Yami Gautam: From 2020 onwards, lines between OTT and theatrical release have really blurred

Actor Yami Gautam, who got married to filmmaker Aditya Dhar in a hush-hush ceremony in June, has been swamped with back-to-back shoots in 2021. While projects including Dasvi, A Thursday, Lost — which is being shot in Kolkata — and more are in the pipeline, the release status of many films remains a question.

Given how many films have taken the digital route in the last 18 months during the pandemic, Gautam feels the lines between theatrical and direct-to-OTT releases have really blurred.

“2020 has absolutely changed the game and turned it upside down. No matter what you thought before 2020… it is an experience to watch a film in theatres, you feel amazing with the big screen and you want that for every film. Every filmmaker, actor wants their films to get released in theatres. But, in the past year and a half, OTT platforms have come as a huge saviour to begin with, for both producers and financers and actors, too,” explains the actor.

The perception around what qualifies as a success also seems to have undergone a drastic change, since box office collections are no longer the parameter and it’s the content and actor’s performance that has taken the spotlight.

Gautam agrees and says “It’s not really about the opening figures and all those questions. It’s very simple — how good or bad a film is — that’s right there. It’s all about how well a film connects with the audience in front of you.”

Lauding the OTT boom, she adds, “The fact that web has given so many opportunities — 2020 introduced us to so many talented actors and technicians, writers and directors. They all are getting good opportunities, everybody is busy doing something or the other. I just hope that the new era we’ve entered, it’s complimented with genuinely good work in terms of different and great scripts and genres.”

And the 32-year-old shares that she, too, is happily dabbling between both the mediums.

“Some of my films are theatrical releases, while some will be direct to digital. I have absolutely no qualms and I’m very happy. As long as they are good scripts and good films, they will always find their audience and then the medium doesn’t matter,” she asserts.