Edagaiye Apaghatakke Karana’s Diganth says he’s banking on the strength of the content to bring audiences back to theatres

Kannada actor Diganth is bringing his film Edagaiye Apaghatakke Karana to theatres at a time when there is absolutely no guarantee that audiences will turn up to see it. But for a couple of films like Choo Mantar and Yuddhakaanda Chapter 2, hardly any have seen good footfalls. Diganth is acutely aware of this and says that his understanding of it is that theatre visits are being limited to big-budget, star-driven spectacles, while the rest are for viewing in the comfort of homes on OTT.

During a promotional interview for Edagaiye Apaghatakke Karana, Diganth (Yadha Yadha Hi , Laughing Buddha) said that he sees no immediate solution to this problem, but is hopeful that positive word-of-mouth will bring in some audiences to theatres after all. What should help is that the trailer that came out this week has received positive feedback. “I am not expecting people to flood theatres on Day 1, but hopefully, gradually, it will pick up once there’s word out there about a content-rich film,” he told Asianet Suvarna.

Diganth on lack of support from audiences and producers

The actor also reminisced about his college days, when every Friday after class the discussion among youngsters would be about the films that have released and which one to watch. “This would happen week-on-week. These days, you don’t see that. I don’t know what youngsters today are watching. In fact, you barely see that generation in theatres,” he said talking to News First.

Diganth adds that convincing Kannada audiences about the quality of content has become very difficult. “They are more welcoming of an experimental film from Malayalam than from Kannada. The problem I see is that no one, be it producers or audiences, are supporting low budget, content-rich experimental cinema. If big budget films are the pillars of a bridge, our kind of small movies are the road in the middle. This is on the verge of collapse,” he reckons.