Exclusive - Vidya Balan: There’s space for theatrical releases as well as OTT

Vidya Balan is currently enjoying the success of her film Sherni, which was released on Amazon Prime Video on June 19. Sherni, however, is not the first time Vidya's film has been released on OTT directly.

Her last movie Shakuntala Devi was also an OTT release. The trend started during the pandemic, when theatres were shut and people only had the luxury of viewing content from their homes.

However, once the pandemic is over, there is uncertainty whether there will be an audience for theatrical releases, especially since people have gotten comfortable with the idea of enjoying content on OTT.

Vidya, however, disagrees that OTT will replace theatres. “No, I don’t think so. There’s space for both,” the actress told OTTplay exclusively.

She shared, “There’s a lot of options in these times so thank god for the OTT platforms.”

Expressing her happiness over Sherni’s OTT release, Vidya added, “I’m happy that Sherni has been released on an OTT platform since the theme is universal. I think it is a film that can be viewed by anyone, including people who don’t know Hindi so it’s the perfect kind of film to have released on OTT. We might also have non-Indian audiences watch the film.”

Like Sherni, Shakuntala Devi also released on Amazon Prime Video. It was released in 2020 in the midst of the first COVID-19 phase.

Apart from Shakuntala Devi, Vidya had another short film Natkhat which was released in 2020. The movie made the rounds of film festivals and was available on YouTube for viewing for a brief period.

Vidya is now working on Suresh Triveni’s next film. The director had helmed Vidya’s film Tumhari Sulu previously.