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At the 55th edition of the International Film Festival of India, Goa (IFFI Goa), renowned film personalities Manisha Koirala and Vikramaditya Motwane indulged in a discussion about the relevance of streaming channels against the traditional big screen format. Manisha recently delivered a massive OTT success in the form of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Heeramandi whereas Vikram has had a string of successes such as Sacred Games, Jubilee, and CTRL.
A game-changer for Manisha, the hugely mounted historical fiction series Heeramandi premiered on Netfix in May 2024. Undoubtedly, it is the biggest original Hindi fiction project of the year in scale. Many avid readers of Filmy Sasi and well-wishers quizzed me, “Where’s your review?” They assumed it was because Manisha Koirala (whom I idolize) is its central protagonist, and I wished to avoid a possible conflict of interest. That is not the case. Today, I have developed enough objectivity to examine my favorite artists’ work through a critic’s lens.
My hiccup here was the format. How do I approach a large unit of content divided into multiple episodes? It might run for many seasons.
I no longer sail the ship of mediocrity where the performances are termed ‘solid’, the music is ‘melodious’ and the editing is ‘loose. What else would they be? Liquid, cacophonous, and elastic? Jokes apart, as a note to self, it’s high time I crack a style for reviewing series – because that is the era we are in.
‘Heeramandi’ had the biggest set in my career
None of us were surprised when Manisha Koirala made this statement. The actor who featured in many biggies from 1991 is no stranger to grandeur. But a Sanjay Leela Bhansali magnum opus spread across eight episodes and produced by Netflix, the scale would be beyond ordinary.
Imagined as a film in the early 2000s with Rekha in the lead, the all-woman extravaganza would not have been a commercially viable project in the era of NRI romances. Times have changed, and entertainment is no longer limited to theatres. Older actresses do not have to contend with tasteless mother roles anymore. If we evaluate the hype and the viewership it generated, the Bhansali – Koirala project is easily the most talked-about original Hindi content of the year so far.
Are people getting lonelier?
2020 saw the sudden occurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was an event that rewrote every diktat and every idea of normalcy – entertainment included. As Vikramaditya Motwane stated, whether people are lonelier today or not is something that can be analyzed if we discuss our consumption patterns and our relationship with capitalism. The pandemic initially left us with no choice. And today, we are spoiled for choice.
It was amusing when Manisha stated she is yet to watch Vikram’s celebrated debut (Udaan) but had binged on his recent series, Jubilee. It isn’t the actor’s fault. Udaan was a theatrical release that didn’t do well. Eventually, through positive word-of-mouth, it earned a cult status. It’s not necessary that everyone would seek to watch a film that’s not new in circulation unless, of course, one would like to research the maker’s work.
Not here for a story
Cinema is not about stories. Or else, umpteen rehashes of Ramayana and The Archies wouldn’t have found an audience. Then again, a new story or a refreshing twist is always a bonus if you visit a theatre. Streaming content, on the contrary, can simmer for long. The taste gets with fine character development and better establishment of the settings. The episodes give great scope for cliffhangers, and the pressure to cut a scene mid-way is less. “In the streaming world, you connect with the people. They are not going in for a story,” Vikram asserted. Indeed, I binge on The Big Bang Theory because I enjoy Sheldon’s eccentricities, not to know what the story’s next turn would be. It also set me thinking, “Will streaming be the go-to medium for all character-driven content from now on?”
OTT is a way to bond
Manisha shared a beautiful insight on how watching a film or series on streaming is her way to bond with her family. She enjoys binge-watching with her mother (Mrs. Sushma Koirala) with whom she shares the same taste. That is also the case with a regular viewer. If the first date happens to be at the movie hall, it’s a trial run to get to know a person. But if they invite you home to “Netflix and Chill’”, the connection is more intimate.
It triggered a relevant question: How different is streaming from television? The latter, revolutionized by Ekta Kapoor in Hindi, is consumed more by women. The statistics and demographics are not the same for streaming. Vikram reverted with a logical answer, “The difference between streaming and TV is that the former gives you privacy. India has adopted the internet via mobile phones.”
That makes sense because I have never spotted anyone on Mumbai’s local trains or metros watching a TV serial on their phones. Netflix? All the time.
Anything new is treated with suspicion
In 2018, when Netflix was yet to gain the popularity it enjoys today, it premiered Love Per Square Foot (starring Vicky Kaushal and Angira Dhar). The actors looked lovely, and the trailer had all the elements for its genre. Yet, somewhere, I treated it with doubt. “If it were so good, why didn’t it get a theatrical release?” I skipped the film. Hypocritically enough, I never bothered to ask the same question to several direct-to-streaming classics from the West. I was only in for regret when I watched the beautiful little charmer two years later during the exile period that was the pandemic.
