Direct-to-digital movie releases dwindle but big studios still gain

While video streaming platforms have mostly gone slow on premiering films directly online, insisting that all movies go to theatres first in order to benefit from the box office buzz, bigger studios with clout are still managing to strike some lucrative deals.

- Lata Jha

Entertainment industry experts say titles like Nadaaniyan, Sarzameen and Tehran, among others, all of which were released directly on streaming platforms, are proof that mainstream Bollywood studios still have a way with OTTs. Their large slates and star-studded titles that may be acquired post cinemas continue to lure streaming platforms that would otherwise not have made an exception.