Ashish Chanchlani Rejected OTT Deal for Ekaki and Instead Released it on YouTube, Reveals...

Ashish Chanchlani, who has never shied away from taking risks, is currently in news for his much-loved supernatural series Ekaki, which recently premiered on YouTube and turned out to be an instant hit among the viewers. However, the real story lies in the unconventional choices behind its release. Known for his massive digital following, Ashish steps into a new zone with this project, taking on direction for the first time while also leading the narrative as an actor. The result is a genre-bending sci-fi outing that is being widely regarded as one of the most ambitious and successful attempts in the digital space from India.

What’s particularly striking is the road not taken. As per his team, the makers were deep in conversations for an OTT deal that would have not only secured profits but also covered a significant chunk of the project’s cost. However, they chose to walk away from it. “Even when OTT platforms were ready to offer us a deal that was 5–6 crores above our estimated budget, Ashish did not see it as a win in the conventional sense. We were looking at nearly a 10-crore risk something that could have been easily taken care of. It was the safer call," his team said.

The decision, they explain, stemmed from a larger vision. “But Ashish kept coming back to one simple thought the audience that had stood by him for years deserved to experience it without barriers. He believed that on OTT, it would become just another show. On YouTube, it could become something bigger something that truly belongs to the audience.”

This shift in mindset—from monetization to mass accessibility—ended up shaping the entire journey of Ekaki. And the numbers tell their own story. The finale episode, Ekaki: Chapter 5, shattered records by becoming the most-watched long-format video within 24 hours, crossing 1 crore views, and has since surged past 22 million views. Overall, the series has clocked a staggering 143 million cumulative views, setting a new benchmark for long-format digital content released independently on YouTube.

Behind the scenes, the journey was far from smooth. Ashish backed the project himself, juggling responsibilities as creator, producer, writer, director, and performer. Midway through, the team suffered a major technical setback when a hard drive crash wiped out nearly 20% of their VFX work—costing them months of effort. Despite the setback, they rebuilt and pushed forward to complete the vision.
With Ekaki, Ashish Chanchlani hasn’t just delivered a hit—he’s demonstrated a different playbook for digital storytelling, where scale, risk, and audience-first thinking can coexist outside the traditional OTT ecosystem. Up next, he is gearing up for his film College Fest.