We need to change the way we define hits, says ace Malayalam director Unnikrishnan B.

• Lecturer-turned-filmmaker Unnikrishnan B. believes a film today needs to be “extra special” to draw the audience to the theatres.
  
• As per Unnikrishan, Malayalam cinema is much ahead of other languages in terms of quality of content, but not the size of the business.
  
• His last film Christopher was a vigilante action drama that opened to positive reviews.

The aftermath of the lockdowns has redefined the fundamentals of the business of cinema. While Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Pathaan may have broken box office records on its way to a blockbuster status, a Malayalam film with a tenth of the former’s collections is also a superhit now – all thanks to the dynamics of the OTT (over-the-top) ecosystem, says an ace Malayalam film director.

The advent of a host of OTT platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+Hotstar etc and the pandemic-induced changes in the way cinema is consumed has brought on a fundamental change in the business of cinema, says Unnikrishan Bhaskaran, in an exclusive conversation with Business Insider India.

As a writer-director, Unnikrishnan has been a part of the industry for over two decades and has over ten films under his belt. He debuted in the industry as a writer with the drama Jalamarmaram (1999) - that won him his first Kerala State Film Award for Best Screenplay. He ventured into direction with Smart City in 2006 and went on to direct films like Madampi (2008), Pramani (2010), Grandmaster (2012), and the latest, Aaraattu (2022) and Christopher (2023), among others.

While acknowledging that the collections of Pathaan are “mind-boggling” and no other film has succeeded in bringing people to theatres in large numbers after the pandemic, Unnikrishnan insists the way to declare a film a hit or flop has changed. Since its release on January 25, 2023, Pathaan has grossed over ₹1,000 crore in worldwide collections - only the fifth Indian film to do so in cinematic history.

“In Malayalam, when you say a film is a superhit, it usually collects over ₹10-₹12 crore. But now if your film collects ₹5-₹6 crore from theatrical runs, you should regard it as a hit because there’s another vertical (OTT) or source of revenue that compensates for the lack of theatre revenue,” says Unnikrishnan .

His latest film, the vigilante crime-drama Christopher starring Mammootty released on February 9 in theatres and opened to positive reviews - reportedly raking in ₹11 crore in worldwide collections in 10 days of its release.

Malayalam cinema: quality over quantity

According to Unnikrishnan, Malayalam cinema has high-quality content that is better than most other languages, but it’s a small industry, lacking the strength to compete with bigger industries like Tamil or Telugu language cinema.

“If you take commercial figures as a yardstick, we’re (Malayalam cinema) far behind - because our films only release on 200-300 screens whereas a Vijay (a Tamil star), Rajni (Rajnikant), or Kamal Haasan film releases in over 1,000 screens. Volume-wise it can’t be compared to other languages but if you take content quality as a benchmark, we’re much much ahead,” shared Unnikrishnan.

Indeed, from thrillers like the Drishyam series to feminist dramas like The Great Indian Kitchen and family dramas like Kumbalangi Nights, Malayalam cinema has long been pushing the bar with original and engaging content.

As Unnikrishnan puts it, despite the constraints, “when it comes to content and innovative stuff, every language in cinema looks at Malayalam with awe.”

Only ‘extra special’ films can draw in the crowds

Malayalam cinema may deliver high-quality content - but it can’t always pull crowds into theatres, because content alone doesn’t attract audiences, especially after the pandemic.

Unnikrishnan believes that only “extra special” films can now draw the crowds to theatres – because the rise of OTT during the pandemic led to the end of “average-run” movies. Average-run movies are typically movies that enjoy a limited run in theatres but the collections are not low enough for them to be categorised as box-office flops.

“There’s no middle path now - either you watch in theatres, or when it comes to OTT. There was something called an average-run film before Covid - that’s no longer there. The majority of the audience stays away from theatres because it’s a habitual thing - they’re so used to watching it in the cosy atmosphere of their homes,” remarks Unnikrishnan, who has dabbled in both films and the television industry.

The lecturer-turned-filmmaker has written and directed three award-winning films back to back – the 2003 telefilm Antharangal, the 2004 Asianet television drama Black and White and the 2005 film Annum Mazhayayirunnu. He also directed the crime drama Villain (2017)- the country's first movie entirely shot in 8K quality.

In a career spanning over two decades, Unnikrishnan has seen various trends emerge, from remakes to content driven by OTT platforms.

Remakes: No longer an easy business

As per Unnikrishnan , OTT hasn’t just ended the average-run movies but also the remake industry by providing movies with subtitles and dubbed versions of movies.

“Remake market is now very difficult because when OTT platforms buy your content, you’re forced to dub it in all regional languages. For instance, Christopher is dubbed into Tamil and Hindi. (Now) an idea should be so fascinating that you take it up and really rework it to give a totally different film - that’s what they did with Lucifer when they remade it in Telugu,” added Unnikrishnan.

Lucifer, released in 2019, is a Malayalam crime thriller and the highest-grossing Malayalam film ever - earning over ₹200 crore. Its Telugu remake was released in October 2022, titled Godfather - it entered the ₹100-crore club in just three days.

Ajay Devgn-starrer Drishyam 2 also raked in over ₹200 crore in collections. It’s the official remake of the Malayalam thriller of the same name, starring Mohan Lal. As per Unnikrishnan, the success of the Hindi language Drishyam was largely due to how the movie was adapted, and also because the original release on OTT was available in only one language.

Meanwhile, despite delivering one of the biggest hits of 2022 (Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2) Kartik Aaryan- starrer Shehzada failed to draw the crowds. Shehzada is the official remake of the 2020 Telugu film Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo.

“The OTT euphoria is transitory”

Clearly, OTT has changed the way we view cinema. But, even though the pandemic led to the rise in the popularity of OTT platforms, Unnikrishnan believes “OTT euphoria is transitory”, engineered by the pandemic.

“When the pandemic happened, the theatres closed and we had no options - we were all glued to OTT platforms. And they (OTT) also had to constantly give you content. So people had the illusion that good cinema finally found its platform,” said Unnikrishnan.

He believes that once the theatres opened after the pandemic, OTT platforms predictably changed their policy - with films releasing in theatres before coming on to OTT.

“During the pandemic, many brilliant films premiered on OTT and everyone took notice of it. For instance, Drishyam 1 was a huge theatrical success but its sequel had an equally brilliant run when it (was) released on OTT. But if Jeethu and Mohanlal ( Jeethu Joseph was the director and Mohanlal was the lead actor of Drishyam) come up with a third part, definitely the OTT will insist for it to be released in theatres first,” said Unnikrishnan.