Team-BHP - OTTs & TV Shows are killing my interest in Bollywood films & theatres

The subscriptions offered within Amazon Prime are cheaper than what they would cost as an independent app in my opinion. I am only subscribed to Eros Now and havent taken Lionsgate one on Prime.

I have been watching Lionsgate movies for more than a decade (I think I started with Source Code, a must watch movie) and generally feel that they offer some amazing action movies. Rambo, Expendables, Hunger Games, John Wick and what not.

Lionsgate movies were free on Airtel Xtreme that I got with an annual prepaid recharge last year. Its no longer available FOC on Xtreme IIRC.

Regarding the main topic, I have stopped going to the Multiplex/ theatres. Mainly because of the illiterate crowd in tier 3 cities. Secondly, watching movies in the comfort of the home is getting more comfortable.

Its going to be the cinema for me. The experience is unmatched. This has less to do with popcorn. Its that giant screen and powerful audio that is the main draw for me. I cannot replicate that in my home, no matter what I do or how much I spend on home theater. Then there are some movies where I don't want to wait till they reach OTT. The only way is to watch them in a cinema.

Sadly OTT has killed cinema going. I don't remember the last time I saw a full house in a cinema. Even for Maverick, the cinema was 10% full. Sad.

Then there are visual effects films. I don't know how you can possibly enjoy one, to a high level of detail and visual impact on a 55" TV. Its just not possible.

I am a peripheral contributor in the making of the new Avatar : The Way of Water movie. We have put in so much effort in Research and Development in making this film (especially around water simulation and environments) that it will be a gold standard when it comes to visual effects. We have pushed the envelope for what can be achieved, just like the first film did. Trust me, you want to watch or should I say experience this film on a giant screen. No OTT platform will replicate or bring forward the grandeur of those stunning visuals.

I don't remember which was the last movie I watched in the theatre clearly and I don't have any longing to go to the theatre anymore :D

I do agree with the reasons that many have already called out like overcrowded malls, parking, Cost of Non-Ticket expense like Pop Corn to Mineral Water etc.

That being said, one more reason I think not covered here is the inflated cost of film making which Bollywood has gotten into. Note that KGF2 was made at a budget of 100 cr while the budget of even not so cinematic Bollywood movies easily crosses this figure. So Bollywood needs to rework its financial model given the way their films are performing recently and maybe push the so called stars to readjust what they are charging vs the overall ROI.

Another lesson to learn is that the era of remake films like Jersey, LSC and Vikram Vedha is over. People have access to the regional content and its already stale by the time its remade.
Especially Vikram Vedha - my prediction it wont set any records - especially given that the original was already made with top notch actors such as Madhavan and Vijay Sethupathi.

Also recently actor R Madhavan pointed out that its only a few films from the South that have made it big - only handful like Bahubali 1 & 2, KGF 1 & 2, Pushpa and Vikram. This is also true - its not just Bollywood - the south has also faced its own setbacks examples being the current one - Liger. And more recently Prabhas's Radhe Shyam and Chiranjeevi's Acharya.

Interesting times indeed - the next biggie lined up is Brahmastra - let us see what happens next....I for one - will wait for OTT release even for that one...rl:

While I would still love to watch certain movies in theatres for the wholesome experience (IMAX, Dolby Surround Sound, etc.), one of the major factors that have been putting me off is the lack of respect for the time from the multiplex owners

They are so keen on showing the advertisements that most of the time movie starts later than the scheduled time. Specifically in PVR, I have seen that a movie would start after 25-30 mins of adverts. A 2 hour movie would take ~3 hours in theatre (not counting travel, parking, malls making you walk across all their stores to reach the theatre etc.)

I always wonder, even after paying ~1000-1500 bucks for a single movie, the amount which can get you a premium AD free OTT subscription - why should I watch these crappy ads in the theatre while having the country's costliest soda and popcorn

I usually avoid unless I absolutely have half a day to waste and nothing else to do.

