WTF Wednesday: Multiplexes crying foul over films releasing on OTT platforms is so hypocritical when they had no qualms running single screens to the ground

In a rare move over the past few days, we've heard of a bunch of Indian films that are going to see the light of day directly on OTT platforms. Anticipated films, starring big names, like the Amitabh Bachchan-Ayushmann Khanna starrer, Gulabo Sitabo, Vidya Balan starrer Shakuntala Devi, Jyothika starrer Ponmagal Vandhal (Tamil), produced by her husband, Suriya, Keerthy Suresh starrer Penguin (Tamil), directed by Karthik Subbaraj, Sufiyum Sujatayum (Malayalam) and French Biryani (Kannada) have chosen to release straight to digital, with more expected to follow suit, given the ongoing lockdown across the country, coupled with the fact that once theatres do open, it's the big films that are going to precedence.

In such a scenario, producers and financiers of small and medium-budget movies are looking to protect their interests before the losses keep mounting. Nothing wrong with that, right? In fact, some sources have informed us that the producers of Shakuntala Devi was facing debts to the tune of Rs. 1 crore per day prior to inking the deal with Amazon Prime as he had lifted the entire production cost of the movie from the market. Similarly, the more such films are made to wait for a theatrical release, so are the losses going to be huge.

Plus, there's print and advertising to consider once they do get to release in cinema halls, which will further increase the financial burden. There's no certainty of the release scale they'll get amidst the mad rush of pending films clamouring to for the maximum number of screens. Add to that the fact that with finances affecting several households during lockdown, people, especially the family audience, are going to be extremely choosy for some time about which films they'll spend their hard-earned money on in the theatres.

However, our beloved multiplex chains have ignored all these burning issues and decided to paint the producers as the villains. INOX and PVR have issued statements crying foul over the decision of these films choosing to release directly on OTT platforms, displaying a clear lack of empathy, and honestly, an absence of conscience. Read what they had to say below:

What these statements also lay bear is the clear hypocrisy on the part of these big-shot multiplex chains, who had not given two hoots when they were running single screens to the ground in the past. Several screens, who would also provide tickets and snacks (the ones that have managed to survive still do) at affordable rates for the common man, were either run out of business by these multiplexes (not only in metros; smaller towns too bore the brunt though not to same degree) or were forced to annex themselves to one or another of the plexes to sustain themselves. And what about their blatant arrogance when it came to ticket rates (particularly on weekends) and the prices of snacks? One of the board members of PVR, whose name we'd rather not disclose, had said on record that it's his establishment and he can choose to sell a vada pav at Rs. 1 crore if he wishes to.

They had turned a blind eye to the desperation of single screens. The pleas of cinema lovers to reconsider their exorbitant prices had fallen on deaf ears. They have turned movie-watching into an elitist privilege, meant only for a certain class of audience, and have made going to movies about everything else other than cinema. No longer was visiting theatres on weekends with your family something that people could take for granted, which is how it had been in the past and should be. Never did they support or offer subsidised release to indie producers. And now that these multiplex chains are getting a small taste of their own medicine, they can't bear it even for a short while. More so, when this seems to be nothing more than a temporary recourse under trying times, and the big-ticket films are still waiting for the theatres to function again. We are inclined to put their reactions down to nothing else than corporate giants showing their true egotistical colours.

Thankfully, both better sense and conscience prevailed in the case of Carnival Cinemas, whose statement clearly shows that they understand where these producers are coming from, and have no doubt that this is merely a temporary phenomenon under extreme

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