The earliest record of a full length feature film is ‘Raja Harishchandra’ a 1913 silent, black and white film that paved the way for the film industry as we know it today.
Soon after, the silent movies came the talkies from the 1940s till the 1960s which was led by the Bengalis who mainly focused on parallel cinema that was led by Satyajit Ray with his ‘The Apu Trilogy’. Meanwhile in the Hindi mainstream, cult classics such as ‘Kagaaz Ke Phool’, ‘Shree 420’ and ‘Mother India’ were starting to make a mark globally as well as setting new standards for story writing and direction for the coming generations.
The Indian industry flourished from the ‘70s and came to be known as the “Classic Bollywood Era” dominated by dramatic romances films until screenwriters like Javed Akhtar and Salim Khan introduced action-packed crime movies such as ‘Zanjeer’, ‘Sholay’, and ‘Deewar’.
By 1986, India had rose up to 833 films per annum which made it the largest producer of films back then.
These movies paved the way for the commercial era of Bollywood which is from the ‘90s up to now where the industry experienced a stagnation of low box office turnout, decline in the quality of stories as well as piracy issues. The turning point came with movies produced under the Yash Raj Banner such as ‘Chandni’ and ‘Lamhe’ which set a benchmark for the musical romance genre in the early ‘90s to ‘00s. The parallel cinema of crime dramas also grew which came to be known as the “Mumbai Noir” genre.
Up to the early 2010s, commercial films drove the industry forward with almost zero competition despite the strong presence of “content” films like ‘Omkara’, ‘Swades’, ‘Piku’ and many others.
Until in 2016 Netflix arrived in India changing the way the Indian audience consumed films and TV shows alike. Netflix originally started with a small roster of films it licensed from studios but soon emerged as a fierce competition for traditional cinema by producing and backing movies from talented directors and writers that prioritised the story and not “commercial masala”.
It gave the audience a cheaper, different way to see films and be entertained from the comfort of their own homes.In the last 4 years, we have seen an increasing rise in the number of OTT platforms that are offering a host of exclusive and original content to the viewers. Be it Netflix’s ‘Delhi Crime’, or Amazon Prime’s ‘Gulabo Sitabo’ these platforms are giving a lot of options to the viewers and actually re-defining the space of cinema with the stories they say and messages they deliver.
In current times, a lot of people prefer watching movies on OTT platforms rather than cinema halls which has made traditional creators strap up their boots by either upping their own game or collaborating with these platforms itself to release their stories as they enjoy more creative freedom as well as minimal budget constraints to authentically be able to make and tell their films.
Another reason could be the recognition of regional cinema on these platforms which didn’t get their due credit in theatres. Small budget regional movies which were either had a theatre release or were directly streamed have found a strong audience on OTT who look for obscure, lesser known gems over mainstream box office hits.
Cinema has definitely come a long way from silent talkies to its current state but with thousands of movies produced each year both offline and online, the choices are plenty but the answer is clear.
It’s going to be a tough battle between modern OTT platforms vs traditional cinema.
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