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OTT vs Theatres: Anurag Kashyap says the fight is only for films with big stars

5 Jun 2020

Owing to the lockdown, the release of several films has been stalled. Some of the producers have decided to skip the theatrical release and opt for direct to OTT release. However, this has not gone down well with theatre owners especially multiplex chains like PVR and INOX. Ayushmann Khurrana and Amitabh Bachchan starrer Gulabo Sitabo was the first film that decided to go straight to digital followed by Vidya Balan's Shakuntala Devi.Both Gulabo Sitabo and Shakuntala Devi have big faces leading the film. In an interview with a news portal, filmmaker Anurag Kashyap pointed out that this OTT vs Theatre fight is a very self-serving fight. He said that films like Bamfaad and Eeb Allay Ooo have also been released on OTT but the multiplex owners expressed their displeasure only after films featuring big stars took the digital route.He said that when cinemas will open there will be such a bottleneck of movies that there will be a struggle. He said he personally suffered when Gangs of Wasseypur had completed nine days in cinemas and was taken over by Ek Tha Tiger. He said that his film was doing well but was thrown out of the cinemas.He said that the discussions happening are for big films with big stars in them. Anurag said that he has not heard the same discussion for lower budget films with lesser-known actors. The filmmaker feels that if the theatres are having a self-serving fight then everybody else also has the right to do the same.Anurag's new film Choked: Paisa Bolta Hai started streaming on Netflix from today (June 5). The film, which stars Saiyami Kher and Roshan Mathew in lead roles, revolves around demonetisation.