Six or seven years ago, a Hindi film producer worried about one thing only: the theatrical run. If the film worked at the box office, its job was done. OTT was not a checkpoint. There was no pressure to “sell” the film again after release. Today, that simplicity is gone.
OTT has become an added burden, especially for small and mid-budget films in the ₹12–35 crore range.
Occasional successes like 12th Fail offer hope, but they are exceptions. More than 50 completed Hindi films are currently lying unreleased because neither theatres nor streaming platforms want to take the risk. Theatres demand scale and stars. OTT platforms want either proven box office success or big banners with familiar faces. Anything in between is pushed aside.
This limbo causes real damage. When a film remains unsold, it lowers the market value of everyone involved. Actors look irrelevant. Directors appear unreliable. Producers are tagged as risky. The industry rarely blames the system. It blames people.
Streaming platforms were once seen as saviours for such films. Now they are saturated, cautious, and obsessed with metrics. They spend heavily on star-led projects like Gehraiyaan or Naadaaniyaan, while rejecting smaller, stronger films without big names.
With no buyers, some films are forced into strange exits. The Lady Killer landed on YouTube. Adhbhut went to television. Kennedy briefly appeared on Letterboxd, but not in India, although it is finally coming to ZEE5. These are survival moves, not victories.
OTT was meant to widen cinema. Instead, it has added fear. Producers now worry about box office, OTT value, and resale perception all at once. Making films was never easy, but today releasing them has become the hardest part.