OTT is the circle of hope for tomorrow and also the future of tomorrow: Akshay Bardapurkar, Owner of Planet Marathi

By Jyothi Venkatesh

In tis freewheeling and intimate interview conducted at the OTT Seminar organized at the recently held Pune International Film Festival in Pune, JYOTHI VENKATESH catches Planet OTT owner Akshay Bardapurkar for a chat on the future of OTT in India. Excerpts from the conversation:

How tough was it for you to launch your own OTT Planet OTT?

It was quite tough in the sense that we started it during the peak of the pandemic but we managed to pull it off since we were the very first Marathi OTT platform to emerge in the market.

Did the pandemic benefit you as an entrepreneur?

Yes. In one way you can say that I did become the beneficiary of the pandemic. The pandemic started the day our film AB & CD was released all over Maharashtra and though I had no other alternative but to suspend the distribution of my film, I was lucky that the leading OTT platform Amazon Prime Video came forward to buy the streaming rights of my film at a price which enabled me to recover the entire cost of my production. Yes. I got back the money that I had put in the film from Amazon though the lockdown had started and my film did not make money at all at the box office.

What triggered the idea in you to launch your own OTT platform?

After I saw the tremendous response to the Marathi web series Samaantar, which was streamed on the OTT platform MX Player, I decided to go in for my own OTT platform. You can say that it concretized my decision to come up with my own OTT Platform.

June was the first Marathi film that was streamed on your OTT. It was made by actor Neha Pendse who bagged the award for the Best Actress at the recently held Pune International Film Festival. How was the experience?

It was a great experience in the sense that the film received a lot of accolades when it was streamed by Planet OTT and I could recover 46 lakhs out of the business. Not only that I also retain with me the distribution rights

Do you have any other plans of making Marathi films in the near future?

I am all set to produce a mega budgeted historical film called Tara Rani on a budget of 24 crores. The film will be shot in France and London

At Planet OTT you have also produced several web series!

Yes, Planet Marathi has already made around 8 popular web series and right now is making the web series Anuradha with actor Tejaswini Pandit.

Your friend and actor Swaapnil Joshi has also started his own OTT platform called Number One OTT. Do you consider it a threat?

Why consider it as a threat? On the contrary, I am happy that he has also joined the game. I may make a web series for Swaapnil’s OTT and he may also act in a film that will be produced by me in the near future. Besides, the fact also remains that what is relevant to me may not be relevant to Akshay Bardapurkar

Do you think that content has to change from time to time on OTT platforms?

Yes. I was trolled for streaming a bold series of a woman who sets out to live with not just one but two different men. It was not relevant earlier but is today.

Now that OTT has come into our lives in a big way, do you think the cinema will have a big threat from OTT?

Marathi films like Jhimma, Pandu and Premi are running in theaters in a big way after the theaters were reopened with 50% capacity. Take it from me; theaters will always do better any day than the OTT platforms.

Can you elucidate?

Today there are different kinds of audiences. While the younger generation is restricted to online platforms, the stage and you tube. I’d say that the trust increases when the options at your disposal also increase. Entertainment is also a need of the human beings and forms do change over the years. OTT is an additional medium and you can make money by selling it to an OTT platform in addition to releasing your film in theaters.

Can producers be denied the right to sell the films to an OTT platform before they are released in theaters?

Producers cannot be denied the right to sell their films to OTT platforms before release.

Are the viewership figures for Marathi audiences for OTT not enough in India?

The film June collected around a crore and a half through OTT. Every OTT platform has a particular calendar of its own. The target of OTT platforms is 18 crores of Maharashtrians in India. All over the world you have only around 3 to 4 crore Maharshtrians, who know Marathi. Do you know that in India, Bengali is the No 1 language which is in demand on OTT platforms while Marathi is only No 2 though in general, Bhojpuri language is the most popular

Why are Marathi films not being picked by international giants like Amazon Prime Video and Netflix?

Who says so? Netflix has already branched into the South and is today looking at expanding to Marathi films. Take it from me, regional is the next available option for the OTT platforms, whether Indian or for that matter International.

Do you think the regional shows have the potential to do better on OTT platforms than the Hindi ones?

Narcos, Money Heist etc. are also regional shows from abroad. In this game, nobody is the loser and it is always the audience who is the winner.

Are you not interested in dubbing your Marathi shows in Bengali or Tamil in order to reach a wider audience?

Our main aim is to reach a large number of audiences by streaming a good series that will tempt even a Bengali OTT platform like Hoichoi or a Tamil OTT platform like Sun Next to approach us with the offer to dub our web series in Bengali or Tamil and stream them on their own respective OTT platforms.

What is your approach when you buy the rights of films for your OTT Platform?

I buy the streaming rights for my OTT platform for 7 or 10 or 15 years or even lifelong in some cases. Though I sold my film to Amazon Prime Video through an aggregator, there are foreign platforms like Netflix that will not buy from you directly. I am open to a producer walking in to my office to pitch in his film for Planet OTT

What do you think about OTT today? Do you think it will make inroads in a bigger way tomorrow?

OTT is a writer’s medium just as cinema is that of the director and TV that of the producer. But then OTT too has its own limitations, fund-wise. It all depends on the zone you need and the requirement. But all said and done, I’d not at all hesitate to state that OTT is the circle of hope for tomorrow.