Mainstream movies have always had an edge in traditional cinema due to their star studded casts and big budgets but now with many movies releasing directly on OTT platforms it has leveled the playing field for the smaller budget indie films to finally get the recognition they deserve.
Usually movies that are part of parallel cinema have a small-scale audience and almost always flop at the box office despite rave reviews. This has discouraged a lot of filmmakers from pursuing such stories due to monetary woes. Films such as ‘Ship of Theseus’, ‘A Death in The Gunj’, ‘Mukti Bhawan’ and ‘Sonchiriya’ were critically acclaimed for their phenomenal storytelling and performances but could not get commercial success in theatres.
Now with the rise of streaming services, art house cinema has a second chance to get their due credit. Most of these films are licensed by platforms such as Amazon Prime, Netflix and Disney+ Hotstar for their viewers.
While streaming services are putting the spotlight on these theatre releases they are also producing original stories that don’t have “commercial masala” but instead focus on strong narratives and powerful writing to push the envelope of Indian cinema. Recently Netflix released movies such as ‘Kaamyab’ ‘Maska’ and ‘Chopsticks’ on their platform which neither had a studded star cast nor a big budget yet they thrived digitally.
There are even streaming platforms that are solely dedicated to showcasing hidden gems of Indian cinema such as MUBI and giving a platform to creators to display their work to an enthusiastic audience that appreciates that kind of craft.
So the question has to be asked, do OTT platforms level the playing field between these clashing groups of entertainment?
Firstly, commercial movies do end up getting a lot more coverage even if they have a direct-to-OTT release. This coverage is heightened if they also have a famous cast which can bolster the popularity of the movie within days and many times such movies lack in the content they deliver but end up on trending lists within the streaming platform only because they have an in-built audience whereas niche movies need to find their audiences painstakingly.
Despite this there is some respite for indie films as most streaming platforms don’t even release the data on the number of views or ratings a film receives when it gets released digitally so there is no real way of measuring the “success” of the film and it solely comes down to the reviews and word-of-mouth publicity it gets. This is a boon for indie movies as they don’t have to worry about the box office collections and can just focus on providing quality content.
To sum up, although there is still a large divide between the two, OTT platforms are definitely paving the path to close the chasm between the mainstream and obscure.
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