With the OTT boom in 2020, several of the big projects from all over India landed on the streaming market. This was because of the shut theatres which lead the makers to take such steps which eventually benefited them. Seeing the trend for OTT platforms, several of the big stars will be seen venturing into the market in the coming years. Now the direct to OTT momentum, which was thought to diminish as we enter in 2021 is going in on full flow as several of the big studios have already announced their upcoming movies for the streaming market.
One such movie is the Sanjay Gupta directorial ‘Mumbai Saga’ which reportedly has been bagged by Amazon Prime Video for a direct release. The crime drama has an ensemble cast as it stars John Abraham, Emraan Hashmi, Suniel Shetty, Kajal Aggarwal, Sharman Joshi, Amol Gupte and others in it.
This came as a shock for the trade pundits as a hard hitting crime drama which is probably a mass movie is arriving on a OTT platform. The shock was equally shared by the fans of John Abraham who is currently on a hit streak at the silver screens. The decision to let go of a potential hit was met with criticism.
It seems that JA himself is unhappy with the news about the movie and he too wanted the the movie to arrive on big screens. While all of this is a speculation, as fans pointed out that John Abraham liked a tweet which suggested that a movie like Mumbai Saga is made for the theatres and it shouldn’t arrive at OTT.
Well, people might debate that whether the like was intentional or a mistake but you have to agree to the fact that his displeasure around the OTT release is completely justifiable. Because it was evident that in 2020, many of the star studded movies failed badly in the streaming market and John, who is already on a successful streak wouldn’t want to risk anything in his future ventures.
It’s a sign of worry for the trade people and for the entertainment industry that even after the resumption of theatres, makers aren’t keen enough to opt for a theatrical release!