Vikram had the foresight that we, the consumers, didn’t. He stated, “I never had a doubt. Streaming is encouraging a lot of new filmmakers, writers, and ideas,”
Bigger stars lend credibility to streaming
Manisha opened the talk citing how the change in platforms hasn’t impacted her performances. I would second that because I started taking India’s streaming content seriously when Manisha debuted in the format with Lust Stories (2018). The Dibakar Banerjee short in the film saw the actor in her elements – a version of whom I appreciated very much in films like Company, Dil Se, and Akele Hum Akele Tum. The streaming format further strengthened my belief when it gave a podium to Deepti Naval’s soulful debut Do Paise Ki Dhoop, Chaar Aane Ki Baarish. If not for Netflix or its counterparts, it’s impossible to convince distributors and exhibitors to give screens to such a quiet and intricate film.
Nourishing Matinee Idols on OTT
Growing up in the ‘90s in Kerala, I could sense how Manisha Koirala, arguably, was the biggest female star in a pan-India sense. Without much access to Hindi cinema, the people around me were unfamiliar with Madhuri Dixit and Juhi Chawla. Manisha, on the other hand, was a mainstay in every film magazine. She dazzled in Tamil blockbusters such as Bombay and Indian – bagging her the exotic “Hindi Nadi” (Bollywood PYT) label. Interestingly, Manisha’s image in Bollywood was the opposite as she took on less glam yet more dramatically potent characters in Hindi. She added, “I didn’t want to play the good-looking, pretty young girl. I tried to break that mold. I was lucky enough to get roles that helped me do that.”
Speaking on how streaming brought in a change, she appreciated how it is for the women in her league. The actor’s peers from the ’90s, Madhuri Dixit, Karisma Kapoor, Raveena Tandon, Kajol, and Shilpa Shetty are active in the streaming space. Manisha herself wowed us with a confident turn as a possessive Parsi mother in Maska before bagging international fame with Heeramandi.
A new wave in filmmaking
Vikramaditya Motwane shared a series of pros on how streaming has impacted the movie-watching experience. One of the biggest aches for filmmakers in India is the need to design a screenplay with a cohesive interval point. The director confessed, “If a filmmaker doesn’t want to have an interval in his film, he shouldn’t be forced to have one.” What Vikram did not address was the change in lensing a film. Do we have enough wide shots on streaming films? I doubt. An experienced director of photography (say, Binod Pradhan) or a director with a sharp eye for visual storytelling (Semih Kaplanoğlu among my favorites) can pitch in here.
The ‘big screen experience’ trap
When a magnum opus (a historical, a 3D fantasy, or a derivative of either) is out in the cinemas, the makers, the critics, and the audience would unanimously trumpet, “Watch it only in theatres.” This takes me back to filmmaker Karan Johar’s statement in an interaction with The Hollywood Reporter that a family of four has to invest Rs 10,000 on a single movie outing and how this monumental expenditure would affect their economic planning. Johar isn’t wrong even though his critics might argue there are cheaper cinema options for those who wish to watch. That brings back the question of why Johar or anyone from any financial band should compromise on the quality of cinema or the F&B served on its premises.
How ‘Laapataa’ are the movie makers?
Speaking of quality, many discussions at IFFI Goa this year cited Kiran Rao’s Laapataa Ladies as evidence of the theory that viewers would accept any film if the content is good.
However, the much-loved 2024 drama which is also India’s official entry to the 2025 Academy Awards did not premiere on a streaming platform. Unfortunately, many fraternity members and film lovers, in general, are unaware of the film’s theatrical underperformance. Rao’s film did not have a well-known star or a hit dance number to give it an early push. Neither was it a sequel like Stree 2 nor did it have elements of the popular horror comedy sub-genre. With Aamir Khan as the producer, the film did grab a good number of screens. How would smaller producers, with less hold over the distributor-exhibitor mayhem, drive audiences to cinemas?
Streaming is the future
As Manisha Koirala and Vikramaditya Motwane concluded the conversation, they agreed profoundly that streaming is the future of cinema. She stated, “Streaming is going to be a game changer. It’s opening up new opportunities and encouraging emerging filmmakers, writers, and actors to step into the spotlight.” The director elucidated it further, “Many international series have had different showrunners for different seasons. OTT is a fairly new thing in India. We need to build on it. Bit by bit, it will happen. However, cinema on the big screen will always have its magic. A perfect blend of both formats will create a marvel in the cinema universe.”
As I gleefully agreed to the luminaries on stage, I could only recollect a line that I overheard after the screening of an underwhelming Manoj Bajpayee film right after its IFFI premiere, “Why does he work in such films? Why can’t he “skip intro” and jump straightaway into the third season of The Family Man!?”
We hear you, Sir!
