Mumbai, Apr 12 () The transition from the magic of the big screen experience, complete with popcorn, candy and push back chairs, to the small screen has been rapid as audiences adapt to life under lockdown and filmmakers resize their offerings in keeping with the times. With the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the globe, cinemas have downed their shutters and digital platforms are stepping up to meet the growing entertainment demands of millions of people across the world and in India spending their days confined to their homes. The trend is clear. The fear of the pandemic, which has infected more than 8,000 people and claimed at least 273 lives in India, could stay for maybe months after it abates. And audiences are unlikely to get back to the theatre in a hurry.Reading the writing on the screen, production houses and distributors have already moved their big screen releases to digital platforms.Irrfan's much awaited "Angrezi Medium" released on March 13 but theatres were already closing everywhere by then and the film was in the theatres for just a day. The movie is now available on newly launched Disney+Hotstar.Similarly "Bamfaad", which marks the debut of Paresh Rawal's son Aditya is available on ZEE5.In India, home grown digital platforms are reaping the benefits of the transition."Voot Select is seeing a definite surge in the uptake of subscribers. It is about 2.5 to 3 times higher than what we had estimated. But this growth cannot be attributed to increased consumption alone. The fact of the matter is Voot Select is a very new service - only three-week-old," said Ferzad Palia, head - Voot Select, Youth, Music &amp; English Entertainment Viacom18.Aparna Acharekar, programming head, ZEE5 India, said the platform is diversifying its content and even making it free."Through our initiative of #BeCalmBeEntertained, we have made a host of content available free for viewers. We also launched our Original 'State of Siege: 26/11' which garnered a fantastic response from the audience as well as critics."Besides "Bamfaad", which released on April 10, it also has a Short Film Festival coming up on April 15. The world, added Nachiket Pantvaidya, group chief operating officer, Balaji Telefilms and CEO of ALTBalaji, is facing a humanitarian crisis with most countries under lockdown to ensure the safety of their citizens."In the current scenario, we are encouraging our viewers to stay safe in self-isolation for which we shall continue to serve quality entertainment at the most optimized data usage," Nachiket told .Nachiket, who did not divulge data on the increase in subscriber count, added that they are urging subscribers to make the switch to SD (Standard Definition) from HD (High Definition)."While we have witnessed an increase in viewership and the time they spend consuming our content, our main objective is to ensure uninterrupted entertainment to their screens."Will all this forever change the way people consume content?That's the question uppermost in the minds of industry insiders as people settle into a lockdown routine and prepare for an extension. India has been under a lockdown after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement on March 24."Cinema is a habit, if you break a habit for four-six months, you'll get a lot of people dissuaded to come to cinemas. Even if there is a reduction of 15-20 per cent of the footfall, which is anyway on a decline, cinema is going to be badly hit," Bihar-based exhibitor Vishek Chauhan told . The shrinking gap between theatrical releases and their debut on streaming platform has left cinema hall owners and exhibitors worried about their future."With everyone quarantined, digital platforms are "taking us by the throat and pushing down their content every week", Chauhan said. According to him, the comfort of OTT platforms poses a threat to the theatrical viewing experience because it's an "antithesis to appointment cinema". "Theatrical viewing is fixed at a particular time, a location, which isn't the case with OTT. You can watch unlimited content online using free data. This is a huge crisis we will face. It's not like the gates will open and people will throng our premises." "Imagine if I were Netflix or Amazon and made an offer to the makers of 'Sooryavanshi' to release it digitally, paying whatever amount they think they could've earned in theatrical, How long will Karan Johar, Rohit Shetty hold back?"There has been a substantial investment in the film and it's costing the makers interest on a daily basis as we speak," Chauhan said. "Sooryavanshi" is the third film in Rohit's cop universe after Ajay Devgn's "Singham" and Ranveer Singh-starrer "Simmba". The film was supposed to release on March 24 but has been postponed indefinitely due to the pandemic. Raj Bansal, senior distributor and exhibitor, said China, where the pandemic began, recently opened theatres but not many turned up. "That's such a clear indicator of where we stand today. No one is coming to cinema halls. At least that won't be on people's mind right now," said Bansal, director of Entertainment Paradise, a three-screen multiplex in Jaipur. Internationally, too, Disney, which recently launched its streaming service in India with Hotstar, has put some of its movies directly on Disney+. The titles include "Frozen 2" and "Onward" which arrived for home viewing faster than they would have had the cinemas been open.In an interview with Barron's, Disney's executive chairman Bob Iger said they were considering putting a few of their movies on the streaming platform."There are some we've decided to put on Disney+. We already announced one, Artemis Fowl, that would have been released in theaters. Others we've simply delayed. In some cases we've moved things onto Disney+ faster than we would have. 'Frozen 2' was one of them, but 'Onward' would be the biggest example. It was in theatres when this happened," Iger said when asked about films already in production. Similarly, Universal put "The Hunt" on streaming while Focus Features' made "Emma" available for early streaming. Dispelling the gloom, PVR Cinemas CEO Gautam Dutta said he is not worried about the future of theatres and considers the lockdown due to pandemic a challenging but short term problem. In an interview to recently, Dutta said, "Out of home entertainment is not just about watching movies. It is about eating out, about socializing, holding hands and creating memories. Once the lockdown is over and the situation improves, people will return to cinemas," he said. KKP BK MIN MINMIN

