“Over the last 2 years, Prime Video has become the destination of choice for our customers to watch new releases, across the languages, within weeks of their theatrical release,” Subramaniam said. “Now we’re taking this one step further, with seven of India’s most-anticipated films premiering exclusively on Prime Video, bringing the cinematic experience to their doorstep.” Law, a Kannada movie featuring Ragini Chandran, Siri Prahlad and Mukhyamantri Chandru will premiere on June 26. Another Kannada film, French Biryani featuring Danish Sait, Sal Yusuf and Pitobash will debut on July 24. Further, Sufiyum Sujatayum, a Malayalam film featuring Aditi Rao Hydari and Jayasuruya along with Shakuntala Devi are expected to release in August. “Prime Video with its deep penetration in India, with viewership across over 4000 Towns and Cities, and its world-wide reach in more than 200 countries and territories, will give a large global release footprint to these films,” Gandhi said.
Multiplex Owners and Producers Guild of India Exchange Words on OTT Release
“The move by a production house to release their movie directly on OTT platform by skipping the theatrical window run and deviating from the globally prevalent content windowing practice is alarming and disconcerting,” Inox said in a statement. “Such acts, though isolated, vitiate the atmosphere of mutual partnership and paint these content producers as fair-weather friends rather than all-weather life-long partners." Similarly, PVR on Friday said that it was disappointed with some of the producers opting to go straight for streaming platforms. “We are disappointed wid some of our Producers deciding to go straight to streaming platforms [sic],” Kamal Gianchandani, CEO of PVR, said in a release. “We were hoping that the Producers would accede to our request to hold back their film’s release till cinemas reopen.” Meanwhile, the Producers Guild of India in a statement on Friday said that the production sector is already suffering huge losses due to shutdown of its elaborate sets coupled with mounting interest costs. “Given this combination of factors, it is only natural that producers who have already invested heavily in their films with theatrical revenue assumptions that are no longer feasible, will seek out all avenues available to recover their investment and to stay in business,” Producers Guild of India, said in the statement.
