MUMBAI: Most of the people do not want to remember the dark pandemic. When talking about the entertainment scenario of that time, for obvious reasons the audience could not go to the theatres and watch movies but people found a new place for entertainment which was the OTT platform. It had some big players like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney Plus, Hotstar, ZEE5 and SonyLIV.
On getting over the OTT platform, the audience was introduced to some very unique concepts and a lot of actors that deserved all their attention. There was a wide range of choices that the audience was exposed to. Due to this exposure, we could see that even after the ‘unlock’, people paid little to no interest in going to theatres as they did not get to watch something as interesting or as ‘different’ as they got to watch on OTT platforms.
This was a big shift of audience from Theatres to OTT and it seemed as this isn’t going to change but it’s 2024 now and it feels as if the audience are shifting back to theatres from OTT. Even though the audience got to watch some unique concept on OTT, it seems as if they missed the theatre experience compared to the convenience they enjoyed at home. On the other hand, even the directors and producers are very much aware about how the audience has evolved their taste and wants something different.
If we look at the original releases on OTT in the last few months, we can see how there are not as many releases as there used to be earlier. Let’s look at the OTT releases in the month of February, March and April, below:
In February:
Bhakshak - This is a movie with an amazing cast that consists of names like Sanjay Mishra, Sai Tamhankar, Bhumi Pednekar, Aditya Srivastava, Tanisha Mehta, Vibha Chibber and many more. The film is about a struggling local journalist who begins a dogged investigation into harrowing cases of abuse being covered up at a shelter for young girls. The movie is available to stream on Netflix and was released on 9th Feb.
The Indrani Mukerjea Story: Buried Truth - This is a Netflix docu-series based on the Sheena Bora case. The series is available to stream on Netflix and released on 23rd Feb. The series came months after Indrani Mukerjea's 2023 memoir, Unbroken: The Untold Story.
Aarya Season 3: Antim Vaar - Aarya, played by Sushmita Sen, comes in a tigress avatar finally. Other than Sushmita Sen, the series features Ila Arun, Vikas Kumar, Virti Vaghani, Sikandr Kher, Maya Sarao, Viren Vazirani, Ankur Bhatia and Vishwajeet Pradhan. The series was made available to stream on Disney Plus Hotstar from 9th Feb.
In March:
Maharani season 3 - Directed by Saurabh Bhave, the makers have given us 2 successful seasons earlier and then came back with the 3rd season where Rani, played by Huma Qureshi, comes back to take revenge for her husband’s death. The series was made available to stream on SonyLIV from 7th march.
Showtime - Directed by Mihir Desai and Archit Kumar, this series features Emraan Hashmi, Mahima Makwana, Naseeruddin Shah, Vijay Raaz and many more great actors. The series shows the ugly real side that exists in the world of entertainment, behind the cameras. The series was made available to stream on Disney Plus Hotstar from 8th March.
Murder Mubarak - Directed by Homi Adajania, this movie marked the comeback of Karisma Kapoor and also featured other actors like Sara Ali Khan, Aditya Roy Kapur, Janhvi Kapoor, Kunal Khemu, Vijay Varma and Pankaj Tripathi. This comedy mystery movie was made available to stream on Netflix from 15th March.
Ae Watan Mere Watan - Directed by Kannan Iyer, this movie features Sara Ali Khan in the lead role. The movie shows the story of a girl who became an important part of the freedom fight of Indian independence. The movie also features Darab Farooqui and Emraan Hashmi and was made available to stream on Amazon prime from 21st March.
The Great Indian Kapil Show - Kapil Sharma came back with his comedy show and this time it was on OTT platform, Netflix. It was his OTT debut. After a long time, we once again got to watch Sunil Grover joining the Kapil Sharma team. The series was made available to stream on Netflix from 30th March.
In April:
Family Aaj Kal – It is a perfect weekend family series which shows how the Kashyaps think that they are open-minded but this idea gets challenged when the daughter of the house, Meher, reveals that she is in love with a boy and wants to marry him. The problem comes when she reveals that he is a cab driver. The series was made available to stream on SonyLIV from 2nd April.
Amar Singh Chamkila - Featuring Diljit Dosanjh and Parineeti Chopra, this Imtiaz Ali movie was a Netflix release and was made available to stream from 12th April. The movie is based on the life of pop star duo Amar Singh Chamkila and Amarjot Kaur whose songs were controversial at the time of their release. Amar Singh Chamkila was also known as the Elvis Presley of Punjab.
Silence 2: The Night Owl Bar Shootout - Manoj Bajpayee was seen in the 2021 OTT series ‘Silence… Can You Hear It?’ which along with Manoj Bajpayee, also featured Prachi Desai, Garima Yagnik, Barkha Singh, Arjun Mathur and a few more actors. This time, the makers are back with a second season that is, Silence 2: The Night Owl Bar Shootout wherein we get to watch Manoj Najpayee and Prachi Desai once again. The series will be available to stream on ZEE5 from 16th April.
As we can see, there are not so many movies and series that are released on OTT platforms. Additionally there were many movies that were released on the OTT platforms after their release in theatres. It is pretty visible how there is less original content on OTT platforms now while we have a lot of theatrical releases. It does seem as the audiences have shifted from OTT to theatres again.
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