The rise of OTT platforms has opened up an entirely new path of entertainment for Indian audiences. As for Indian cinema, many insiders believe this marks another golden age for many deserving but yet-to-be-noticed performers, female actors and content creators. Yet, beneath this great promise of global visibility and so-called “meatier roles”, a silent crisis has begun to take root in the conventional theatrical market.
This complex scenario received significant attention from two of the industry’s most acclaimed actors, Huma Qureshi (Maharani Season 4) and Shefali Shah (Delhi Crime Season 3), at the recently held 10th edition of Expresso. While Shah hailed OTT as a game-changer that “started giving full-fledged roles and stories that you may not have heard before,” Qureshi was quick to point out the systemic damage being inflicted on indie films.
This situation naturally raises an important question: has OTT liberated storytelling but commoditised the theatrical experience, creating an environment where only blockbusters or direct-to-streamers can survive?
Qureshi highlighted this shift, noting that platforms are “slowly rejecting the conventional wisdom that the theatrical business is only led by men.” Titles like Heeramandi, Aarya, The Trial and more have proved that there is a massive fan base for female-led projects in the Indian OTT landscape.
However, streaming also appears to be simultaneously eroding the theatrical viability of mid-budget films. Huma Qureshi used her own film, Single Salma, as a crucial example of this troubling trend. This is what she said:
“Single Salma released on 31st October, and not many people got to see it. It wasn’t really promoted, there was no marketing spend on it, not even a bare minimum. There was no real buzz or conversation around it because there was a belief that now it will come on a streamer, so there was no point in it, because of what you said, that people are not really coming into theatres. I feel it is going to kill the business because the big machismo and the blockbusters are not going to sustain the business; it’s the small and mid-size films that always have and will always keep the business going.”
There is no denying that producers and distributors nowadays are treating the theatrical release of a small film not as a cultural event to be championed, but as a mandated two-week placeholder before the real revenue (the OTT deal) kicks in. By limiting marketing and promotion, they create a self-fulfilling narrative of failure. The lack of box office buzz is then used to justify the film’s rapid shift to streaming.
We can clearly see that the industry has been divided into two extremes: the event film (encompassing large-scale, action-packed and epic blockbusters such as Jawan, Kalki 2898 AD, Chhaava and more). These projects receive a massive portion of the marketing budget from the makers.
Then there are niche films, critically acclaimed, character-driven stories that are often pushed directly to OTT, such as the John Abraham-starrer Tehran (2025), which reportedly skipped a theatrical release entirely in favour of a streaming premiere (ZEE5), deeming its geopolitical thriller subject better suited to the platform.
The current streaming environment has dangerously shrunk the middle ground where films like Piku or Neerja once blossomed. While some content-driven films like Laapataa Ladies have beaten the odds in recent years, their success stands as the exception, highlighting the difficulty of convincing the post-pandemic audience to step out unless the offering is either spectacular or essential.
Undoubtedly, OTT has proven the audience’s appetite for diverse and complex narratives. Now, the film industry must rediscover the faith and the marketing budget required to present those very same compelling stories on the big screen. Stay tuned for more updates.
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