Ramya on Swathi Mutthina Male Haniye: ‘We won awards, but…’

When actress Ramya launched her production banner Applebox Studios, the prerogative, she’d said, was to focus on women’s narratives. She started off with Swathi Mutthina Male Haniye, written and directed by Raj B Shetty, which followed the transformative journey of a palliative care centre counsellor, in her personal and professional spheres. More than a year since the film’s release, Ramya is yet to announce her next project.

Ramya: Swathi Mutthina Male Haniye came when OTTs were no longer buying content

Turning producer, though, wasn’t all rosy for Ramya. “We won all the awards, but made no money,” she said at the Deccan Herald 2040 summit. Swathi Mutthina Male Haniye, she says, was conceived as a straight-to-OTT project, when platforms were acquiring content outright and there was interest in the project. By the time the film was ready, though, the stance had changed. Major OTT platforms were either not interested in Kannada content, not buying anything outright or reserving their budgets for big star-led movies only. “Bagheera made it to Netflix because it was sold as part of a bundle of movies that the production house had,” she says.

Also read: Ramya: Star-driven box office hits are about machoism and not evolving the mindset of the movie-goer 

Today, a theatrical release is a must before OTT platforms even engage for a conversation. Ramya says that she eventually got a premium offer of Rs 7 per minute on pay-per-view mode for Swathi Mutthina Male Haniye, which has now come down to Rs 2-4 at the most, that she reckons is not enough for small and mid-range budget filmmakers to recover their investment. This lack of interest from OTT platforms in Kannada cinema apart, Ramya adds that she’s yet to find an exciting subject to pick as her next production venture.

Also read: Ramya explains why she chose not to do Swathi Mutthina Male Haniye with Raj B Shetty 

Incidentally, Ramya had considered making her comeback to cinema with Swathi Mutthina Male Haniye, but eventually decided against it, as she felt that a relative newcomer would be better suited for the role. Siri Ravikumar played Prerana in the film.