This morning, Amitabh Bachchan and Ayushmann Khurrana both confirmed the news of their film Gulabo Sitabo releasing directly on Amazon Prime, thereby skipping a theatrical run. Gulab Sitabo, helmed by Shoojit Sircar is scheduled to premiere on the OTT platform on June 12. Amitabh Bachchan penned a heartfelt note announcing about its digital release and called it another challenge in his career. However, INOX theatres aren’t very happy with this decision, and officially released a statement expressing their displeasure over skipping theatrical release.
The statement read, “INOX would like to express extreme displeasure and disappointment on an announcement made by a production house today, to release their movie directly on an OTT platform by skipping the theatrical window run. The decision of the production house to deviate from the globally prevalent content windowing practice is alarming and disconcerting.” Further it stated that cinemas and content creators have always been in mutually beneficial partnerships where one's action provided a fillip to another's revenues. “Cinemas and content creators have always been into mutually beneficial In these troubled times, it is disturbing to see one of the partners not interested in continuing the mutually beneficial relationship especially when the need of the hour is to stand shoulder to shoulder with each other and bring the film industry back to its vibrant best.”
They referred to these content producers as a fair-weathered friend, as opposed to all-weather life-long partners. The note read, “Needless to say, INOX will be constrained to examine its options, and reserve all rights, including taking retributive measures, in dealing with such fair-weathered friends.” The statement concluded with, “INOX would like to urge all content creators not to skip the theatrical run, and stay with the age-old and established windowing pattern, which is in the best interests of all stakeholders in the value chain.”
Earlier, SpotboyE had reported how Ayushmann Khurrana and Amitabh Bachchan weren’t very pleased with the idea of their film releasing directly on the OTT platform. Read more about it here.
Image Source: Instagram/ayushmannk