Once upon a time, a small Malayalam film with a quirky title, ‘The Great Indian Kitchen‘ rushed from pillar to post to hunt for a streaming home for itself. The film was reportedly rejected by every Indian OTT platform – big or small, homegrown or global. And all because it was in Malayalam!
This was back in 2020, when there was heavy bias prevalent in OTT circles against Malayalam content. ‘The Great Indian Kitchen’ had to make do with streaming on an unknown OTT platform called Neestream. But wonder of wonders! Gems radiate brilliance in the darkest of places. Likewise, The Great Indian Kitchen became a hit even on Neestream. Its incandescence spread by word of mouth, and viewers flocked to little-known Neestream to watch the film.
That is when Prime Video India woke up from its biased slumber. It scrambled to buy the streaming rights for The Great Indian Kitchen, and the film began streaming on the platform, where it became an even bigger hit.
Cut to today; and all streaming platforms – big and small – have shed their pseudo-prestige and pompous attitude. OTT platforms have learnt a valuable lesson – ignore Malayalam content at your own peril. The Malayalam film industry is after all a pioneer of innovative, inventive, creative cinema in India. Today, streamers are falling over themselves to grab streaming rights of buzzy Malayalam films – of which there are many. SonyLIV, Prime Video, Disney Plus Hotstar, ZEE5, and the others are lining up at the doorstep of Malayalam filmmakers, begging for a slice of the lucrative Malayalam film industry – lucrative in terms of content and subscribers’ interest.
The biggest comedown has been by Netflix. From showing no interest in Malayalam cinema, to going all out to woo the topmost Malayalam filmmakers, the biggest streamer in the world, and in India by revenue, has indeed come a long way.
The decision hasn’t been too bad for Netflix either. It had one of its biggest Indian original hits in the Malayalam superhero film ‘Minnal Murali’ – bigger than its Bollywood acquisitions. Kurup, Night Drive, Irul, Nayattu, Love, Hey Sinnamika, among others – Netflix bought streaming rights for a clutch of Malayalam films.