Let’s go back 20 years. When a movie completed its theatrical journey then people had to wait for its World TV Premiere. And it used to be a crazy event. If you remember the World TV Premiere of Dhoom 3 then you would know how Sony Set Max actually invited Aamir Khan for a live talk show. People were interacting with the movie during breaks when it was playing on TV for the first time. But, people had to wait for TV channels to telecast the film. There was practically no other option than to wait. However, things went crazy when OTT entered the room. People have access to watch any movie any time they want.
However, this also marked a significant increase in piracy as people can pirate high-quality videos without any issue whatsoever. But, pirating is not convenient thus millions of people prefer to purchase subscriptions to OTT platforms when the pricing is good.
But, Prime Video is sparking the abuse of piracy. They may not have the intentions but they are igniting the use nonetheless. When movies like Maidaan, Madgaon Express, and more start streaming on Rent then the majority of people don’t pay an extra ₹349. They don’t even wait for 2-3 weeks until it starts regular streaming. They simply pirate it and it hampers the regular streaming performance of films. The college or school going population is the biggest userbase of this practice and they are technically smart.
The blame goes to the Prime Video team for strategizing the releases so badly. We hope this malpractice of renting movies stops.