drop out from college to start earning for his family, has a penchant for acting. This is why Sivan logged on to a video sharing platform Moj where he uploads his videos in which he takes real life incidents and enacts them.
Moj, which was launched last year, currently has 120 million users and has as many as 18 million creators on the platform.
"Making videos on Moj is an escape from the stark reality of my everyday life. Creating content on the platform helps me relieve myself of the stress and burden of financial troubles," said Sivan.
Sivan who was getting love and support from other users on Moj, soon saw a turning point. This was when one of his friends uploaded his video as WhatsApp status. The video soon caught the attention of Jibu Jacob’s assistant director, Sindhu Sanil.
"Sanil asked me if I could show some of my performance and I showed my Moj videos. He liked my work and he offered me a role last year in December for the new venture titled Ellaam sheriyaakum," said Sivan.
While Sivan was excited to be part of a movie, he was scared to share screen space with the stars of the Malayalam film industry.
"I was afraid to be on the sets as I was facing the camera for the first time. But I had some confidence because I had an idea about being in front of the camera due to video creation," said Sivan.
After his break, Sivan is expecting more roles in movies to come his way. "So far have not received new roles but many had taken my number on the sets of Ellaam sheriyaakumlead. Even the lead actress Rajisha Vijayan had appreciated my work. So, I am hoping for the best."
Sivan is not only hoping for the best he is also working on his acting skills by uploading more videos on Moj.
"I get less time to focus on video creation due to auto rickshaw driving. Still, I take out two to three hours everyday to write scripts and to make videos," said Sivan.
While Sivan's story is inspiring, is it a one-off case?
Shashank Shekhar, Director - Content Strategy, ShareChat believes that more such stories will come our way.
"Short video sharing platforms are becoming the launching pad for new talent. Earlier, there was no direct way for artistes to show their talent. And there wasn't a discovery point for the industry as well. As creators, people want audience and short video platforms are giving that."
Shekhar is right when he said that video sharing platforms are giving talent a big audience.
According to a RedSeer Consulting report, the Indian market for short video content has grown from 20 million users in FY16 to 180 million users in FY20. And it is expected that short-form video market is estimated to grow 4X in terms of total time spent. Currently, time spent on such platforms is 110 billion minutes/month which will increase to 400-450 billion minutes/month in the next five years.
This is why Shekhar said that like Sivan, "you will see a lot many success stories in the coming years."