We’ve seen this during the pandemic – content is key. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the world’s desire for good, fresh content, and India, which so far has been lavishing praise on marquee films, has also spoken out against mindless masala fare. Now, Dice Media adds a new genre to their creative playbook by launching India’s first-ever eSports-based web series, Clutch.
The nation asked and Dice Media answered. Clutch is something that’s never been done before in the country. Set in the world of gaming, Clutch captures the essence of passionate gamers and the ups and downs they face in wanting to compete for eSports tournaments. It is a story of Arun (Vishal Vashishtha), who left professional gaming to follow a stable career path, returns to his first love, gaming, by setting up a team to compete in a major eSports tournament and taking them to great heights. Another pandemic favourite has been multiplayer gaming and virtual gaming conferences. It makes people feel connected even as the pandemic forces us to stay behind closed doors. In that way, Clutch encompasses multiple arenas that the pandemic has forced us to explore.
“No one in India has explored a genre about esports and gaming. Even though it is blooming in India and people are making massive careers out of it. I think it was very important to speak about it in India and through a show like Clutch and on a platform like Dice Media, we’ve been able to reach out to a lot of people and make them aware about esports and gaming,” says Ahsaas Channa, one of the stars of Clutch.
“Through Clutch, we have kinda boosted gaming and as gaming is on fire people won’t stop with just one web series. There might be more upcoming gaming content,” says Tirth Joisher in agreement.
The cast of Clutch is also quite thrilled about the way India is going content-wise. Says Ahsaas, “I think all the creators and actors have gotten huge opportunities because of the content and the whole OTT space coming into the picture. I love the content everyone is coming up with. It’s quite fresh and unique.”
However, Vishal Vashishtha notes that “there is at least an intent” to create good content. “A lot of execution has to happen, people are more daring and independent. For us actors too, we have so much more to do and explore,” he says, cautiously.
Pratik Pachori is also wary of the repetitive content on OTT platforms and YouTube and doesn’t want it to go the formulaic movie way. “I am not really excited where India is going content-wise because of repetition of content. However, our series breaks this monotony with its unique content,” he says.
For those wondering, the first episode of Clutch was released on 2nd October on Dice Media’s Youtube and Facebook channels.
Clutch is another feather in the cap of parent company Pocket Aces which is India’s India’s leading digital entertainment company focused on mobile video. The company operates India’s largest socially distributed content network which includes five diverse brands: FilterCopy (short fiction), Dice Media (multi-episode web series), Gobble (lifestyle), Jambo (young-adult animation), and Nutshell (infotainment). Pocket Aces also operates Clout, India’s leading influencer management practice.
WATCH CLUTCH NOW, EPISODE LINKS BELOW:
▶ EP 1 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-atjDHwauE
▶ EP 2 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmRrAsuJSkY
▶ EP 3 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyQ1GTJFDoM
▶ EP 4 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0JciJ2awhM
▶ EP 5 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCUb_beqjzs
ML Entertainment