With people wary of going to theatres, over-the-top (OTT) media platforms like Netflix have stepped in to fill the void in the entertainment sector. Three Kannada films — Law , French Biriyani, and Bheemasena Nalamaharaja — had a direct release on Amazon Prime after theatres shut their doors to the public during lockdown. Several other films are in the queue trying to strike a deal with streaming platforms, sources said.
Though there were protests from within the industry when Puneeth Raj Kumar Productions sold two films for a direct OTT release, things have settled down and several senior producers are looking at streaming platforms as a new avenue, given theatres are not fully functional yet.
However, the potential of such platforms to tap into the Kannada entertainment industry is not being realised fully.
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Srinivas Sribhakta, a content curator for streaming platforms, said that no content is being produced in Kannada exclusively for OTT platforms.
“So far, films, which were preparing for a release in the theatre but were forced to alter their plans because of COVID-19, have premiered on streaming platforms. On the other hand, we are seeing content in Tamil and Telugu being developed solely for OTT viewers,” he said.
He pointed out that the three films that OTT platforms have bought are produced by leading production houses and no independent filmmaker has been able to sell a film to these platforms, indicating the OTT market is yet to open up for Kannada.
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“The subscriber base of streaming platforms has been mostly concentrated in Bengaluru, which is a very cosmopolitan city where the audience is presently watching content in multiple languages. So the platforms are not interested to invest in Kannada content,” he added.