Pa. Ranjith’s Vikram starrer ‘Thangalaan’s’ compelling period setting, gritty narrative and impressive performances have captured the imagination of cinephiles. However, just like the delayed theatrical release of Hindi version, ‘Thangalaan’ is once again facing a significant hurdle with the delay in digital debut of the Hindi dub of the film.
The result of the staggered release in theatres for ‘Thangalaan’ was definitely a missed opportunity for the film to capitalize on its full potential among Hindi-speaking audiences, and the digital release seems to be following a similar unfortunate yet unavoidable path.
Unavoidable because according to industry standards, South Indian films have a 4-5 week window between theatrical and digital release whereas it’s 8 weeks for Hindi films.
Thanks to the advent of internet, OTTs, dubbed versions and subtitles, films are now not restricted to specific regions. The Indian film industry is becoming increasingly pan Indian, and regional cinema is going far and beyond linguistic and geographical boundaries. Films like ‘Baahubali’, ‘RRR’, ‘KGF’, ‘Pushpa’, ‘Kalki 2898AD’ and more have reaped the benefits of simultaneous releases in multiple languages, including Hindi and that’s how they have enjoyed nationwide excitement, massive word-of-mouth buzz, and box office revenues from different language-speaking regions all at once.
But that’s not the case with ‘Thangalaan’ as it faltered big time by releasing Hindi version long after Tamil or any other regional language version thereby losing a critical window to capture the Hindi audience’s attention when the momentum was high. The release schedule plays a critical role in any film’s trajectory given today’s digital age where early reviews, and social media buzz can make or break a film within a matter of just a few days.
Moreover, the delay in Hindi theatrical release of ‘Thangalaan’ limited its impact because it entered a market that had already moved on to newer release and not only that it also suffered due to its inability to build unified hype across all language markets at the same time. And now in case of the film’s digital release a similar problem is sure to arise.
Regardless of the platform, a simultaneous release in all languages helps in reaching a wider audience specially for highly anticipated films like ‘Thangalaan’ and when the audience does not get so on time, it reaches out for pirated versions, subtitles, or even loses interest altogether. By the time the Hindi version might become available, the film may have lost its steam.
Apart from the cultural impact mentioned above, such gaps in releases negatively impact the box office collections and digital streaming revenues as well. The impact is also seen in other metrics used by streaming platforms to gauge a film’s success such as viewership numbers, engagement stats, or how long a film trends on the platform. And that is why when ‘Thangalaan’s Hindi version makes its entry on OTT it may no longer have the charm needed to top charts or generate robust viewership data, eventually affecting the film’s long-term value to the platform itself.
This gap in release might seem minor to many but when you delve into detail it shows how significant it is. After all, the devil is in the details and timing is everything. ‘Thangalaan’ could have been a pan Indian hit like ‘Jailer’ or ‘Kantara’ if it hadn’t missed this opportunity. This staggered release, specially for dubbed versions goes on to show how it impacts the film’s reach, which leads to a cultural impact and finally financial loss.
It’s high time that filmmakers, producers and distributors realise that in this age of modern cinema, audience across the nation is willing to accept all kinds of films with open arms without any language barrier and thus it is crucial that they recognize that timing, for both theatrical and digital releases, can make all the difference in the world.