More regional films may go to OTT this year, industry experts predict

Karan Johar’s upcoming venture Shershaah is the latest Hindi film to have taken the digital route as the wait for theatres to reopen is getting nerve-wracking for producers. The highly-anticipated film Shershaah will now drop on Amazon Prime Video. The Sidharth Malhotra starrer features the actor in a double role, while Kiara Advani plays the leading lady in the film.

The senior VP of Elara Capital, Karan Taurani told Moneycontrol that medium and small films going to OTT will be higher than last year, while from a large film perspective, the number would be lesser. “The number of regional films produced in a year is 2x of Hindi films. Hence, more regional films will be going to OTT this year,” he added.

While the CEO of Ormax Media, Shailesh Kapoor estimated that till now more than 25 Hindi films which hoped to release in theatres have opted for a direct-to-OTT release considering the Covid-19 situation. He further mentioned that Netflix has showcased nine of these films including Haseen Dilruba, six each in Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ Hotstar and four in ZEE5 including Salman Khan starrer Radhe.

The digital platforms will see many more upcoming releases like Hungama 2 featuring Meezaan, Shilpa Shetty, Paresh Rawal, Pranitha Subhash on Disney+ Hotstar, 14 Phere starring Vikrant Massey and Kriti Kharbanda on ZEE5 among other films. Meanwhile, Ranveer Singh starrer Cirkus, Pathan starring Shah Rukh Khan are some of the upcoming films that are expected to tread a similar path.