Anurag Kashyap, whose film Choked:Paisa Bolta Hai (starring Saiyami Kher and Roshan Mathew) just released on Netflix, spoke to The Quint about exhibitors being miffed with filmmakers for releasing movies on OTT platforms. Shoojit Sircar had recently announced the release of his film Gulabo Sitabo on Amazon Prime. Starring Amitabh Bachchan and Ayushmann Khurana, it is the first big banner film to see a digital release shortly owing to the fact that theatres are shut during the coronavirus lockdown. Gulabo Sitabo will be followed by Vidya Balan’s upcoming biopic of Shakuntala Devi, that will also be released on Amazon Prime.
Two of Anurag Kashyap-produced film, Ghoomketu and Bamfaad, dropped on Zee5 some time back.
Anurag says that exhibitors started having problems only when a big film like Gulabo Sitabo was set to release on OTT and rumours were rife of Akshay Kumar’s Laxmmi Bomb also contemplating going that way. He said, “Everybody has to look out for themselves. Theatres need movies to survive, movies also need a platform to survive.” The filmmaker talks about the selfish attitude everybody has because at the end of the day money is the driving factor. The filmmaker also touched upon the struggles he had to go through to get screens for his films as they don’t have stars in them.
When asked about the shooting guidelines that have been released by various film bodies so that shoots can be resumed safely, Anurag says that he will not start shooting anytime soon, at least not till he feels it’s safe enough. He also spoke about the migrant issue and how this move by the government was not well thought out.
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