‘OTT Hurt Us, And IPL Won’t Save Us’

While the Producers Council slammed the other day that only a few theatres (single screens) have shut down but others are running well, one of the senior producers Suresh Babu stated in an interview that there is no way other than shutting down theatres as the footfalls are drastic right now.

“Back then, people used to come en masse to theatres during the Summer season, as there would be A/c running and they could escape the scorching heat. But right now that’s not the scenario. Due to OTT platforms offering varied content and audiences loving to see only 4-star rated films and star-studded larger-than-life content on the silver screen, the footfalls dwindled. Probably we should either give theatres for marriages or convert most of them into real-estate ventures, but there’s not much to do” says Suresh Babu. He also highlighted that small films are not running right now, and even dubbed films are not helping theatres to survive at the given moment.

However, when quizzed why don’t theatres screen something like IPL in the evening times to attract an audience, Suresh says, “Audiences can watch IPL on their mobiles for free. Why would they buy tickets and walk into theatres to catch up on the screening?”. In other words, Suresh Babu directly stated that OTT arrival has hurt single screens, while the idea of screening IPL matches won’t even help theatres.

The producer also underlines, “Only content-based thematic films will work from now, and our filmmakers should focus on them. Also they should market the film extensively on digital media to make sure that people will come to theatres”.