Although Mani Ratnam’s Ponniyin Selvan is a massive rampage at the box office, it is no less a success on the OTT. But it was not at all smooth. After KGF Chapter 2, we again saw an insane campaign against Prime Video.
People raged at the Prime Video store that would give access to films but only after paying an unreasonable fee of 199₹. The platform says that it can’t upload films on regular streaming due to restrictive rights and policies.
But watching a movie on a rental basis is still “digital streaming” so either they are milking a loophole in the contract or simply the popularity of any particular film.
But thankfully they remembered the lesson while people were frustrated with Ponniyin Selvan on rent. We doubt whether the platform would stop streaming popular films on a rent basis in the future but they might not be ready with two back to back backlashes in a row.
So that’s the reason we didn’t see Kantara: The Legend on Prime Video Store instead it was directly available for regular streaming.
So it is indeed a great thing that Prime Video is not only listening but also adapting to the changes that people ask for. Let’s see whether they continue this great policy in the future.