Kiran Rao: OTT platforms now have an incredibly strong foothold in India, and it remains to be seen how they leverage it

In response to questions about OTT giving opportunities to directors and actors, Kiran Rao recently spoke about shows like Panchayat. Kiran, however, said that she believes there is a limit to what our audiences are willing to pay for content, and that has also determined how many new shows will be made in a year.

She said,"I think the number has drastically come down. This is also because when OTT platforms first came to India, there wasn't enough material available in the kind of structured format we are accustomed to - 8 to 10 episodes. As a result, a lot of shows were being made. But now, there are extensive libraries of already existing content. Sooner or later, I imagine the volume of production will reduce. That said, OTT platforms now have an incredibly strong foothold in India, and it remains to be seen how they leverage it. COVID ensured that people migrated to their devices and home TVs to watch new content." Kiran said that whether it's from India or anywhere else in the world, everyone has now realised that language is no longer a barrier - people are happy to watch Squid Game and other content in different languages.


She said,"So, OTT is here to stay, and I can only see it growing further." Even when you release a new film, you sometimes wouldn't dare to screen it in a 1,000-seater because you'd wonder, ‘Who's going to come?’ Giving an example of how people are not turning up for Hindi films but are coming for retrospectives, she shared, "A festival of German master Wim Wenders in Mumbai - where they showed a series of his films at Regal Cinema, which is a 1,000-seater - was packed. Even when you release a new film, you sometimes wouldn't dare to screen it in a 1,000-seater because you'd wonder, ‘Who's going to come?’ Often, there are only 30 or 50 people in the hall. Any filmmaker worries that people won't turn up. It's like when someone opens a restaurant - no matter how great a chef they are, they still wonder, ‘Will people love it? Will they come back?’ These are, of course, the worries and insecurities all filmmakers have. But here, a 1,000-seater hall was full for a film made in the 1980s. I went to see a Japanese film, and I managed to get the last two tickets. It was a packed cinema with 350 people. So, it's really that."Get the latest entertainment updates from the Times of India, along with the latest Hindi movies, upcoming Hindi movies in 2026 , and Telugu movies.”