COVID-19 changes cinema game from big to small screen

<ul><li>In our latest series, we look at different industries to understand what was 2020 like for them and to crystal gaze into the upcoming year, and identify some of the trends that will set the tone for 2021.</li><li>During the past few months of the global pandemic, people staying at home around the world have turned to various streaming services for entertainment. </li><li>With the coronavirus still around, we speak to OTT players to find out what would 2021 look like for the industry. </li></ul>Better connectivity, cheaper devices and even cheaper data plans have been aiding the growth of India’s over-the-top (OTT) industry over the past few years. However, 2020 became a year when more and more people came onto the digital ecosystem, thanks to being stuck at home during the lockdown. With people barely moving out of their houses, they turned to the digital world for their daily fix of entertainment. Also, people were more open with experimenting with different platforms. If an IBEF report is to be believed, the OTT sector in India saw a 30% rise in the number of paid subscribers, from 22.2 million to 29.0 million between March and July 2020. There was a visible increase in the time people were spending on most platforms. It therefore became important for platforms to come up with differentiated, fresh content that would help them stand apart. Owing to the fact that multiplexes were shut for months, many platforms also started launching movies directly on digital. Consumers have been happy for the most part. As we enter 2021, expectations from the sector are high. With the coronavirus still around, many people will continue staying in. So what will this mean for the OTT sector in 2021? Will more and more people continue coming onto platforms, and prefer to pay for the content that they like? How will OTT platforms be able to ensure consumer stickiness? What are a few trends that will stand out in 2021? We reached out to a few experts from the industry and here’s what they had to say. Archana Anand, Chief Business Officer, ZEE5 Global: <div type="image" title="Archana Anand zee5" msid="79998579" hostid="261"></div> I see two key themes that swung into prominence in 2020 emerging as key drivers of the <keyword id="9056838" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="ott-industry">OTT industry</keyword>’s skyrocketing growth in 2021. With the lockdown, we’ve seen a trend of people across the globe warming up to the idea of paying for quality content, and also being willing to commit to annual subscription packs where they see value. I see this trend only accelerating in 2021, leading to strong SVOD growth. This has also been a year where international content has gained massive traction across markets. With ZEE5 and other OTT platforms offering dubbed and subtitled content, enabling people in one geography to seamlessly access stories from any other, content is now truly democratized. Storytelling is increasingly blurring boundaries and storytellers are finding newer audiences beyond their own borders. I think 2021 is going to be the year that international content comes into even greater prominence as online audiences literally discover a world of new content via their OTT platforms. Hiren Gada, CEO, Shemaroo Entertainment Limited: <div type="image" title="Hiren Gada, CEO, Shemaroo Entertainment Limited" msid="79995505" hostid="261"></div> 2021 is going to be an exciting year as OTT is already riding the wave of increased data consumption and internet penetration in the small towns and rural India. The year gone by also saw some great innovations and developments in the OTT space. From direct-to-digital releases to the increasing growth in the regional content, this year has bolstered the growing popularity of OTT to an all-time high. One trend that is expected to take centre stage is highly localised and regional content. The key to ace the trend is to have an in-depth understanding of the traditions and culture of the viewers. Understanding the deep-rooted connections our viewers have with their mother tongue, we have developed a strong regional strategy for Shemaroo across all our platforms. We have a huge content bank that ranges from Bollywood, Gujarati, Marathi, Punjabi, Kids, Devotional, and various specialised trays. Content companies saw a huge change and spike in the content viewing pattern of the audiences during the lockdown. Our regional offerings saw an