Lockdown is a busy time for writers

Even as the theatres are shut, the writers in the entertainment industry have been busy.

Metrolife caught up with Sidharth P Malhotra, best known as the director of the Rani Mukerji-starrer ‘Hichki’, who has spent his days at home writing.

“I have myself been working on three or four shows. For writers and people who develop content, this is a busy time,” he says.

Malhotra says that he has been working on four different shows.

The lockdown has not changed his style of writing, but his level of concentration has gone up because there is nothing else to do.

The process has also sped up; while earlier, it took writers about a week to get feedback on their work, now they get it in a day or two.

The director says that the months-long lockdown is making him restless. “Things are getting a bit unbearable. I am dying to feel the energy that is far and beyond right now.”

It is not just the frustrations of the present, there are also worries about the future after the lockdown.

“The industry has slowed down drastically. In June and July, shooting may be permitted again, but even that will be with a lot of restrictions. This full-year is gone. The films that were supposed to come out in March will now come out in October,” he says.

Malhotra says that although he doesn’t have the exact numbers, the losses may run into thousands of crores.

The writing that he has been doing is aimed at OTT content, because even as the industry recuperates, it is these platforms that will thrive.

“For a while, television and OTT will be our only source of entertainment.”

“We are unlikely to go to a public area like a theatre till a vaccine is created. By the time theatres open up, it will be September or October, or maybe even later.”

“My take is that the OTT industry is going to boom. The Netflix numbers have been huge in the stock market.”

Traditionally, the big-budget films were slated for a theatre release and a
subsequent OTT release, while the content that came directly to these platforms were less expensive.

Asked whether the lockdown is likely to change this, and get expensive films to release directly on OTT platforms, Malhotra says, “I don’t think we have a revenue model where big-budget films can profit from OTT platforms. We still follow a subscription model. The sort of model where we pay Rs 1,000 for a single film to watch at home does not exist yet.”

“Our mentality is: ‘Let the film hit the theatres. It’ll come to Amazon and Netflix in a couple of months anyway. We can watch it then’.”

Malhotra’s advice for people stuck inside during the lockdown is to “try and do stuff that keeps you happy.”

“Try and be protective. You must come out of the lockdown with lots of stuff to work with,” he says.