Producer Sunir Kheterpal feels the OTT platform is the best bet for producers for now

Movie producer Sunir Kheterpal who has produced films like Rocky Handsome and Badlaa feels the OTT platform is a feasible option for on-release films, given the current crisis in the entertainment industry. “It is always best when short and long term interests of all stakeholders are taken care of. The times are such that solutions have to be found and structured which help at least some parts of value chain. Towards this end, film exhibition sector has its own challenges to which they are trying to find solutions, both in short as well as long term.”

Khetrapal feels the film-production sector has a challenge ahead. “It’s the dilemma of a perishable product on one hand and continuing carrying costs on the other. Films releasing on OTT platforms when theatres are closed will help film producers in short-term and will provide fresher content to OTT platforms.”

Khetrapal who has produced films such as Rocky Handsome, Badla and Kesari feels the OTT option could curtail producers’ crippling loss in the Coronavirus crisis. “An already suffering film exhibition sector has an opportunity. In my opinion; it is a short-term deviation in the release windows across the globe while we look to survive. Some shifting of windows may happen going forward but that may not have such a great negative impact on cinemas. Shifts in windows will only happen if net value created across film value chain increases."

He hopes things will improve next year. He also feels a solid OTT option will emerge not as a threat but as a supplement to the movie-theatre business. “I believe that by summer 2021, we might have better macro-economics for the film value chain with certain micro amendments across release windows. Like elsewhere in the world, we will see a Premium VOD (view on demand) window emerge which, hopefully, will not affect cinemas negatively but support production sector and provide audiences a premium window over SVOD. Cinemas will continue to exist and flourish as nothing can beat the collective community experience of watching a film in cinemas.”