The OTT success of ‘Rathnan Prapancha’ might result in a paradigm shift in the Kannada cinema industry. The overwhelming positive response to Rohit Padaki’s family drama may pave the door for additional Kannada direct-to-OTT releases.
Kannada film was well behind the curve, both in terms of number and quality, when the online revolution began last year. The crowd liked ‘French Biriyani’ and, to a lesser extent, ‘Bheemasena Nalamaharaja,’ while ‘Law’ and ‘Mane Number 13’ vanished without a trace.
Earlier last year, the humorous lockdown drama ‘Ikkat’ provided much-needed relief to the audience. ‘Rathnan Prapancha’ was out a week after two big-screen releases (‘Salaga’ and ‘Kotigobba 3’), yet it nevertheless managed to break down barriers and achieve a reception comparable to box-office hits. The film is said to be one of the top three most-watched Kannada movies on Amazon Prime Video.
It’s not as though Kannada filmmakers haven’t been approached by streaming sites. The manufacturers should have had a better knowledge of our market and how much to quote whenever they did. They might have been able to take advantage of the OTT prospects if they had a reasonable expectation of return.
Clearly, the film was built for the big screen. But we didn’t know when the movie theatres will be fully occupied. One thing was quite evident to me: the film needed to be widely distributed. We realised that consumers preferred to view movies at home. People will never debate a modest yet content-oriented picture if it does not receive a solid run in theatres. ‘Salaga’ and ‘Kotigobba 3’ were huge budget movies featuring well-known actors. As a result, the competition was fierce. Given my years of distribution expertise, I knew that even if ‘Rathnan Prapancha’ obtained a respectable percentage of theatres, it would be eliminated by the time it gained recognition to make room for bigger releases.