As a filmmaker I am seeing this trend as a transition, confident that Cinemas are not going anywhere. It's been 20 plus years since the last transition, when we went from really dodgy halls with poor projection and sound systems to the spanking new multiplexes we have now, and quite honestly a lot of fat had accumulated at the top of the pyramid. A shakeup is long overdue. The current model is broken and needs readjustment. But I am not worried about survival of the cinema experience. One might worry about survival of the current leaders in the cinema businesses but then like in life there's a churn that takes down the inefficient and defunct.

I also have no idea how it will evolve and what shape it will take post the transition. If I did I would invest everything and become the next movie mogul. Alas, no such luck. But in a sense I am glad that this churn has been set in motion. What might have taken 5-7 years has been forced upon us by Covid. Increasingly the cinema experience was becoming unpleasant and I was avoiding it as much as possible. Quality of content aside, that's a very subjective thing, the irritants like midfilm advertising, rubbish and expensive F&B, and forced jingoistic nationalism were making movie watching a tedious exercise. In fact I had taken to watching films only during festivals when I could at least avoid my pet peeves of unplanned intervals. I am hoping that once the next phase, after the death and destruction of current behemoths, we will once again be able to walk into neighbourhood cinemas and enjoy an engaging experience.

Movie Halls in the US are planning a National Cinema day with flat 3$ tickets on the 3rd September to get people back into theaters. I think this is a great idea that can be tried here.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/mov...us-2022-08-29/

I usually prefer alternative/indie movies and don't really watch blockbusters so I rarely go. Too many issues on that rare occasion when I do go.

The screens are not big enough. Most halls feel like a glorified home theater. Here's looking at you, PVR.
The absurd rule of playing the national anthem before the film. There is a time and place for everything, this is not it.
The no-smoking/gutka short films that gross me out
The jarring adverts. I expect zero ads when I'm paying Rs 500 for a ticket
Abruptly cutting for an interval which disrupts the flow. Followed by another barrage of ads.
Getting frustrated by people around you who keep looking at their phones and disturbing the immersive experience.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ranjitnair77 (Post 5391373)

The jarring adverts. I expect zero ads when I'm paying Rs 500 for a ticket
Abruptly cutting for an interval which disrupts the flow. Followed by another barrage of ads.

Very valid point. There was a time when I loved the few minutes before the movie and during the interval when they would show trailers of upcoming movies. Now the fact that we are barraged with those trailers on Youtube / social media, it's no longer a 'benefit' for watching a movie in the hall.

Also over the last few years, the number of ads have started going up - in some movie halls, the ads take up an additional 20-30 mins easily (combined across the start and interval).

I'm surprised no one is talking about the elephant in the room. So let me be the first one to take this thread political :D

But before that let me state some less observed points

-) Most of the movies released in the past year are the ones affected by covid. Laal singh Chaddha had an initial release date of Dec 2020. Then Mar 2022 but decided not to faceoff with RRR and KGF and settled for August.

-) Same with RRR and KGF the only difference here was these were highly anticipated movies which lived upto the hype.

-) However movies like Jayeshbhai jordar, Shabash mithu weren't even promoted properly. Few knew when such releases were made.

-) OTTs were around even before the pandemic but a huge chunk of bollywood patronage were causal cinema goers. Thus the commercial success of movies like Simba, War and its likes. And most recently Bhool bhulaiya 2.

Presently bollywood is facing hardships like never before. Good content from bollywood was always few and far in between. But now movies like Bahubali, RRR and KGF have raised the bar for what counted for a theater going experience.

But most of all the Boycott culture has hit the box office harder. Watching/ignoring a laal singh chaddha has become more of a statement today. The amount of negativity generated in social media by rightwing trolls made it a hot potato. Resulting in the loss of casual movie goers who would stay out of trouble.

