It all started with Shoojit Sircar’s Gulabo Sitabo. That was the first film to be premiered on an OTT platform (Amazon Prime) during the Coronavirus pandemic lockdown. It happened in June 2020, barely three months into the pandemic lockdown. Exhibitors were up in arms against Shoojit Sircar then for having had the audacity to bypass a theatrical release and opt for a digital premiere. One national multiplex chain even threatened to boycott all films of the banner in the future.
But even Shoojit Sircar may never have imagined that his move would start a virtual trend of OTT premieres. For, he had shown producers the way to liquidate their blocked funds in completed films while also ensuring that the films did not appear stale by having to wait for cinemas to reopen and the public to return to the cinemas. Producer after producer premiered his film digitally as multiplexes and single-screen cinemas watched in dismay. In this way, scores of films were lost to theatres as they began to stream on platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime.
OTT premieres seem to have come full circle, what with Shoojit Sircar yesterday (23rd September) announcing the digital premiere of his Sardar Udham on Amazon Prime in October this year. Meanwhile, the trade is tired of waiting for cinemas to reopen in states like Maharashtra, and operate at full capacity wherever they are already functional. A trade wallah remarked on hearing about the premiere of Vicky Kaushal starrer Sardar Udham on Amazon Prime next month, “Let this be the last film to bypass theatrical release. Let this trend, which started with a film (Gulabo Sitabo) of Shoojit Sircar, also end with a film made by Shoojit Sircar.” God willing!