The relationship between the Indian film industry and OTT platforms operating in the country has entered a crucial phase. While support for streaming platforms and OTT content has amplified over the last 2–3 years, the relationship has also faced tremendous backlash from several filmmakers across the country. A bold accusation recently levelled by veteran director RK Selvamani, that OTT platforms “inflated salaries, then walked away”, has sparked a major debate.
There’s no denying that the boom of the OTT landscape in India has made the post-pandemic cinema economy more fragile, leading to unsustainable costs along the way.
According to Selvamani, during their initial phase of aggressive market capture, OTT platforms offered massive sums for content, particularly for the streaming rights of films starring superstars. As he pointed out, this led to actors who previously commanded INR 10 crores suddenly demanding up to INR 100 crores.
“You have given actors who were paid INR 10 crores a month INR 100 crores and have put them at the top of the list. Today, you have stopped buying films by saying that you are losing money. But none of the actors who got a salary increase came down. You closed the shop and left; we are the only ones standing downstairs and waiting,” Selvamani said harshly.
Today, streaming companies are focusing more on fixing their finances and acquiring less content, but the sky-high budgets they helped create are still weighing heavily on the traditional film industry.
Selvamani is not the only Indian filmmaker who feels this way. Celebrated director Vetrimaaran has also blamed OTT platforms for creating this imbalance. He revealed that streaming platforms entered the Indian market during the pandemic and offered massive sums, sometimes as high as INR 120 crores, for projects involving stars such as Vijay and Rajinikanth, empowering these actors to demand huge upfront salaries.
This financial pressure has contributed to a severe content drought in theatres. Exhibition sectors, particularly in regional cinema such as Kollywood, are facing a massive crisis in late 2025. Theatre owners report an all-time low footfall, primarily due to the compressed four-week theatrical window. Producers push for this short gap to maximise their digital sale value, effectively training audiences to wait for films to appear on OTT instead of buying tickets.
The financial impact is visible at the corporate level as well. PVR INOX, India’s largest multiplex chain, reported a significant consolidated net loss in the second quarter of FY 2025, a sharp decline from the profit reported in the previous year.
The theatre business is losing money even when there are big hits. This is because audiences are waiting to watch films on streaming platforms, forcing theatres to sell tickets for older, popular films at lower prices (around INR 150) compared to new releases (around INR 250).
While the OTT boom created enormous employment opportunities and broadened the scope for content, it inadvertently penalised the original ecosystem.
The solution, as championed by industry veterans like Kamal Haasan, lies in re-establishing a healthier theatrical window, ideally eight weeks, to give cinema a fair chance to monetise.
Ultimately, the survival of the traditional film industry hinges on filmmakers’ ability to create spectacle-driven films that compel audiences to leave their homes, while actors and producers must collectively realign their financial expectations to sustain a balanced, long-term ecosystem where both the big screen and the small screen can thrive. Stay tuned for more updates.