Bollywood A-listers To Include No-OTT Clause? Saif Denies Such Plans

 With Karan Johar’s feature  film  Drive  heralding  the  new era  of straight-to-digital screening, there is a widespread apprehension among Bollywood’s A-listers that their feature films could find  their release  on the  digital platform without  their prior knowledge. It is reliably learnt that  after Drive  , Karan  Johar  intended to put  another  of his  productions Dil Bechara featuring Sushant Singh Rajput  , on the  OTT platform.

However  Johar’s production  partner Fox Star  acted swiftly  and has  announced  a  theatrical  release date(May 22, 2020) which sounds far-fetched  , quite literally. Sources say  the  distant release date is  a ploy to  appease  the  film’s leading man.

It is reliably learnt that Sushant had  put in his strong protest before Karan Johar at what  Sushant saw as a  breach of faith..

“Sushant felt  Drive should have  gone into theatres. Karan Johar disagreed. The producer  is  the  one who  decides  the fate  of a  film.End of  discussion,” a source close  to  the development comments wrily.

There is  a news report in  a section of the press stating that Sushant and Saif Ali Khan have decided to make it contractually  obligatory  for producers  of their films to release the end-products in movie theatres and  not on the digital platform.

 However  Saif when contacted denies any  such  plans.

“Of it is not true!We normally have contracts that cover  any such eventuality. If a film for some  reason needs  to go straight to digital we would co-operate  with the producer, and  not throw  a fit about it! In  this  business, things are constantly changing.We need  to work as a  team,”  says Saif.

  Interestingly  Saif has benefited the  most from the  digital platform with his series Sacred Games Netflix fetching him renewed stardom. In  2017  the  producers  of  the Saif starrer Kaalakandi had  shown an interest in releasing the film straight to the digital  platform.

However  the film’s director  Akshat Verma  had  protested and  Kaalakandi finally released  in theatres.

Verma said, “You work hard on a film, and on every detail ,its sound design, the music mix, the colour correction…After that  you cannot have your work  placed on a platform that shrinks its qualities. I am just happy that were seen on the big screen. Not to undermine the digital platform which works just fine in today’s day and age.”