This year’s biggest blockbuster, Hanu-Man directed by Prashant Varma, has been streaming on ZEE5 (Telugu) and Jio Cinema (Hindi). Other language cinephiles were eagerly awaiting its release in other South Indian languages.
In a twist, Disney Plus Hotstar has secured streaming rights for the Tamil, Kannada, and Malayalam versions of “Hanu-Man,” premiering on April 5. This move is expected to expand the movie’s reach across multiple OTT platforms.
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However, there’s a big downside: viewership gets scattered across platforms. If someone wants to watch the Hindi version but only has access to Hotstar without the Hindi version, they may resort to pirated copies.
All viewers will not have subscriptions to all OTT platforms. They selectively buy the subscription to an OTT platform expecting they would get to watch their favorite movies in the language they prefer and understand.
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But if it is available on some other not-so-popular platform he would skip watching it altogether or opt for finding a pirated version on the internet.
This situation is similar to what happened with “Salaar.” It dropped from Netflix’s top 10 list because the Hindi version wasn’t there. It was on Hotstar. People who only had Netflix might have watched its Hindi version illegally.
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Overall, it might be better for filmmakers to sell their films to a single OTT platform offering all versions in one place for the sake of the pan-India audience.
