OTT platforms & traditional cinemas will co-exist: Mahesh Narayanan

PANAJI: Online streaming platforms and traditional cinema theatres are going to co-exist, said Mahesh Narayanan, Director of the film 'Ariyippu' which is screened at the Indian Panorama section of 53rd International Film Festival of India.

Mahesh Narayanan was speaking at the 'Table Talks' programme in IFFI on Friday.

He said that earlier, independent film-makers didn't have a choice other than Doordarshan to broadcast their films. "But now there are many platforms which support them. One way or other, the film maker can exist through these platforms. But every platform won't accept every film. That depends a lot on the kind of actors they have, the kind of feasibility they get in through in terms of financing and budgeting," he added.

"It is very difficult for me to make a film for digital platforms. In theatres, people are investing a certain amount of time to sit in front of a screen to watch a specific movie. But in digital platform, people have multiple options to skip, forward, rewind or change what they are watching. It is challenging for filmmakers to do films for OTT platforms," he said.

Touching upon the film Ariyippu, Mahesh Narayanan said that it is a migrant's story about the labour class and the problems they deal with.

"It also tells about how the pandemic treated skilled labourers working in factories and how situations changed in their lives," he added.

The film deals with a socially relevant subject of our times - modern technology mediating interpersonal interactions. It is also a powerful film on the complex theme of a man-woman relationship.

The film was shot in Delhi during the second wave of Covid pandemic with a limited crew, facing many difficulties. Hinting at the pan-Indian nature of the film, Mahesh Narayanan said that though the story line follows a migrant couple from Kerala, the characters speak multiple languages like Malayalam, Hindi and Tamil.