Gulabo Sitabo and the Inevitable Switch to OTT Release

I sat to watch Shoojit Sircar's latest Gulabo Sitabo on the day of its release at around 8.40pm. As I was sitting cross-legged on my chair, in my room, wearing shorts and a vest gobbling my dinner. Truth be told, I enjoyed this experience. The allure of going to the theatre and watching films on the big screen have been fading for a while now. Except for visually ebullient films from Marvel and DC or the ones from visionaries like Christopher Nolan, there are no reasons supporting the need to go to a theatre to watch a film. Large screen TVs, smartphones, laptops and tablets are convenient alternatives for dramas, rom-coms and to a certain extent horror. And I do feel that a majority of the audience feels the same.

There was an era when movie theatres had strict show timings. There were three shows on weekdays - matinee (2 or 2.30pm), first show (6 or 6.30pm) and second show (9.30 or 10pm) - and a morning show (mostly at 10.30 or 11am) on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Superstar fans would queue up early in the morning outside release centres, which were limited to cities before 2000s, to buy tickets for all the shows of that day. If the film meets their expectations, they will watch all four shows. If not, they will sell the extra tickets for a bargain and call it a day. By 2000, the concept of wide releases became a norm and films started to open in even remote villages too.

Multiplexes changed the equations, firstly with timings. Gone were the concepts of matinees and first shows and second shows. It also spelt the end of silver jubilee and golden jubilee runs. Sholay has the record of 60 golden jubilees across India and the first film in the country to celebrate silver jubilees in 100 theatres. The film ran for five years continuously at Minerva Theatre in erstwhile Bombay.

One of the first attempts at multiple-channel release - film and TV - was attempted by Kamal Haasan. He made plans to offer his film Vishwaroopam in 2013 in direct-to-video format the same day it was released in theatres. This led to widespread opposition among producers, exhibitors and distributors and he had to shelve the idea. Fast forward to 2020 and we see producers opting to release their films directly on OTT platforms as theatres remain shut due to Covid 19.

This does not come as a surprise. Off late, there has been a trend of new films being shown on streaming platforms within a month of its release. And many small budget films that failed to attract distributors and exhibitors also made into these services. Producers, directors and actors were happy that their film got out while distributors and exhibitors couldn't care less about those films. But then came Covid 19 - the great disruptor.

As theatres were shut owing to this pandemic, hundreds of films were stuck. With conditions showing no signs of improvement, release dates were extended. With producers losing money and the prospect of a theatrical release seeming distant and the returns dismal, many took a chance.

Jyothika-starrer Ponmagal Vanthaan, pruduced by Suriyaa, was the first film to be released on a streaming platform. The news created a furore among distributors and exhibitors in Tamil Nadu. Jyothika is not an A-list star, but her second stint has been pretty successful and brought good returns. So the distributor-exhibitor anger was justified. But the makers didn't budge.

Gulabo-Sitabo followed. With Ayushman Khurrana's winning streak and Big B's presence made it a hot property. So when the film's producer declared that it will be released on Amazon Prime, there were gripes. But the makers didn't budge here too. Then came Keerthy Suresh starrer Penguin and on July 3, the Malayalam film Sufiyum Sujathayum, produced by Vinod Babu of Friday Films, headlined by A-lister Jayasurya and Aditi Rao Hydari will be released on Amazon Prime.

This created a lot of noise. Kerala's powerful producers', exhibitors' distributors' lobby vehemently opposed the move. Because they knew that this was just the beginning. The equations are going to change, probably for good. Their fears are being proven true and auteur Lijo Jose Pellissery declared himself as an Independent Filmmaker. He broke off connections with all cinema organisations and and said that he will make films he like and show them wherever he wants too.

The bugle of revolution has been blown. And like it or not, the film industries in India and across the globe are moving to a new era of film-making. Let's hope the new era ensures that content is king and that we viewers emerge as the ultimate winners.

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