Friday jitters gone: OTT release ends the box office ‘rat race’

It’s no longer about how much money a film makes on its release day or opening weekend. With the Covid-19 crisis keeping the movie theatres shut, filmmakers have turned to OTT platforms. And now, it’s all about the film, rather than the money it earns or the “rat race” that makers and actors find themselves to be a part of, feel experts.

Trade expert Atul Mohan says the very barometer of measuring who’s a star — the box office — is gone. “Before a film releases, the marketing revolves around a star, unless there’s a maker like Sanjay Leela Bhansali or Rajkumar Hirani. Stars draw fans to theatres. Now that pull will be abolished when films release on OTT platforms,” he says.

Actor Sonakshi Sinha, who stars in Bhuj: The Pride of India, agrees that a direct-toott release has lifted the pressure of the number game. She tells us, “As artistes, producers and directors, we’ve made projects that we want to showcase to the audiences. Right now, the only way we can do that is through OTT platforms. Definitely, the pressure of the rat race and box office figures has been taken off, but it’s not like we don’t want to get back to theatres.”

With a big film comes big pressure, and Akshay Kumar-starrer Laxmmi Bomb has perhaps a lot riding on it. Director Raghava Lawrence, who is struck by the situation’s unpredictability, tells us, “I have zero knowledge about what’ll happen. What would the rating be, how would the business be… The pressure that [usually] comes with a release and the thrill of how much would the first-day collections be — threy’ll be missing this time around. But you can’t wait for a theatrical release as there’s interest climbing up. Whatever change comes in the world, you’ve to adapt to it.”

However, he has a “50-50” response when asked if he’s happy with an OTT release. “Everybody, including the producers, want to release on the big screen only. This will be the first time we will experience this,” adds Lawrence.

Trade analyst Taran Adarsh, however, feels this is just a “phase” that will pass in some time.

Sonakshi Sinha and (left) Ajay Devgn-starrer Bhuj: The Pride of India will also be released directly on a OTT platform