Ram Gopal Varma: “The Real Threat To Cinema Is YouTube, Not OTT”

Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma feels the current crisis of patronage  in  cinemhalls is  an attention-problem.

“On  the one  hand there are too many choices on OTT. Families have installed home theaters, and  they are still unable to watch feature films. I know of  families that are  just happy watching a cluster of trailers at one go . They are unable to decide which  of those films from the trailers they really want to see,” says Ramu,

According to the  the director of such milestone movies as  Satya, Company and Raat the  real threat to cinemas is  not the OTT.  “It is YouTube. That’s where  our  audiences are going for their entertainment  these days. They have  no patience  with two hours and more  for feature films. They would rather watch  2-5  minutes of funny video-reviews  of  films rather than the films themselves.”

Ramu feels the YouTube  culture is  here to stay. “You can’t  persuade  the audience back into theatres now, unless the content is something completely unusual. Look at the Telugu  film Karthikeya 2.It doesn’t even have  any face value. The hero is almost unknown. People  are still  crowding to theatres to see it. The  actual threat is dull content. An average Indian family won’t invest time money and attention in  a full –length  feature unless it’s something they have never seen before.”