OTT garners larger audience for Malayalam cinema

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Over The Top services or OTT platforms were only known to a small set of audience in Kerala familiar with the trend of binge-watching web series on Amazon Prime Videos and Netflix; this wasn't common knowledge to everyone. With the pandemic and the COVID-19-imposed lockdown, theatres were halted from late March 2020 to early January 2021. During the lockdown's initial days, many people started watching web series and movies in different languages. Later, filmmakers began to release movies on these platforms. The first Malayalam movie to release on Amazon Prime Videos' platform was 'Sufiyum Sujathayum', and it was a huge success.

Following this, many other films like 'Kappela', 'CU SOON', 'The Great Indian Kitchen', Drishyam 2', 'Joji' and several others started releasing on various OTT platforms. Most of these new releases were a great success as well. People worldwide started watching Malayalam films and praising them for their script, acting and directorial brilliance. Some movies like 'The Great Indian Kitchen' weren't released on popular OTT platforms. Until recently, it was released on another regional platform called Nee Stream. Even then, the movie was watched by many people in and around India and different parts of the world. A few of them posted film reviews on YouTube, and others posted appreciation posts for the industry and the actors.

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Shankar, a North Indian Malayali shares, "I like Malayalam movies, but I have watched them only a few times in theatres. Mainly Malayalam films come to nearby theatres in my place during the weekdays and that too late-night shows, so most of the time I don't get a chance to watch. But with the advent of OTT platforms, I could watch all my favourite old movies. With COVID-19 and the lockdown, and since films have started releasing on Amazon Prime Videos and Netflix, it was an excellent opportunity for me to watch them on the day of the release or soon after."

"Even my Non-Malayali friends started watching Malayalam movies on OTT platforms. They are huge admirers of this film industry," added Shankar.

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Swetha, a Malayali residing in Georgia, said, "Usually, with the workload and pressure, I don't get a chance to visit the theatres here. Also, the theatre release occurs here after a few weeks from its release in Kerala. By then, spoilers would be all over social media. But now that's not the case since they are releasing on OTT platforms. I get to see the movies at the earliest, and it's the easiest way to watch them."

"Now we don't miss new releases. After college and work, we can sit calmly and watch movies with our family," said Reshma, a resident from Kerala. OTT releases have made film viewing easy and comfortable inside the four walls of our house.