impressive surge in viewership especially in the Gujarati category with viewership as high as 102% in the peak months of the lockdown. While Bollywood is our mainstay, our teams have been constantly acquiring and upgrading our regional offerings, so our audiences have something new every time they tune in. We aim to make it a more robust and comprehensive pick for any consumer who wishes to enjoy varied regional content. Ferzad Palia, Head, Voot Select, Youth, Music and English Entertainment, Viacom18: <div type="image" title="Ferzad Palia." msid="79995514" hostid="261"></div> Year 2020 saw the OTT category driven by groundbreaking storytelling and macro factors resulting in significant growth for SVOD services. Viewers’ willingness to pay for quality content is now well established. However, around 65% of subscribers are still from Top 10 metros. 2021 will buck this trend and see the Premium OTT Category in India expand its footprint outside of the top 10 metros, heralding the next phase of growth for the category. Karan Bedi, CEO - MX Player: <div type="image" title="Karan Bedia Mx player" msid="79998628" hostid="261"></div> Video streaming has become the primary mode of entertainment for most digital consumers across India this year. With this backdrop, India is set to become a key market for growth in OTT video in 2021. This will lead to an avalanche of new unique original content for these audiences as they have very little to watch on TV. In this situation, marketers are also increasingly aware of where their money works best, and would like to focus on those mediums, namely digital and OTT. Divya Dixit, SVP, Marketing, Analytics and Direct Revenue, ALTBalaji <div type="image" title="Divya, altbalaji" msid="79995519" hostid="261"></div> Digital is an ever-evolving medium and when it comes to OTT players, competition across the industry is soaring high with everyone at their toes trying to secure their places in the minds of consumers. While the pandemic of 2020 redefined content consumption, the year 2021 will chart new business alliances and revenue models for platforms to acquire direct subscriptions. The report from FICCI and E&amp;Y predicted 30-35 million paying subscribers on OTT platforms alone in the year 2021, and we are excited about carving a substantial pie out of the same. Our objective has always been content massification and with the next billion internet users set to hail from the Hindi heartlands, India’s digital industry promises a host of fresh avenues to explore and expand. The soon-to-arrive 5G networks will only work as an important factor for OTT platforms to scale further heights. Prime Video India spokesperson: “2020 has been a very exciting year for us at Prime Video India – at a time when a large section of customers, looking for high quality entertainment, are turning to streaming video - we launched 18 direct-to-digital movies (across 5 Indian languages) and 8 Indian Amazon Original Series, in addition to several Global Originals and hundreds of licensed and exclusive titles. One of the most consistent trends we observed in 2020 is that great content transcends geographical barriers. Indian stories are traveling across the globe - 1 out of 5 viewers of Indian Originals are from outside India. Both Four More Shots Please! and Made in Heaven were nominated for the International Emmy Awards, a testimony to local, authentic stories finding a global audience. Our first slate of DTS movies received close to 50% (and sometimes more) viewership for titles in Indian languages from customers outside the home states. Our Bollywood direct-to-service movies were block-buster hits - Gulabo Sitabo and Shakuntala Devi have been our most-watched movies on Prime Video in India as well as the most-watched Hindi/ Bollywood Movie outside India. Localized content not only helps us remain relevant, relatable but eventually also helps in widening audience reach - we also see global shows going deeper in India. We released Parasite with Hindi subs in India and that opened viewership to a whole new audience. We also dubbed some of our popular Global Amazon Originals like Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan and more recently, the second season of the The Boys in Indian languages, leading to more people discovering and watching these titles. This gives us an insight that customers are ready to watch content that has originated from any part of the world, if the story and the characters resonate with them.”

