‘Don’t want to release my films in theatres and be at their mercy’
Actor Manoj Bajpayee’s Bhonsle received rave reviews upon its recent release on an OTT platform. And while quite a few bigbudget films, including
Bhuj: The Pride of India and Laxmmi Bomb, will also have to skip a theatrical release due to the Covid-19 shutdown, Bhonsle’s director Devashish Makhija says he will prefer this to be the case going forward too, with his films.
He explains, “Theatres never cared for our films. They took our money and sank our films. For a Bhonsle, it is a foregone conclusion that we’d have only found our audiences on OTTS. I never held out hope, and even told my producers, ‘If you don’t manage a theatrical [release], excuse my French, but I don’t give a f**k’.”
Though a variety of films being released on OTT platforms ensures a level playing field, Makhija still feels that theatres could never die. “They’ll find a different way to survive. You don’t want to watch a film like Avengers on a laptop. That consumption of big-budget films will return. I don’t know if it’s a level playing field, for now, but it’s not a permanent argument,” he says.
Stressing that smaller films might “never make it back to cinema halls”, the director adds, “I’m very happy. I don’t want to be at the mercy of theatres. Really! If big-budget [films] continue getting made, most of them can be green screen with four actors inside a studio. Theatres will return. Level playing field kabhi nahi hone wala.”
Makhija further shares how the loss of the ecosystem is dangerous for a film like Bhuj... as you don’t have numbers on the web. “You’re scrolling, and you have a Bhosle next to an Inception or a Bhuj…. How do you know which one is being watched? I’m very relieved to finally have a place where people can find my films. If I can help it, I never want my films to release in theatres, as people don’t take the trouble to come,” he boldly states.
To explain his point, he recounts an incident: “When my film Ajji (2017) released, the theatres stopped giving us shows after three days. I spoke to one of the owners, and they said, ‘Your film isn’t popcorn friendly, people feel so bad about themselves, and they don’t get up from their seats to buy popcorn’. Why would I want my films to play in theatres?”