Indian Film Biz Needs To Focus On Story-telling, Not Just Scale, To Get Audiences Back Into Cinemas, Say IFFI Goa Panelists

deadline.com:

A group of leading Indian filmmakers and producers discussed strategies for bringing local audiences back into cinemas following the huge rise in OTT consumption in India, at a panel at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa. “The platforms existed before the pandemic and people flirted with them, but when the pandemic happened they took OTT home and started consuming content across different languages and genres,” said Vivek Krishnani, CEO of IN10 Media Network and former Sony India head. “When cinemas opened again, people were shy to return, but the choice of content that drives them to cinemas can’t be same.” Director-producer Ramesh Sippy, whose credits include iconic Indian films such as Sholay, said this was an issue even before the rise of streaming: “There was a time when you only had to announce a film and people would rush to the cinema without knowing exactly what they were going to see.

Now audiences are more discerning.”  But while Krishnani said content in cinemas now needs to be a certain standard and scale, he also said story-telling is just as important – and pointed out that some smaller films are still succeeding at the box office, even though audiences know they can see them on streaming platforms.

Over the past few weeks, a Tamil-language film, Love Today, produced for just $700,000 (Rs55m) has grossed around $7m (Rs580m).

The film is about a father who tells a young couple who want to get married to exchange phones for day, and if they still want to marry each other at the end of the day, they can go ahead.