OTT: The trends to watch out for in 2021

<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/All-India-Bakchod-does-it-again-This-is-the-truthbehind-the-Great-Indian-Wedding-Tamasha/articleshow/47249838.cms">All India Backchod</a>, the one comedy group that disappoints the least in the country, is back with a new video and by the looks of it, its big news. 
And, no before you even think of it, let’s tell you, it’s not another Roast. (Though we wish it was) 
 
Not just happy with being infamous for the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/AIB-You-Have-A-Right-To-Offend-But/articleshow/46144426.cms">AIB Roast</a> which made <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Ranveer-Singh-takes-to-Live-Blogging-his-day/articleshow/48972499.cms">Ranveer Singh</a> and Arjun Kapoor the victims of insult comedy, aided with a cameo by Karan Johar, the band of funny boys decided it’s time they take their notorious reputation to smaller screens. Literally. 
 
Eight months after their Roast, the comedy group launched the trailer for their next big project in association with Star and the all new Hotstar platform. 
 
The group has come up with a solution for all those complaining about how India has nothing that can match up to the likes of ‘The Daily Show with Jon Stewart’ or <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/India-doesnt-deserve-its-own-version-of-Last-Week-Tonight-and-heres-why/articleshow/48746556.cms">‘Last Week Tonight with John Oliver’</a> despite the country being a goldmine of laws, policies and politicians that can be mocked, ridiculed and laughed at. 
 
According to their trailer, the bad boys of comedy will be soon seen hosting a news comedy show, which would be aired on <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Satyamev-Jayate-2-Helps-Star-Plus-Cross-700-TVM-Mark-Again/articleshow/31994810.cms">Star Plus</a>, Star World and Hotstar. Titled ‘<keyword id="3056725" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="On-Air-with-AIB">On Air with AIB</keyword>,’ the weekly series premiering on October will have 10 episodes each in Hindi and English. 
 
 
 The video, which already has 129,635 views shows Tanmay Bhatt, Rohan Joshi, Ashish Shakya and Gurshiman Khambha walk in to the Star Office and bump into two fans who are suffering from the ‘Oh my god. You guys did the roast. Still can’t make up our minds on whether it was awesome or against Indian culture but oh my god you guys did the Roast’ syndrome and who assume that the fantastic four are at the Star Office to pitch Round 2 of the <keyword id="2700836" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="AIB-Roast">AIB Roast</keyword>. 
 
The four try their best to convince the two that their new show will hardly be anything like the AIB Roast in vain as the two are convinced that despite AIB’s claims of the new show being ‘a news space comedy,’ it will still bear resemblance to the slapstick comedy displayed in their previous project. 
 Giving AIB tough competition in the humour department, <keyword id="17943" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="star-india">Star India</keyword> CEO uday Shankar while talking to IndianTelevision.com, said, "I am told that based on extensive, exhaustive research, AIB are considered mildly entertaining and we should give them a show on our network. I have complete faith that we will regret this in the months to come." 
 
Granted, AIB making their debut on television is great news, considering the quality of content on the idiot box is worse than the plot of Hero (if there was one), the big question still is, will AIB be successful in shying away from their slapstick, overdramatic brand of comedy and herald the onset of intelligent comedy on the small screen and more importantly, is that even possible? 
 
Guess, we’ll have to wait and watch. 
 
For now, have a look at their video. 
 
 
 
Image credit: Indiatimes

On Air with AIB: Our favourite comedy group is making their debut on TV!

