Aamir Khan is known to be a risk-taker. And he is known to be a film person who can do anything for his film. There are numerous examples of how he has put his film before all and everything else including commercial gains, how he has swum against the tide and emerged victorious, how he has stood his ground and gone ahead with his conviction rather than blindly following the trend.
But with his Sitaare Zameen Par, Aamir Khan is probably taking one of the biggest risks insofar as its release strategy is concerned. As is common knowledge, he has not sold the streaming rights of the film to any OTT platform. But what is not known by most people is that he has turned down an offer of Rs. 120 crore from Amazon Prime Video for the digital rights of the film. Not because he wanted more, not because he wanted Netflix to bid higher for the film and thereby engage the two OTT platforms in a bidding war so that he could be the ultimate beneficiary, not for any similar reason. He politely said “no” because he has decided to try and change the game.
The digital release of films eight weeks after the theatrical release has been the boon and the bane of film business. Boon, because it has been a huge source of revenue for film producers, oftentimes the biggest! Bane, because the quick availability of films on OTT for the public to view them in the comfort of their homes for ‘free’ (one doesn’t pay for watching a film on OTT as one has already subscribed to one or more OTT platforms) is often considered the biggest reason for the falling footfalls in cinemas. By exhibiting the name of the platform in publicity materials of the films (besides in the credits of the film itself), producers are actually reminding the potential cinema audience, before the release of the films, that they would be available within weeks on the mentioned digital platform, and thereby dissuading them from coming to the cinemas. For, this constant reminder about the film’s presence on OTT after eight weeks of release is said to act as a deterrent for the audience to come to the cinemas. Many among the public would rather wait for the film to stream on the said OTT platform than spend money and watch the film in a cinema.
That is what Aamir Khan wants to change. A film is meant for the big screen — and Aamir would have it no other way. That’s the reason for him to decline the lucrative offer of Rs. 120 crore for the digital rights of Sitaare Zameen Par. Frankly, Amazon Prime’s offer was too lucrative for anyone to turn down. But what probably Aamir wants to do is to try and assess whether the absence of a film’s availability on any digital platform eight weeks post-release can prod them on to visit the cinemas. If this non-availability of his film on OTT indeed increases footfalls in cinemas, it may not just revive the industry and give box-office business the much-needed boost but it could also start a trend of either producers emulating Aamir Khan’s example or at least the industry as a whole revisiting the issue of when to release a film digitally. For a very long time now, many in the trade have been feeling that an eight-week theatrical window is too small. But if, God forbid, the footfalls do not increase substantially for Sitaare Zameen Par, not only will it mean that easy and quick availability of films on digital platforms is NOT the reason for declining attendance at cinemas but, personally for Aamir, it would mean a loss of Rs. 120 crore!
Aamir Khan has plans to make his labour of love available on YouTube later — perhaps, after the film has exhausted its run in the cinemas. And it will not be available for free on YouTube; the audience would have to pay for viewing the film. But the important point is that Aamir has the liberty to decide on the opportune and right time of release of Sitaare Zameer Par on YouTube, which would not have been the case had he sold the digital rights to Amazon Prime. The Rs. 120 crore which Amazon offered him was for the digital release immediately on completion of the eight-week theatrical window. There’s an inherent time frame which Aamir, as producer of the film, would have to adhere to. And that’s exactly what Aamir is not in favour of. Each film is different. Eight weeks might be the right window for one film’s theatrical run but that window may be too small for another film.
Aamir Khan has taken a calculated risk. Not just for his sake but for the sake of the revival of film business, one hopes that Sitaare Zameen Par scores big time on the big screen. It could then start a new trend wherein producers may not have to so heavily depend upon digital platforms for their survival — literally! It just might give the producers the courage to be their own bosses rather than being subservient to foreign digital platforms.
