No work, shelved projects, menace of OTT: Bollywood insiders reveal how the film industry is crashing

Anurag Kashyap. Pic/Getty Images

Usually, the lanes of Aram Nagar, Versova, exude what's called "hustle energy". Not today, because they are now grappling with, what can be called a health crisis. "There's no work," sighs a Hindi film actor. Every week or month, a new show or a film arrives on screen, but on ground, there's only news of something or the other getting shelved. "In the last one-and-a-half years, a dire situation has emerged in the Hindi film industry where work is concerned. It's unfortunate, but projects aren't getting made," actor Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub tells us. Ayyub considers himself lucky to have had a regular flow of work, but many around him are out of luck.

"There are projects which get shelved just two days before going on floors. People are blocking dates, but their payments are delayed and just a week before the filming, they are being told it's not happening. There are many shows where shoots are stalled because people are asking for their payments to be cleared and the producers aren't ready to pump in more money," he says.

What's happening?

Filmmaker-writer Divyanshu Malhotra, whose works includes the SonyLIV series Cubicles, Brochara and the upcoming Amazon Mini TV show Sixer, says the industry is currently operating in "minimum risk" zone. "Our industry is dependent on money coming from other industries. At a global level, recession is hitting everywhere and there are wars happening. Money is not flowing from one place to another as much as it should. When you see new money is not coming, your risk appetite goes down. Then, big producers place their bets where they think they will get maximum returns. So they will pump Rs 200-300 crores on a big director/star film but not the same amount into multiple Rs 10-20 crore films," he explains.

Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub; Sohum Shah. Pic/instagram@shah_sohum; Divyanshu Malhotra

It's ironic that since the OTT boom over five years ago, there have been more platforms than ever in the industry, but so is the scarcity of stories and opportunities. "When OTT came in, it made huge investments. So, there was a flood of content. But it didn't work, because those projects lacked passion. That ecosystem has crashed," says actor-producer Sohum Shah.

This crash has left actors, writers and technicians without jobs even with commissioned shows. "Last year, there were five shows that were shelved just days before going on floors. People are told, ‘We are still deciding if the cost of production will be Rs 8 or Rs 10 crore, but you take this Rs 2 crore and start the work.' If the producers and streamer settle on a cost, the project gets made. If not, they pull the plug on the show," Malhotra says.

The problem, he says, began when OTT platforms started favouring top Bollywood filmmakers over creators, who were Internet-bred. "Every top Bollywood director wanted to do something in the web space, that's why actors and their paraphernalia started getting paid a handsome amount. A lot of money was pumped into popular faces." It led to bigger budgets being allocated to star filmmakers, compromising opportunities for smaller creators. "When there's a director like Hansal Mehta is making big shows, no one minds because he has told credible stories in the streaming space. But when you see that the patchwork of a Heeramandi is so costly that it takes away the budget of five mid-scale shows, it boggles your mind," shares a filmmaker.

Jaideep Ahlawat in Pataal Lok

As a result, many independent production houses that were making shows have shut shop.

"A lot of creators, who were doing great work on the internet, couldn't afford the same actors that they had cast in the beginning because other companies started paying them more. So, a lot of production houses, who did work exclusively for OTT, had to shut shop. Hence, the number of scripts that were developed in 2022-2023 dipped," says another filmmaker.

"My last commissioned show as a writer was in 2020. I haven't gotten a writing gig since because the number of shows being written has gone down. A lot of my writer friends have had the same fate. Same happened with several of my actor friends. When something like this happens, there's a massive movement, wherein people return home, switch jobs, give up on their dreams," he shares.

Mathematics and monopoly
The Hindi film industry has always worked on the mantra, "where there is will, there's work", but what happens when the will is replaced by the fear of losing a job? The one word answer is OTT. "How much do I blame these OTTs beyond a point? They are just saving their jobs," Ayyub says. "If there's a show with four leading characters, the casting is done in this fashion - the lead would be someone who is a very good actor and also a star, one would be an influencer with say more than eight million followers, a girl with more than five million followers and who is also the ‘national crush', and one would be a reliable actor. You get a package. On paper, you say, ‘It looks solid.' As an executive, you approve it. Now, if it doesn't work, this docket will be opened once again in front of you and you will be asked, why did it not work? Naturally, mounting a show with relatively lesser known faces is then seen as an even bigger risk by decision makers on these platforms."

He goes on to add: "You made Pataal Lok with Jaideep Ahlawat, who was not a huge star then but a brilliant actor. Had it not worked, the executive would have been pulled up and asked, 'Whom did you make this show with? Why did you not cast that star kid? Who is Jaideep Ahlawat? You mounted such a big show on him. What do we do with a good actor? Fire three people in your team.' That's how it works. So, people will obviously want to keep everything safe. But the thing is safe will never work out. This is the one rule of art. When you try to make a project on paper, keeping things like projection and PR in mind, it is bound to fail. And it's happening over and over again."

Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap hardly minces words speaking about the functioning of streamers in India. "There's no dearth of talent in the industry. There's only dearth of risk-taking producers, studios and platforms. Most titles today are acquired titles. Where are today's Gulshan Rai and Yash Johar? Where are those producers, who used to mortgage their houses to make movies? All the producers today are just doing jobs. They don't want to lose their lifestyle. Their mandate is to increase subscribers, not make good cinema."

If it's established that an original story won't find a happy ending on OTT, what about the theatrical space? Turns out, it's also a slave to the streamers. "OTT platforms disrupted theatres a couple of years ago so the biggest of studios have come down on their knees. They want to cater to the OTTs because they want returns, which they will get by selling their films to the streamers. So, they try to customise their films for streaming, hence, even the big screen outings start to look like web films. I have fought so many fights where I was told that no one was going to watch wide shots because they are watching on the phone so I should put close-ups. It's a running joke in the industry, ‘Cinema nahi banana'," Malhotra says.

Another director tells us that one of the biggest creator woes is that while dealing with decision-makers at OTT platforms is that most of them have no background in filmmaking. "They are mostly MBA graduates, who might not ‘vibe' with your story and cancel it. They just care about numbers. Most of the times, we end up dealing with the most ridiculous feedback."

OTTs now not only control what gets made on the big screen, but also who is in it. "Earlier, if three big production houses in the industry didn't want to work with me, there were 15 more producers willing to collaborate. Now, if three big OTT players decide they don't want to work with Zeeshan - which could be out of ego - he will not get work anywhere. It's really difficult to get new work right now, because these three players have too
much power."

An actor recently seen in a critically-acclaimed series says everyone, except the top stars, is dealing with despair. "Actors like me, who usually don't have projects curated around them, are struggling to get work. The favourite word right now is that everything is ‘slow'. The big stars are doing their big films, but everything else has hit pause.

Versova is a great place for hustle energy, but it can be quite painful when you're down and out and see everyone struggle to get basic work. There's a collective lull, but most don't want to spell it out because then it'll become real. This is the longest I've been without work. Everyone acknowledges that work isn't happening, but everyone says one shouldn't lose hope. Tell this to my landlord," he says.