The Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent shutdown of theatres drove scores of movies to release on OTT platforms. However, almost all of those movies have received a thumbs down from both critics and viewers. Be it films with big stars such as Amitabh Bachchan and Ayushmann Khurrana, in Gulabo Sitabo, Vidya Balan in Shakuntala Devi and Nani in V; or medium budget women-oriented films such as Ponmagal Vandhal with Jyothika, Penguin with Keerthy Suresh or Gunjan Saxena with Janhvi Kapoor. Every film has been roundly bashed by those who’ve watched them.
Which brings us to the question – why did these direct to digital releases flop? With no box office collection to gauge the performance of movies that release directly on streaming, audience and critic reaction is the only benchmark to decide whether a movie is a hit or a flop. And they have panned every movie released on OTT so far, save for a few like Lootcase and Krishna And His Leela.
What could be the reason for this? Are all these movies really so bad? Or have we become too critical in the lockdown? Or is it the big screen – small screen dynamics at play. We think it’s a mix of the last two.
V, Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl, Shakuntala Devi, Penguin – all of these movies have a larger than life appeal to them. They are made using a formula designed to move us, affect us, tug at our heart-strings. When viewed in a darkened theatre, with all our senses on high alert and focused only on the magic unfolding on the 45 × 65 × 30 large screen, all the aforementioned sentiments are heightened exponentially. When the movie ends and the lights come on, those sentiments are still playing on our minds and we are moved enough to declare the movie a must-watch.
The patriotic fervour in Gunjan Saxena, a swashbuckling saviour in V, an anguished mother in Penguin, all these affect us in unknown and unfathomable ways when viewed in the darkness of the cinema hall. The effect is just not the same when the same movie is viewed on the small screen at home, with multiple distractions, maybe a pause or two in between.
Something is lost in translation – the translating of a big screen movie to the small screen. The same issue was witnessed in the recent VOD release of Disney’s lavishly-mounted Mulan. Viewers gave it a thumbs down, with the movie clocking a poor rating of 5.6 on IMDb.
Maybe, if we viewed the same movies in the theatres, our verdict would have been different.
Secondly, with the massive increase in the consumption of digital content, we’ve become so inured to content that nothing seems to appeal to us in the way it used to, pre-Covid. We’ve collectively become too critical, especially of Indian content.
Now, it’s to be seen whether upcoming big ticket releases Soorarai Pottru and Laxmmi Bomb are able to come good in the harshly critical eye of Indian audiences.
We’re hiring!
We are hiring two full-time junior to mid-level writers with the option to work remotely. You need to work a 5-hour shift and be available to write. Interested candidates should email their sample articles to [email protected]. Applications without a sample article will not be considered.
