India, Dec. 30 -- Filmmaker Hansal Mehta says what struck him about Hindi OTT shows in 2025 wasn't the nostalgia, it was surprise. He says, "Every year, someone solemnly declares that Indian OTT is finished. Saturated. Shrinking. Choked by data, throttled by budgets and starved of stories. We're told the golden years are behind us - Sacred Games, The Family Man, Mirzapur, Scam were lightning strikes, not weather patterns. Now it's TV Plus, or micro-dramas for micro-attention spans. Subscriptions are stagnant, budgets are shrinking, risk is verboten and apparently algorithms have replaced imagination." Having served on the jury of a major OTT awards platform this year, he says what struck him most wasn't nostalgia- it was surprise. "Not at volume, but at range. At confidence. At how many shows refused to behave like content and instead insisted on being stories," he adds....