There’s a reason why <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/All-Hail-The-Queen-Here-Are-Kangana-Ranauts-Top-10-Looks-So-Far/articleshow/47500080.cms">Kangana Ranaut</a> is referred to as the ‘<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Box-Office-Queen-OutshinesGulaab-Gang-Total-Siyapaa-Tanks/articleshow/31848837.cms">Queen</a>’ of Bollywood. Apart from her commendable acting skills which can make any film an overnight success, Kangana’s interviews are a breath of fresh air because of how candid she is, compared to most actors in the film industry. 
 
Hardly afraid to call a spade, a spade, she doesn’t shy away from saying what everyone else is merely thinking in their heads. 
 Diplomacy be damned, when <keyword id="2201" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Kangana-Ranaut">Kangana Ranaut</keyword> is around, for this girl stands for is bluntness! 
 
In a recent interview with RJ Malishka, Kangana Ranaut demystified the meaning of a phrase frequently used by our stars. 
 
According to Kangana, the term’ just good friends’ in reality transcends to a fuck buddy being promoted a little bit. 
 
While social media has been going gaga over Ranaut’s honesty, considering Bollywood is starved of actors speaking their heart out, who don’t prefer hiding behind the veil of diplomacy; this is indeed a big win. 
 However, this is not the first time the <keyword id="6377522" type="POSITION" weightage="80" keywordseo="queen">Queen</keyword> has spoken her mind. Business Insider lists down five instances when Kangana Ranaut has proved that she’s all about the honesty- 
 
1. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Heres-how-Twitter-trolled-Sonam-Kapoor-for-being-Desi-Rihanna/articleshow/47344824.cms">Sonam Kapoor</a>, known for saying things without thinking had on Koffee with Karan suggested that Kangana Ranaut should brush up her English skills. To that, Kangana had the following response- 
 
"I can also things like that but I don't. I don't know what is best for Sonam, I don't know what she should be doing with her life because I don't think about her life. It is very kind of her to think about me, but really I don't need her advice" 
 
2. Sexism is a part and parcel of life if you’re a woman living in country. And, Kangana Ranaut’s following quote proves that you cannot escape that even if you are a National Award winning actress! 
 
“Forget the credit, they (male actors) take all the money as well. We don’t get paid even one-third of what male actors get. It’s not so much about the money, but it’s about ( being a) woman” 
 
3. In an interview with Rajeev Masand, where she was accompanied by <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/The-Deepika-Padukone-Video-Vogue-Or-Vague/articleshow/46744351.cms">Deepika Padukone</a>, Kangana Ranaut redefined what being frank actually meant. 
Masand asked both the actors if they had signed a movie just for money. While Padukone was quick to retort with ‘No, never’, Kangana, on the other hand spoke the truth- ‘Yes I have’ she said. 
With that answer, she also taught us that we should be proud of your mistakes. We forgive you for Krrish 3 Kangana, We do. 
 
4. Unlike most others in the industry, which includes King Khan himself, Kangana made headlines when she turned down a Rs 2 crore fairness cream, advertisement opportunity. When asked what led to her decision, this was her response- 
 
“Ever since I was a kid, I have never understood the concept of fairness. Especially, in such a case, as a celebrity, what kind of an example would I be setting for younger people? I have no regrets about turning this offer down. As a public figure, I have responsibilities," 
 
You had her heart, but with this you have our respect, Kangana. 
 
5. “I am the struggler of the century” 
 
She’s spent over eight years in the industry and has carved out a name for herself without piggy backing on connections and yet she considers herself as a struggler and not a star. If this is not brutal honesty, I don’t know what is. 
 
Image credit: Indiatimes

You Searched For "karan english" and got 4 results

COVID-19 changes cinema game from big to small screen

PTI

OTT: The trends to watch out for in 2021

Samarpita Banerjee

On Air with AIB: Our favourite comedy group is making their debut on TV!

Poulomi Das

Five times Kangana Ranaut proved that she is the queen of sass

Poulomi Das