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Indrajit Lankesh On The Impact Of COVID-19 On Sandalwood, Says It Will Take Couple Of Years To Overcome Losses
The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown situation has taken a big toll on the entertainment industry. Sandalwood director Indrajit Lankesh has opened up about how badly the ongoing crisis has affected the Kannada film industry. In a recent interview with TOI, the filmmaker shared that it will take a few years time to overcome the insurmountable losses that have piled up due to the COVID-19 crisis.
Indrajit said, "The film industry has taken a massive hit during the pandemic. Filming activity requires big crews and exhibition at theatres also means that people have to congregate in large numbers. In that sense, most stages of the movie business are against pandemic protocol and, hence, everything has been paused. While digital platforms have come to the fore like never before, they are not conducive for big-budget films.”
He went on to add, “A direct OTT release will not bring in the returns to cover the costs of such films. I do not deny the fact that cinema halls were a catalyst in increasing the spread of the pandemic. So, it will be a long time before cinema halls reopen for business again. There is no point in starting new films now, as at least 80 are ready and waiting to be released. By my estimation, it will take the film industry a couple of years to bounce back from this."
The
Shakeela
director
also
shed
light
on
the
rise
of
OTT
platforms
and
the
future
of
star-driven
vehicles
in
the
new
streaming
world.
Lankesh
is
of
the
opinion
that
big
stars
of
the
Kannada
film
industry
will
need
to
do
two
to
three
films
a
year
to
ensure
producers
make
up
for
the
losses.
He
cited
the
example
of
Pogaru,
Roberrt
and
Yuvarathnaa’s
success
and
noted
the
fact
that
people
went
to
see
these
films
in
cinema
halls.
Hence,
he
feels
that
big
stars
need
to
back
the
good
films
of
the
lower
rung
of
stars
and
promote
them
to
the
digital
platforms
and
create
demand.
