'Sitaare Zameen Par': Aamir Khan defends theatres over OTT releases; says, 'I believe in my audience'

Bollywood actor and filmmaker Aamir Khan is standing firm on his belief in the power of cinema halls. His upcoming film ‘Sitaare Zameen Par’ will be released in theatres in a few days, with no plans to drop it on any OTT platform anytime soon.

In a chat with News18 Showsha, the actor opened up about why the film is strictly for cinemas and how he feels the OTT trend is hurting the theatre business.

“I don’t know any business where you offer your product, and if someone doesn’t buy it, you tell them—don’t worry, I’ll drop it at your house for free in eight weeks,” he said, speaking about how quickly films are being made available online. “It doesn’t make sense to me. That’s the reason many films aren’t doing well in theatres.”

Theatres vs OTT: Aamir takes a strong stand
Aamir believes that good films should be watched on the big screen and not on a phone or laptop at home. He said the trend of quick OTT releases is damaging theatre culture. According to him, this has created a “famine and feast” situation — either a film becomes a big hit or it fails completely.

“I believe in theatres. I believe in my audience. If you make a good film, people will come to watch it on the big screen.” For Aamir, the experience of watching a film in a cinema hall is special, and he wants to keep that feeling alive with ‘Sitaare Zameen Par’.


OTT can’t fix a bad film, says Aamir
When asked about his last film ‘Laal Singh Chaddha’, which received better reviews on OTT after a slow run in theatres, Aamir didn’t agree with the idea that streaming can change people’s minds, “If someone doesn’t enjoy a film in theatres, they won’t suddenly like it at home. Your opinion of the film doesn’t change just because of where you watch it.”

He also mentioned that high ticket prices and expensive food in multiplexes can push audiences to wait for films to come online. Still, he’s not letting that affect his creative decisions.


What is ‘Sitaare Zameen Par’ all about?
‘Sitaare Zameen Par’ is a sports comedy drama directed by R. S. Prasanna. It is produced by Aamir Khan and Aparna Purohit. The film stars Aamir Khan and Genelia Deshmukh and is described as a spiritual follow-up to Aamir’s 2007 film ‘Taare Zameen Par’.

The film also marks the Hindi film debut of Aroush Datta, Gopi Krishna Varma, Samvit Desai, Vedant Sharma, Ayush Bhansali, Ashish Pendse, Rishi Shahani, Rishabh Jain, Naman Mishra and Simran Mangeshkar — fresh faces Aamir is excited to introduce to the audience.