With the latest technology, OTT (Over-The-Top) streaming media service becoming the hot favorite of filmmakers, both in Bollywood and down South Film Industry, there is terror among the exhibitors and the cinema hall owners. The thought of biggest blockbusters like Akshay Kumar’s ‘Laxmmi Bomb, Ajay Devgn’s Bhuj, and Alia Bhatt’s Sadak 2, being released on OTT is giving sleepless nights to film exhibitors and the cinema hall industry.
OTT platforms offer filmmakers a lucrative and safe option. However, this could affect the multi-crore business of film exhibitors. If OTT succeeds, over 9,000 single screens and multiplexes might suffer. Many employees could lose their jobs. Panicked by this threat, Eastern India Motion Pictures members sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s help. They want to save the exhibitor sector from this crisis.
As the tension between the exhibitors and the filmmakers over the OTT release boils, Indian Film History (IFH) wants to remind the readers that such a crisis, due to innovative technology, is not new to the Indian film industry! The Indian film industry has faced these challenges valiantly. Remember 14 March 1931, the day filmmakers released India’s First Talkie Cinema, Alam Ara. Though the introduction of sound in films delighted cine buffs, the change disillusioned the silent filmmakers! These filmmakers, who had dominated the film industry for the past two decades, were suddenly in a soup! Why? Well, Alam Ara did write a new chapter of film evolution, but silent filmmakers were jobless!
The Grand Evolution Of Cinema
Reason? Well, since talkie production was not only complicated but more expensive than silent films, several film production companies shut their production houses! Even the Father of Indian Cinema, Dada Saheb Phalke, lost his magic and had to retire from filmmaking. As a result, the last days of Dada Saheb Phalke were difficult, and he died in poverty. It was not just the filmmakers who were in distress; top-selling actors also faced the burnt.
Sound in cinema brought a new challenge for actors. In those days, Urdu and Hindi were the languages with the maximum reach across the country; Hindi-Urdu became the favorite language of the talkies. Actors who did not know these languages either quit cinema or learned these languages for survival. Readers would be surprised to know, D. D. Dabke, the hero of the film Raja Harishchandra, had to switch to the cinematographer for survival as he could speak good Hindi/Urdu. Thus the careers of several actors/actresses were marred by the advent of sound in cinema.
There was panic in the film industry for survival. Producers across the country were in a state of shock. While some were transforming their old studios by setting up new systems to face the sound revolution, others were switching trades to make a living.
The ‘exhibitors’ who are today facing the threat of OTT, similarly, faced the heat due to the advent of sound in cinema. The exhibitors had to renew their cinema halls and replace their silent projectors with sound equipment and make their theaters soundproof. Those who had money survived, while the rest drowned.
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