JOIN USWhy fewer veteran filmmakers are on OTT platforms
Two filmmakers who attended Sunday’s press conference at the Bengaluru International Film Festival (BIFFes) had completely different approaches to OTT platforms.
The responses by veteran Kannada filmmaker Girish Kasaravalli and young Malayalam filmmaker Sajin Babu were revealing of the role generation gap plays in the perception of what new technology offers.
Kasaravalli has brought his film ‘Illiralare Allige Hogalare’ to the festival, while Sajin is here with his film ‘Biriyani’.
When asked about what his thoughts on OTT platforms are, Kasaravalli said he didn’t believe that this question was for him as it spoke about distribution.
Saying his producer should answer the question instead, he passed the mic on. When Sajin was asked about how he plans to reach out to a larger audience outside of the festival circuit, he said that his film will only have a limited release in theatres, but that he hopes to make up for it with an OTT release.
For our veterans, OTT platforms are only another part of the distribution process -- which may account for the fact that there are so few films by Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Girish Kasaravalli and Shyam Benegal on OTT platforms -- whereas our younger filmmakers are looking at these platforms as the
way to reach the target audience.