OTTs will dictate us if we are not vigilant – Sudheer Babu

As Sudheer Babu is gearing up for the release of Harom Hara, he sits down with Gulte.com for an exclusive conversation where he talks about his film, his career and more. Harom Hara is written and directed by Gnanasagar Dwaraka. The film is Gnanasagar’s second film, after the 2022 romantic comedy Sehari.

When asked about how he was convinced about Gnanasagar directing Harom Hara considering it is nothing like Sehari, Sudheer Babu replies, “I have not watched Sehari when he came to me to narrate Harom Hara. I usually do watch a director’s films before they come forward to narrate me something, but that hasn’t happened this time. When he did narrate me Harom Hara, I was wowed by the film’s attention to detail and worldbuilding. The film is set in Kuppam, a town that borders the three states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and it helps the film immensely that the director is also from Kuppam. In fact, I did watch Sehari later and I was surprised he could pull off a milieu he was not familiar with at all. This just reaffirmed my faith in his ability to make Harom Hara as well.”

Unlike most actors, Sudheer Babu used to be a national-level badminton player and when asked about the important life lessons sports has imparted him with, he says, “It taught me so many things but if I have to give you an example, playing badminton taught me how to avoid negativity. Usually, you don’t get any negative thoughts while you play the game but that quickly changes when you miss the shuttlecock. So I made sure to intensely focus on the shuttlecock when I missed a shot, to evade any negative thoughts. Over the years, I used this approach sometimes to escape negativity while working on the sets as well.”

When asked about the oddly rising trend of films hitting OTT platforms a week or two after their theatrical release in TFI, Sudheer Babu advocates for tighter reforms to save the film industry in the long run. “Right now, producers might feel like they are making a quick buck by enabling OTT platforms to release their films right after their theatrical release, but this is not beneficial in the long run. If we keep letting this happen, then these streaming platforms will begin dictating norms for us. We should not let this happen so it is best for us to have a 40-50 day window for films between its theatrical and streaming releases,” says Sudheer Babu.