Sensible Director’s Senseless OTT Talk

Nitesh Tiwari is one of the few sensible directors in Bollywood who has delivered two blockbusters in a row, Dangal and Chhichhore, starring the late Sushant Singh Rajput. Everyone expected his latest film, Bawaal, with Varun Dhawan and Janhvi Kapoor, to be another theatrical blockbuster. But surprisingly, the makers decided to release it on OTT directly.

Defending their strategy, director Nitesh Tiwari recently said they started Bawaal with the aim of releasing it in theaters. But once they showed the film to people, everyone thought it would be better if we could show it to a wider audience across the world, which was possible only through OTT.

This is a senseless statement coming from such a sensible director. Nitesh Tiwari’s Dangal is the highest-grossing film from India due to its theatrical release all over the world. It wouldn’t have been celebrated so much if it was a direct OTT release.

The appreciation of cinema by the audience as a collective and immersive experience in theaters, respecting the efforts of everyone involved in creating it, is where the magic lies. No direct release on OTT can get such appreciation and respect.