Last month, Jio Studios unveiled a massive line-up which will be eventually made available for streaming on the Jio Cinema OTT platform. The list included films like Rajkumar Hirani’s ‘Dunki’ starring SRK, ‘Zara Hatke Zara Bachke’, and ‘Stree 2’, and web series such as Nana Patekar starrer ‘Laal Batti’ and ‘Inspector Avinash’ (already streaming), to name a few.
It’s a good thing that streaming audiences will be getting to see their favorite stars on the small screen. But a problem which consequently arises is when a movie with a big star is set for a direct-to-OTT release instead of a theatrical release. You might’ve already guessed which film we are referring to here. We’re talking about Ali Abbas Zafar’s upcoming action thriller flick ‘Bloody Daddy’ starring Shahid Kapoor in the lead role.
When a relatively small or medium scale film like ‘Mumbaikar’ releases directly on OTT, then it probably does not affect the actors starring in it in a big way as they have been doing such content-oriented roles. But when a mainstream masala film like ‘Bloody Daddy’ featuring a big star like Shahid Kapoor takes the direct-to-OTT route, then it could possibly affect or upset the star’s overall career, at least in the short term.
Because everyone knows that if they are able to watch an actor they like on their personal screens from the comfort of their homes instead of the big screen, then a direct-to-OTT release could adversely affect the star’s box-office pull for his future projects. In this case, Shahid Kapoor and his film ‘Bloody Daddy’.
Moreover, ‘Bloody Daddy’ is being touted as an explosive actioner and from the film’s trailer, it looks like the makers and the lead actor have got the action-genre grammar right. It looks stylish, racy, and violent in a cool way. Like the ‘John Wick’ film series. A few months back, you saw how ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ was embraced by the Indian audiences.
So, if a Hollywood action film like ‘John Wick 4’ can pull moviegoers to theatres in big numbers, then why can’t an Indian action movie with an established star like Shahid Kapoor have a similar effect?
It’s agreed that Shahid Kapoor’s last film ‘Jersey’ didn’t exactly set the box office on fire despite garnering rave reviews. But you remember the kind of box office response ‘Kabir Singh’ got prior to that. Recently, Shahid Kapoor’s popularity also received a big boost after Raj & DK’s widely acclaimed series came out on Amazon Prime Video earlier this year. Shahid Kapoor’s films still certainly deserve a theatrical release and after that they can obviously be released on OTT.
A few days back, we had also pointed out that the latest Manoj Bajpayee film ‘Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai’ should have been released first in cinemas and then on the Zee5 OTT platform. In fact, after its widespread acclaim, there is still huge public demand for ‘Bandaa’ to be released in cinemas. Let’s see if it can still happen now. The film studios, OTT platforms and other stakeholders must understand which movies are theatrical materials and which ones should premiere directly on OTT. And we feel ‘Bloody Daddy’ falls in the first category. Jio Studio – is Bloody Daddy’s theatrical release still possible? If yes, then please make it happen.
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