It took an organized slander campaign against Aamir Khan to make it a bigger disaster than Thugs of Hindostan despite being a better offering. Being a remake didn't help, and for it to survive the onslaught it had to be a masterpiece which it wasn't. The margin of error is very thin now. Brahmastra is a target already so is Vikram Vedha.

With so much poison in social media bollywood has a tough task at hand. "Decent" won't work now. Save that for OTTs.

Personally I didn't care for movies, moviestars or such. After marriage I was obliged to watch SRK movies as my wife was a fan. That series ended with "Fan" and we stopped watching bollywood in theaters. Anyway after the birth of my son we stopped going to the movies altogether.

The only exception being when we took turns babysitting to watch separate movies. I went for Bohemian Rhapsody whereas she went for Grindlewald.

However now my son is 5 and we went for Laal singh chaddha our first hindi movie in a cinema since 2016. I wouldn't have bothered but I went to watch the movie just to make a point.

Next would be Brahmastra which I suppose my son would enjoy too. As he did enjoy the initial bit of LSC before he dozed off (it was a late night show). For people with kids keeping them busy at home is tough. So OTT is not always an option especially when the kid insists on youtube.

So yes I would definitely go to the cinemas not because I enjoy it but just to take a stand in these troubled times. I will watch it and post it on my otherwise inactive Facebook just to provide that bit of irritation to my right-wing-brain-filled-with-cowdung friends and family.

So yeah! Cinemas are back! I'll be watching Brahmastra, Vikram Vedha, Adipurush and Pathan (with severely low expectations from the war director) for sure.

I have been watching Tamil, Telugu & Hindi movies for the last 2 decades.
I think south movies (Tamil & Telugu) were any day better than Hindi movies on an average from the content perspective.
Bollywood was always bling, with super rich guy meeting a cool chick and how they end up in a while or about infidelity.
Most of the Bollywood movies that I liked (Swades, Chak de India, Gangajal,etc.) didn't do that well. So probably the audience also never acknowledged good movies.
It is only because of OTT that Hindi audience are exposed to the south movies and appreciating it now.
But the fact is South movies had better content even before.

It is the same with me with respect to Malayalam movies.
I have never watched a single Malayalam movie pre-Covid.
Now I have watched at least some 30 -35 movies and came to realize that Malayalam movies offer far better content than Tamil or Telugu.

It's a vicious circle for any industry. Bollywood has got a good chance to understand what the market needs and will hopefully bounce bank with great contents.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 400notout (Post 5391438)

But most of all the Boycott culture has hit the box office harder. Watching/ignoring a laal singh chaddha has become more of a statement today. The amount of negativity generated in social media by rightwing trolls made it a hot potato. Resulting in the loss of casual movie goers who would stay out of trouble.

I have a slightly different take on this. In my view, the political part is overrated. All the blockbuster movies get footfalls of at least 2cr or more. I don't think more than 20K out of these potential 2Cr would be on twitter and other social media where these boycott trends are going on. If you see movies from Devgan to Kumar to kapoors.. None of them have worked.

In my mind, one of the other key dimension is that Bollywood has stopped creating content which viewers in non-Metro can appreciate and connect with. Likes of RRR, KGF and Pushpa were huge hits because of their business in mass belt.

If I look at the story telling and content graph of any top actor or director in last 10 years; it has actually gone down. For example, Ranbir Kapoor gave us Barfi almost 10 years back and look what kind of sham his latest shamshera is. Aamir is one of the few whose graph was rising but has again taken a nose dive in last 2 - Thugs and LSC. Similar for others.

Remakes will not work anymore as people already have access to it through OTT. Also, very seldom our remakes are better than original. Bollywood original content apart from being mediocre, has become too metro-centric and anglicized which normal public just cannot relate with. Even for this Metro junta who has world cinema available on click of the button, why will they go and watch unless the product is really paisa-wasool.

My wife and I used to watch a movie almost every week before pandemic where as now the last one we saw was KGF2 in the theatre and it has nothing to do with any boycott call at all.