No waiting for six months! Laal Singh Chaddha premieres on Netflix within 2 months

Laal Singh Chaddha has premiered on Netflix in less than two months since its release – a flip flop in co-producer and actor Aamir Khan’s stance that theatrical films should go to OTT platforms only six months after their release.

Khan’s latest film, which he co-produced along with Reliance’s Viacom18 Studios, was supposed to premiere on Reliance-backed OTT player Voot after Netflix and other major players refused to wait that long. Netflix reportedly did not want to pay the team’s asking price of Rs 150 crore and was willing to shell out only Rs 50 crore after looking at the film’s box office performance. The film made Rs 129.64 crore in worldwide gross, according to Bollywood Hungama, against a budget of Rs 180 crore.

The deal, however, was revived later for an undisclosed sum. The appeal for Netflix, which is present in over 190 countries, appears to be the film’s overseas performance, where it has collected $7.5 million as per Bollywood Hungama estimates. This is higher than what other hits from Hindi such as Gangubai Kathiawadi ($7.47 billion) and Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 ($5.88 million) collected overseas in gross.

Khan had told GalattaPlus in an interview days before the film’s release on August 11: “OTT is not a challenge, we are making it a challenge. We are saying our films will release in theatres, but you don’t really need to come because in a few weeks you can see it at home. So how do you expect a viewer to come to the theatre…This is one big factor in the collections of theatres dropping, not just in Hindi but in every language…You cannot have it coming on OTT so fast. If it comes so fast on OTT, then cinema (theatre) doesn’t stand a chance.”

He added that he tries to ensure his films don’t go to OTT platforms for six months after theatrical release. “Or you make a straight-to-OTT film. But if you’re coming in theatres, then you have to have a distance.”

The pandemic-accelerated the trend of OTTs buying digital rights of films at hefty rates before their theatrical release. Increasingly, the non-theatrical rights decide the film’s financial fate. The box office collection is just the icing on the cake.

For example, Kamal Haasan-starrer Vikram, made on an estimated budget of Rs 150 crore, earned around Rs 100 crore through the pre-sale of satellite and digital rights. “Non-theatrical rights are covering for 50-75 per cent and occasionally even 100 per cent of your cost, depending on whether it is a big- or medium-budget film,” Baahubali producer Shobu Yarlagadda had told Business Today earlier. He added that the trend doesn’t apply to small budget films with new talent.

A film producer’s risk appetite increases because he knows he can recoup 50 per cent investment from other avenues. But the later a film comes on OTT, especially for the second rung of films, the price the OTT players are willing to pay producers drops. They don’t offer the kind of the money they do when the film is still hot, experts say. Now, all major OTT players are witnessing cost escalations as they set aside hefty budgets for film acquisitions as a way to attract viewership and subscriptions.

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Also read: Aamir Khan to take hit of Rs 100 crore for Laal Singh Chaddha failure, may forgo his fees