OTT insiders on quality control, state intervention in the industry

Is too much of a good thing, a really bad thing? Actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui seems to think so, as he recently announced his decision to quit OTT platforms, observing that they have become repositories of shows that don't deserve to be seen, or are sequels that have nothing more to say. "When I did Sacred Games for Netflix, there was an excitement and challenge around the digital medium. New talent was being given a chance. Now, that freshness is gone," lamented the actor, adding that, "It's become dhanda [racket] for big production houses and actors who are now so-called stars on the OTT platform. Major film producers in Bollywood have cut lucrative deals with all the big players in the OTT field. Producers get whopping amounts to create unlimited content. Quantity has killed quality."

Filmmaker Suresh Triveni, whose debut feature Tumhari Sulu released in 2017 and who has just wrapped up the shoot of his second film Jalsa, believes that while the saturation is palpable from the business perspective, from a consumer angle, it is far from reaching a tipping point. "The more you see, the more you want, whether you watch it or not, you like the idea that something new is constantly popping up in the gamut of OTT apps," he notes. While admitting that there are better sensibilities coming into the OTT space due to exposure to international shows, the constant need to feed content accounts for the drop in quality. "There will obviously be a difference between something churned out in six months and something worked on for two years, because you haven't spent enough time in the script room and you are purely meeting a deadline and fulfilling a contractual obligation to deliver it by a certain time. [Quality is] subjective to time and the demand to have a show on an app every month. A good content creator would say an outright no, but there are people who are out there who cater to this," he notes.

Tushar Dhingra and Suresh Triveni

While conceding his interest to work in the long format and on independent movies within the OTT space because of the sheer variety of subjects a maker can explore, Triveni is however insistent on quality. "I would love to work, but not just because I am privileged enough to get an offer," says the director, who drew interest from production houses and OTTs post the release of his first film. "I think it's a long-term commitment and if you are putting your content out there, it better be worth it," says the director, admitting that his simultaneous advertising career helps him be selective on this front. "My name is going out there so I need to stand by it, and not do it just for the sake of doing it. I don't want it to be how it is in advertising, where we have to meet the demands of a client. In OTT, I should have the same set of risks associated with me and my work instead of taking the opportunity for granted."

For Tushar Dhingra, founding CEO at Dhishoom Cinemas, the jadedness Siddiqui is referring to is true of any creative medium. For him, what is important is the fact that OTT platforms have brought back actors like Pavan Malhotra and Kay Kay Menon, while adding to the quality of filmmaking, increasing production value and boosting the nerve centre of the content business by nurturing and paying writers better. "The overall ecosystem is being irrigated with money and creative people are getting engaged in an impactful manner," he says. Moreover, with continued consumption especially in the months of the pandemic, the standard has gone up, raising people's expectations from content overall.

Also interesting in this discussion is the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021 bringing in detailed guidelines for digital content, giving overriding powers to the government to step in. While insiders are unclear of what the extent and nature of this government intervention will be, the concern is that with widely available content, self-regulation is the only thing preventing unsuitable matter from reaching underage users. "If it silences the diverse views of the society, that'll be harmful, as freedom of communication is an essential part of the consumer code," says Dhingra.