Hyderabad:Akira Kurasawa, Luis Bunuel, Ingmar Bergman, Kislovsky, Jean Luc Godard, all these masters of world cinema are quite familiar to movie lovers in Kerala. Smaller film societies functioning even in remote corners of the state earlier had taken parallel international movies to the people. With the popularity of television and video libraries, these film societies slowly disappeared into oblivion.
However, some recently launched regional OTT platforms are presently doing what these societies did earlier, giving audiences to smaller movies, parallel movies and movies of smaller banners. When the restrictions imposed by Covid offered a platform for launch for these OTTs and in growing their popularity, reopening of theatres would help them sustain their business, feel industry experts. With big banner movies queued up for theatre release, smaller banners will have to depend on these OTT platforms for their release and for longer screen presence.
New stream and Prime Reels, two exclusive Malayalam content OTTs launched recently, work on the principle of quality content rather than on star cast or big banners. “What we consider is the quality of the content and making. 'The Great Indian Kitchen' was rejected by both Amazon and Netflix. But we saw the quality in the movie and knew it would have a great acceptance in Kerala,” Charles George, regional head - Kerala of Neestream says.
'The Great Indian Kitchen', which has National Award-winning actor Suraj Venjaramoodu and State Award winner Nimisha Sajayan in lead roles, has taken Kerala by storm, kickstarting a much-needed debate on patriarchy and ill-treatment of women in Kerala society. When the movie became a hot discussion topic, Neestream too was reaping the benefits of popularity and increased subscription. “Most of our subscribers are from outside Kerala, who have little scope of watching new Malayalam releases. People always accept quality content,” Charles George adds.
The Kochi based OTT platform Prime Reels also gives space for good, socially relevant movies. Their latest release, ' The Confessions of a Cuckoo', is a realistic movie that discusses cases of child sexual abuse where perpetrators are close relatives, directed by Jay Jithin Prakash. It is the debut movie of the director but the OTT platform has not shied away from accepting it and respecting its content.
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Kerala always had a culture of good movies that failed commercially. The powerful distribution networks kept most of such movies out of Theatres, raising doubts over their commercial viability. Even now, the life duration of such movies in theatres is restricted to a week or two. Regional OTT platforms provide a helping hand here as well by ensuring longer prime space for such movies. But Industry experts say that good movies are now making money as well. The subscription for Neestream went up considerably after the release of The Great Indian Kitchen. Prime Reel is also having good movies up their sleeves. The greater acceptance for quality movies, even when such movies do not boast about a star cast, is helping regional OTTs to boldly go ahead with their content selection strategy. When the bigger OTT platforms have sensational content with bigger industry names, regional OTTs are treading a different path tagging along with smaller players in the industry.
“Neestream was only there to support us. I was worried about the fate of my movie when Netflix and Amazon turned it down,” Jeo Baby, director of the movie, 'The Great Indian Kitchen', says. He said he could not blame Amazon or Netflix for rejecting his movie. “At the time of Telegram and other pirated movie sharing media, they had genuine apprehensions. They would have thought about the commercial viability of the movie,” Jeo Baby says.
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However, Neestream only discussed the content and were very friendly, he adds. “Though I never had hopes of this movie becoming such a big discussion point, I knew it has a subject that can start a serious debate. I had told this to the Neestream people also,” he says. Unlike theatre releases, OTT platform helped Jeo to reach to more audiences across the country and abroad. “I am happy that even women who could not come and see the movie in theatres could watch my movie at their homes and discuss it,” Jeo Baby says.
Regional OTTs are not just keeping their focus and encouragement on good movies but also promoting quality content in the form of web series. Kerala's television serial segment has been heavily criticised for poor quality content and OTTs could bring in a fresh lease of life through their web series with quality content. “We have at least four web series under production. Here also we have only looked for content quality. We see 18 episodes before we accept a web series,” Charles George of Neestream says.
Some OTTs like Koode is taking a step further by providing a platform for short films, music albums and web series, making the choice of viewing more dynamic for the consumers.
