How OTT platforms are becoming a getaway for flop Bollywood movies

Shamshera released in July after delays due to Covid-19 and vanished from theatres within three weeks to stream on Amazon Prime on August 19, marking a now-familiar getaway for flop Bollywood movies.

The movie, starring Ranbeer Kapoor and produced by Yash Raj Films, is in ‘India’s top 10 today’, Amazon Prime’s showcase of popular content.

Shabaash Mithu, a Rs 30-crore budget film starring Taapsee Pannu and based on cricket, failed to draw audiences to theatres and collected an estimated Rs 2.14 crore at the box office. A month after its theatre release, it was put up on Netflix to earn critical and audience appreciation. The movie led Netflix’s ‘Top 10 in India today’ for two consecutive weeks and remains in the showcase after leaving the top slot.

Jersey, made for Rs 80 crore and released in April 2022, received satisfactory reviews but failed to charm theatre audiences while receiving appreciation at Netflix. Jayeshbhai Jordaar (released in May 2022) and Runway34 (April 2022), produced by Ajay Devgn Ffilms, flopped too. Samrath Prithviraj (May 2022) is a Rs 150 crore movie on the life of Samrat Prithviraj played by superstar Akshay Kumar. The film released on OTT within weeks after facing empty shows at cinemas.

Sandeep aur Pinky Faraar (2021) was a Netflix favorite for weeks, but before that the movie made for Rs 20 crore failed to earn a crore at the box office. Made for an estimated Rs 168 crore, Akshay Kumar-starrer Bell Bottom (2021) made a worldwide gross collection of Rs 50 crore. Audience favorite Ayushman Khurana had two of his movies–Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui (released in 2021) and Anek (2022)–failing at the box office and then finding recognition on Netflix. Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui became the most-streamed content on Netflix within 24 hours of its on January 7, 2022.

The time gap between the theatre and OTT release of movies has reduced to weeks. Shamshera, Shabaash Mithu, Jayeshbhai Jordaar, Samrat Prithviraj, Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui, Anek, and Bell Bottom are just a few that released on OTT within a month after their theatre release.

According to a report by Statista, average price for a PVR movie ticket in India was Rs.207 for FY19 excluding transportation and other expenses, while OTT platforms provide content in abundance at less than half of the cinema cost. OTT subscribers don’t have to pay anything ‘extra’ for watching a movie. “Content does not always matter. Many films with poor storyline get box office numbers. OTT platforms are preferring movies which already had a box office release despite considering if it was a flop,” says Ajay Brahmataj, a film critic.

“Every viewer has a distinct movie taste. Many times, a film fails to work at the box office due to initial reviews and criticism. OTT release gives a fresh chance to the viewers to watch and interpret the movie once again”, says Manish Pandey, entertainment journalist at Outlook magazine.

A PTI report quoting research by State Bank of India said the Indian OTT market will do what multiplexes did to the VCR segment in the early 2000s. OTT will become a Rs 12,000-crore industry by 2023, up from Rs 2,590 crore in 2018. It has already chipped away 7-9 per cent of the entertainment industry’s revenue.

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