Will Bala- Dhruv Vikram Varmaa get mauled like Ranasingam ?

The film Ranasingam with Makkal Selvan Vijay Sethupathy was badly mauled by the virtual pirates as it came on a platform which worked on a pay per view model. Now  Chiyan Vikram’s son Dhruv’s  film Varmaa directed by Bala is slated for a release today on little known OTT platforms -  Simply South and Tentkotta  abroad and The Ally , Shreyas ET and Shemaroo me in India as a pay per view plan.. It is quite logical to infer that Zee5 which has a big base of premium subscribers could not convert a fraction of its Tamil film viewing subscribers to go to Zee Plex to pay Rs 200 for a one time viewing, Simply South would be a disaster. Varma  is the remake of a Telugu film that was directed by Bala and had Vikram’s son Dhruv in the lead. This dream launch pad turned sour as the producer E4 felt it was a bad remake and decided to keep it in the cold storage. Move was obviously backed by Vikram. The job was entrusted to another director and the approved avatar was Aditya Varma. The film sank. Now Bala watchers  would want to see how the film was tackled.

Zee Plex move has created a bad name for OTT in Tamil Nadu. The growing belief is that other OTT platforms will also take this route and all those who paid a yearly subscription will now have to pay Rs 200 for every new movie and that the money already paid has gone down the drain. The 6 hour validity for a single per movie subscription is another deterrent. Amazon and Netflix have announced new releases and originals on the same platform that the subscribers had paid for. This has come as a consolation. Except for a few cities in Tamil Nadu, no other place can ensure uninterrupted power. Even in many apartments, the generators are put in use manually after a power breakdown. Inverters has to be linked to modems and TV screens, The high speed broadband which is now limited to Chennai for a fast movie streaming  too is prone to cable breakages. Once the subscriber pays up the conditions come into play. People may not be willing to pay for a single film whose price equals the subscription cost of an OTT platform for a month, say experts. Piracy is another issue in India. For smaller films, the model will bring in more revenues.

The choice of Ranasingam for trying out the pay per model is also a wrong choice. Movies with a niche content and relatively new faces and those that have would not get theatres would stand to gain as the budget is low. For a producer to pay for a Star like Vijay Sethupathy (even if he took a fraction of his salary) and the resultant costs that go into a three hours edited film to choose the pay per view model is very high risk. In Indian market where pirates rule, this model is high risk.

The overseas market is however buoyant as films like Ranasingam in normal times would not come to theaters. The film is getting a nod from Malaysian authorities to go on air through ZeePlex. The theaters too are ready to also screen the film. The overseas market buyers feel that those seeking OTT platforms and ones coming to theaters are different. They would not face any erosion on this count. It means that the OTT and overseas markets have now become revenue for producers and only theaters will have to come on board.