One industry that got affected severely due to the coronavirus pandemic is the film industry. All the film productions across the world got stalled, theatres got closed and the releases got postponed indefinitely. Even Bollywood and the other regional film industries of India have got hit hard by the pandemic. The experts say that this crisis was never witnessed before. Amidst these tough times, popular Telugu producers Allu Aravind and Dil Raju shared their views on the future of cinema in a recent interview.
Allu Aravind said, "I think theatres may not open till December or January. People will be afraid of visiting mass gathering places like temples, malls and cinema halls. Theatres will be the last ones to get reopened. Small budget films will face many problems. The films which are ready have to wait for a longer time. OTT platforms cannot buy films to the cost of which they got made. Thus, producers are not willing to sell films to OTT platforms. But holding them for long will increase the interest rates. Films that can handle the interests can only hit the screens once the lockdown gets lifted. On the whole, the industry is getting into a never-seen-before crisis. It may take up to two and a half years for the things to get back to a normal state. Financiers and bankers should be lenient towards the interest rates during these tough times. The audience may prefer OTT platforms in the future than the theatres."
Dil Raju also had a similar opinion to share. He said "Industry has never witnessed a situation like this before. We will take decisions as per the situation. We may not get clarity on the industry's future until the end of May. Our Producers' Guild is working hard in charting out the future scenario of the industry. We are discussing the issue regularly. OTT platforms are coming forward to buy the films which are ready for the release. But even the producers should be willing to sell, right? No producer wants to sell his film for a lesser price. We have to bear interest rates during these times. Any which way, experiencing a film in the theatre will be better than watching it at home. We thought it well for our film V. It is a film that should get seen on a big screen with proper sound effects. Once the theatres re-open, people will flock into the cinema halls. There is no truth in actors denying to release their films on OTT platforms. Their ultimate goal is to make sure the film reaches the viewers, no matter it is through cinema halls or OTT platforms."
