Cinema can be a powerful tool for not just entertainment but also to further one’s soft power. Take, for example, the recently released Kannada movie, Kantara. It proudly depicts the rich heritage and deep-rooted culture of Dakshina Kannada. The culturally rich movie is garnering wide admiration for its near-to-real representation of village life. It has nicely blended it with breathtaking background music to present a simple story of the BELIEF system as against greed.
But do the same parameters not apply to Bollywood? Apparently, the Hindi entertainment industry is going through the toughest times. It is facing a serious credibility crisis. The so-called superstars, who once gloated about not needing promotional events for movies, are now lamenting before disgruntled audiences. They have been seen begging audiences, whom they consider not more than trolls or low-lifes, to throng the theatres.
Well, well, even these ‘crocodile tears’ did no wonder, and nearly 90% of the movies released this year have failed miserably to recover their investment. However, in all their nightmares, the Bollywood cabal wouldn’t have ever imagined what has happened in the past few months.
OTT platforms are not a junkyard for Bollywood
With back to-back failures and no love lost with audiences, Bollywood is getting a thrashing from all across. With its risk taking appetite, fresh perspective and deep-rooted cultural connect Regional cinema was already eating into Bollywood’s theatrical business. However, the latest blow has the potential to drastically affect the Bollywood industry from inside and out, and even obliterate it to smithereens if it fails to adapt to the changed trend.
The OTT players have given a stern message to Bollywood producers that they won’t let OTT platforms become their junkyard. They have raised their red flags and have asked Bollywood cabals to prove themselves before holding negotiations with them.
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Apparently, the OTT players were forced to adopt this stern posture against the backdrop of the incessant failure of Bollywood. This month alone, Bollywood saw around 10 new movie releases. But apart from Doctor G, the rest of the films have failed to register a double digit mark and ended without reaching a break-even point.
To simply put it, they could not recover their investment. These measures have caused enormous problems for Bollywood producers. Nawazuddin Siddiqui alone has completed seven films that are awaiting release, but the latest OTT restrictions have put them in a fix.
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What led to this drastic measure by OTT players?
Audiences paid no heed to these movies and didn’t consider them worth watching in theatres. But this begs the question, why did these producers risk everything and needlessly empty their coffers to release these movies in theatres? The reason for this is the strict rules set by the OTT giants. They have realised that the Bollywood cabal has been tricking it for a long time and overcharged for sub-standard products. Now, it has seen through the false hype and propaganda of the Bollywood cabal and actors.
For example, Varun Dicaprio, oh sorry, Varun Dhawan, once hyped his substandard, clichéd Bollywood movie Dilwale. In interviews, he compared the age-old story with the acclaimed classic Inception. Not only that, he also praised his colleague Alia Bhatt and called her the Robert De Niro of our generation. The point is that it is not limited to Varun Dicaprio, the alleged sexual offender; Sajid Khan overhyped his pathetic remake of Himmatwala as some sort of masterclass as well.
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Similarly, recently, Aamir Khan was overconfident in this awful remake of Laal Singh Chaddha. He was audaciously demanding Rs 150 crore in lieu of selling OTT rights to the movie. Going by the Mr. Perfectionist aura, OTT would have jumped on the offer quickly. But by then, it had seen the miserable fortune of the movie as well as the actor, Aamir Khan.
Purely based on the performance and content of the movie, OTT players rejected Aamir’s boastful numbers. Reportedly, Aamir Khan, who was piping the bugle of a six-month rule for OTT screening after theatrical release, had to accept all the wishes of Netflix and get whatever he was offered.
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Roller coaster ride of Bollywood movie on OTT
Earlier, OTT players were begging to air content on their platforms, but the tables turned after the COVID pandemic. Those actors who were earlier dead opposed to “direct digital” release preferred to get an easy pass through OTT. These Bollywood producers and actors have realised that if they go through the traditional theatrical route, they would incur heavy losses. This is what happened with Cuttputli and several other movies. They preferred online release over theatrical humiliation and wisely saved their finances.
The COVID pandemic-induced lock down has led to a wide surge in demand for over-the-top (OTT) services. Earlier, direct online or OTT release was unheard of before the pandemic. Till then, only a few Bollywood movies gave direct OTT release a shot. However, their dismal performance made actors and producers jittery about future “direct digital” releases.
Evidently, the gigantic failure of Karan Johar’s produced and Sushant Singh Rajput-starrer Drive in 2019 made actors and producers vary their OTT releases. At that time, they strongly mulled the idea of incorporating a “no-direct digital release” clause in their contracts to avoid the gigantic failure of Drive.
But the COVID pandemic changed the landscape, and theatres were shut for the distant future. This forced producers to give direct digital release another shot. The Ayushmann Khurrana-starrer Gulabo Sitabo tested the troubling waters and performed decently well. Soon, OTT was flooded with direct digital releases like Dil Bechara, Lootcase, Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl, Khuda Hafiz, Sadak 2, Laxmii, Ludo, and Coolie No 1, among others.
The trend of “direct digital release” continued in 2021. OTT yet again aired both good content-driven movies and pathetic ones. However, these miserable movies have started to take a toll on the quality of content on OTT. Some of the OTT releases of 2021 include Pagglait, The Big Bull, Toofaan, 14 Phere, Hungama 2, Mimi, Shershaah, Bhuj: The Pride Of India, Sardar Udham, Sanak, Bob Biswas, Atrangi Re. Even the so-called superstars were partially dependent on OTT releases, Salman’s Radhe being the prime example of that.
With the latest jolt to Bollywood, OTT players are making sure that they provide quality content and don’t become junkyards for pathetic remakes or awful movies. It doesn’t want to air more movies like Sadak 2, Coolie No 1, and Judwaa 2, among others. Moreover, it doesn’t want to buy sub-standard products like Laal Singh Chaddha at overpriced deals. That is why they are asking these Bollywood producers to test the waters with a theatrical release.
Bollywood should realise that they will be held accountable for their content through the financial performance of their movies. The last resort they had, direct OTT release for awful remakes or other cliché movies, has been taken off the table. Either it has to step up with quality content or face oblivion at the hand of quality content on OTT platforms from around the world and regional cinema in theatres as well as on OTT.
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