Director Dayal pens open note to Amazon, Netflix

Kannada filmmaker says streaming platforms could rescue the industry if only they took decisions faster

Kannada filmmaker Dayal Padmanabhan is asking OTT platforms to speed up their selection to help filmmakers affected by the global pandemic.

Best known for his award-winning rape survivor drama ‘Ranganayaki’, Dayal has written an open letter to Netflix and Amazon Prime explaining the plight of Kannada filmmakers.

Written in consultation with his daughter Meera and social media consultant Manoj, he outlines a Plan B for an industry caught in a quagmire.

“Coronavirus is making our life more dramatic than ever before. It’s like living through a movie…,” he writes. He says there is panic and fear on one side and boredom on the other.

Dayal sees difficult days ahead. “Let’s be realistic. Everyone is stuck at home for the next 21 days (at least), and the moment things get back to normal… no one would want to spend money on movies,” he says.

By the time normalcy is restored, there could be at least 100 Kannada movies lined up for release, he estimates.

OTT platforms such as Netflix and Amazon are the only hope, but they take long to vet a movie and “lack regional expertise.”He urges the platforms to catalyse their selection and start a section where anyone could upload films as on Youtube and IGTV, and share the revenue on the basis of viewership.

Dayal ends on a Darwinian note: “The viewers will have new content to watch for the next 21 days. Movies will have a good fighting chance, and with less or no publicity, only the fittest will survive. Isn’t that how life is?”