Disney+ Hotstar to premiere Bollywood comedy ‘Hungama 2’

NEW DELHI: Bollywood comedy Hungama 2 directed by Priyadarshan will premiere on Disney+ Hotstar on 23 July, skipping the wait for theatrical release as cinemas continue to remain shut in some of the biggest territories like Delhi and Mumbai. The film stars Paresh Rawal, Shilpa Shetty and Meezaan Jaffrey in lead roles.

Though trade experts say the resumption of Bollywood films in theatres will gradually mean an end to the aggressive turn video streaming platforms had taken to acquire films for direct digital premieres, some producers are taking the OTT route for finished projects that may not find adequate showcasing in the near future.

Parineeti Chopra-starrer The Girl On The Train premiered on Netflix earlier this year while the service has also grabbed Kartik Aaryan’s Dhamaka and Taapsee Pannu’s Haseen Dilruba.

Trade analysts and entertainment industry experts said digital has emerged stronger than ever before during the pandemic and is unlikely to go away any time soon, despite theatre owners urging filmmakers to release films for big screens to help in the recovery of the industry.

Medium- and small-budget films will always have that option now to go directly to a streaming platform whereas the big films that need theatrical validation to fully recoup their investments will obviously not see OTT as a viable strategy, trade experts point out. Among other titles, Akshay Kumar’s Sooryavanshi and sports drama ’83 are preparing for theatrical releases.

Further, the economics make sense. For second-rung stars, producers may not see sense in spending an additional ₹8-10 crore for publicity and advertising on a film made on a budget of ₹15 crore when a streaming platform is ready to cough up around ₹20 crore with no distribution or marketing costs. It helps to keep the business cycle going when a production house has bigger films in the pipeline that it has to fund, trade experts say.