EXCLUSIVE: “When a film releases in theatre there is complete monopoly, superstars take over all 5000 screens,”- Nawazuddin Siddiqui 5000 : Bollywood News

Owing to the pandemic, theatres across the country were shut down in mid-March. This immediately gave a boost to consumption of content through OTT platforms. Taking advantage of the situation, OTT giants acquired rights for exclusive release of films that would have otherwise been released in theatres in a normal situation. In the past few months, several small movies which usually would not have received many screens in theatres, was lauded and stood out thanks to OTT platforms. Actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui who was seen in films like Serious Men and Raat Akeli Hai among others this year, in an exclusive interview with Bollywood Hungama gets candid about the perks of OTT for small films.

EXCLUSIVE: “When a film releases in theatre there is complete monopoly, superstars take over all 5000 screens,”- Nawazuddin Siddiqui

Talking about the increased consumption of content through OTT, Nawazuddin Siddiqui said, “People have watched a lot of content through OTT and if we look from the audience point of view they must have been educated a lot more about cinema as well. They saw world cinema and good actors from our country also got noticed which is usually not possible in cinema.”

Siddiqui further threw light on how small films are treated in theatres and how they never get their due because of box-office numbers. “When a film releases in theatre there is complete monopoly. The superstars take over all the 5000 theatres available. If you release your film in 5000 theatres, however bad the film is, you earn at least Rs. 20 crore and it is declared a hit. On the other hand, small films are declared flop on day one when there are 6-7 days left. These films require word-of-mouth publicity and take a few days. I do not understand the mystery behind this step like behaviours done with small films,” he said.

“OTT is a very liberating platform. Whether it is a superstar or an actor, if people like the content they will watch or they will switch. OTT it is a democratic platform and hence very good otherwise theatres and cinema has its own magic,” he further said.

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