PremiumDheekshith Shetty – No takers for OTT rights if film is not a success; will have to resort to YouTube
Dheekshith, who is preparing for the release of a sci-fi flick Blink, spoke about success no longer being defined by quality content, acting, days in theatres, but by box office collections
Dheekshith Shetty's Blink, an experimental musical sci-fi film, is releasing on March 8
Last Updated: 06.40 PM, Mar 06, 2024
Dheekshith Shetty, who has been steadily making a name for himself in Telugu cinema, got his first Kannada release since Dia last month, when KTM came out. The actor is now gearing up for his next, Blink, a musical sci-fi film involving time travel, an experimental subject, so to speak. Since making the transition from the small screen to cinema, Dheekshith has been trying to pick subjects that are diverse and challenge him as an actor, but in a day and age when audiences are exposed to content from across the world, does he have an idea about the elements to look for in a script that will be sure-shot winners?
In a special promotional interview of Blink by the film’s production house, Janani Pictures, Dheekshith said that he is still in the process of figuring out what works and what does not work for audiences. Right now, his biggest learning has been that whatever one does, it has to be done with absolute honesty and conviction. Until a few years ago, success was judged by the number of days a film ran in theatres, say, 59-days or 100-days, as the case was. Audiences would also discuss the performances of the actors.
Today, the actor reckons, it is the crores made in terms of collections that define success. “Audiences only talk about how much money a film has made, everything else becomes secondary,” said Dheekshith. A direct outcome of this focus on theatrical business is now also seen in terms of the post-theatrical business a film can do.
When there are 6-10 films releasing every week without any rules or regulations, reaching your content to audiences has become a major issue for filmmakers, says the actor. With this abundance of content flooding the market, audiences will not be in a position to favour all, so they pick a few and hope to catch the rest on OTT. “The problem with that is that earlier, a producer was assured of certain confirmed returns for the post-theatrical rights for TV and OTT. Today, if a film does not do well in theatres, there are no takers for the OTT or satellite rights. Going forward, we may have to release films directly on YouTube,” says Dheekshith.