Big-budget movies stall amid OTT, box office uncertainties

Even mid-budget and niche films struggle to raise funds without guaranteed box-office and streaming success

- Lata Jha

Several Hindi films starring popular actors have made little progress since their announcement, and continue to remain in cold storage, as producers struggle to find OTT buyers and are unsure of what will work at the box office.

While a big-budget period drama like Karna, which was to feature Suriya and be directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra has been shelved, several others like Sony's Shaktimaan trilogy, Ranveer Singh's venture with Tamil director Shankar, and Kartik Aaryan's film with Dharma Productions are yet to be taken to the floors.

Producers do not wish to take the risk of filming without finalising a streaming platform as a buyer, which has meant that a number of projects have fallen by the wayside.