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The Hindi Side of OTT Platforms

DISSECT DEEPER #005

As much as we wouldn’t like to admit it, the rise of online streaming platforms has been a major part of the last decade. With websites like Netflix and Amazon Prime, it has become hard to keep track of all them (I didn’t even know about Yahoo Screens until a few weeks ago). Majority of these sites produce original content and while some miss miserably, others hit masterfully. As this blog is dedicated to Indian cinema, I’ll be focusing on the Indian originals of OTT Platforms, which thankfully isn’t as much as the Western originals. Still a relatively new territory for Bollywood, we have already received gems like Sacred Games and Family Man but also forgettable flicks like Virgin Bhanupriya and Mrs. Serial Killer. OTT platforms are defining the new age of Indian cinema in a non traditional way. But how so? Here are a few reasons why I think so.

C*nsorship

A struggle many creators have faced while publishing their works is dealing with censorship. Unlike western cinema, we have completely different views on movies with mature content such as cursing, nudity, and sex. The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), whose current chairman is Prasoon Joshi, has a continuous streak of being unforgiving towards mature content like sex, nudity, and language. Gulabi Aaina, Paanch, Udta Punjab, Lipstick Under My Burkha there are so many more movies that CBFC demanded cuts from or banned completely. Even western films like Blue Jasmine and The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo chose not to release their films in India because they needed to either censor themselves or cut crucial scenes. This kind of censoring suppresses the artistic voices of creators and not to mention deletes important scenes that contributes to the overall plot. But this is a different case with OTT platforms. See, the CBFC only overlooks movies that actually release in theaters, hence the movies getting a theatrical release ends up heavily censored. However, with OTT platforms are mostly free of that restriction, which allows the film creators to express their unfiltered artistic voices with no limitations.

Opportunity For Talent

From Varun Dhawan to Sonam Kapoor, the industry’s highest grossing movies and the list of a-listers are plagued with hints of nepotism. Every year, there is new talent who get ignored and are given minor roles they clearly dislike. Since most of these movies that have star kids in them get a theatrical release, people saw a shift to the right direction when online streaming platforms began producing their own shows and movies. For one, they began giving titular roles in major movies and shows to outsiders. A few I can think of are Bulbbul, Jamtara: Sabka Number Ayega, Afsos, and Criminal Justice. This allows these often ignored actors to prove their acting chops and gain a fan following. Also recently, many of these shows began casting talented actors who don’t receive much work in the industry because they are considered either too old or too irrelevant. Some of these include Abhishek Bachchan in Breathe, Sushmita Sen in Aarya, Bobby Deol in Class of ‘83, and Shefali Shah in Delhi Crime. Although many of these people mentioned here are products of nepotism, they do possess talent that is worth acknowledging in some shape or form.

Convenient & Safe

Now, this topic is more so relating to the current state of the pandemic right now rather than the normal day-to-day life because let’s be honest: not many people can afford proper internet connection let alone a Netflix or Hotstar account. Considering the state of social distancing, going to movie theaters isn’t really the best choice and thankfully many people recognize that. Since people are spending more and more time in their home, they have nothing but the internet to get entertainment from. While there is other online entertainment available other than these sites such as YouTube or Tiktok, people crave some high quality media sometime and that is made accessible through online streaming platforms. Cinema-goers can get the same if not higher quality of movies and show through the comfort of their own couch that isn’t K3G on Star Gold for the umpteenth time.

Conclusion

This was a mess of a post, but I think it offered an interesting argument for those who say that OTT platforms are not traditional cinema, hence it shouldn’t be treated like that. Unlike traditional Bollywood cinema, OTT platforms allows creators to express their artistic voice and showcase new and old talent, and is a safe way to binge on some movies or TV shows you can’t see on cable TV. There is, however, some downfalls to this form of media. Producers may find OTT platforms as a dumping ground for otherwise unmarketable movies (such as Drive) and they may prompt newer generation to lose appreciation for theatrically released movies (though that may happen in a very distant future where Generation Z becomes 60-70 years old). But for now though, I think I’ll continue to love and adore online streaming platforms for defying traditional Bollywood cinema.

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