Big Screens, Bigger Gambles

From Aamir Khan's YouTube experiment to Christopher Nolan's advance booking strategy, cinema is evolving globally — but can India keep pace?

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In July, when Aamir Khan announced that he was bringing his comedy Sitaare Zameen Par to his pay-per-view movie channel on YouTube for ₹100, it shook the industry. Those in support hailed the superstar for his revolutionary move, which not only attempted to give creators more liberty and power, but also take control away from streamers.

The detractors, however, said dropping a film digitally, even PVOD (premium video on demand, where a viewer has to pay for early access) just 41 days after a theatrical release would discourage viewers from going to cinemas. It was billed as the ultimate cardinal sin for the film industry.

But beyond the hyperbole criticism and the muffled support, industry leaders, including studio executives and exhibitors, feel the problem Bollywood is facing is multifold: creating content which isn't universal, bad marketing, and inaccessibility in remote regions.

From Screen to Stream

The long-running debate in the Hindi film industry has been about films releasing on an OTT platform eight weeks after their theatrical release. Many, including Khan, batted for a longer window between theatrical release and a streaming drop date, so that the audience felt compelled to watch a film on the big screen, instead of waiting just two months to watch it on their devices.

Sitaare Zameen Par could have been an exception in India as far as the PVOD model goes, but globally, just this year, two tentpole films were available on demand within 40 days of their blockbuster theatrical run: Superman and Jurassic World Rebirth.

At the Big Cine Expo 2025 in Chennai, where the who's who of cinema exhibition were present, The Hollywood Reporter India asked Rahul Puri, Managing Director, Mukta A2 Cinemas, whether PVOD could become the norm in a market like India, where even a big-ticket Hindi film like