Ayushmann Khurrana vs Kartik Aaryan: A battle for eyeballs nobody is talking about

To watch but what to watch: subscribers of OTT platforms must answer that question every weekend. Many temptations are on offer, with sporting events such as the FIFA World Cup on jiocinema.com presenting themselves as time-consuming possibilities.

If one wants to watch football matches live, discarding the thought of enjoying too many films is an inevitable must. These viewers must select one brand new film, in other words, omitting the rest from the long list of available options.

What has happened in the first weekend of the last month of 2022 is an instance of what the Hindi film lover must learn to expect with increasing regularity. Several new films are streaming on various OTT platforms, such as the Netflix period drama Qala, an Anvitaa Dutt directorial released on Thursday. Qala featuring Triptii Dimri, Swastika Mukherjee and Babil Khan is about a gifted singer whose fame conceals dark realities such as a strained relationship and the untimely loss of somebody close to her. The visually captivating film powered by heartfelt emotions will be loved by fans of offbeat cinema.

Shashanka Ghosh’s Freddy, a Kartik Aaryan crime thriller, started streaming on Disney+ Hotstar on Friday. Aaryan plays a socially awkward Parsi dentist struggling to find a life partner for several years. What happens after he falls for a married woman in a troubled relationship with her husband, followed by the husband’s murder, results in a thriller that keeps the viewer engaged for the most part.

Zee5’s Friday release is Madhur Bhandarkar’s India Lockdown, a story inspired by the challenges and difficulties confronted by millions after the Covid-19 pandemic assailed the country. The idea lacks novelty, but it will connect with those Zee5 subscribers who were deeply affected one way or the other in the darkest period of modern times. And, that means almost everybody.

The latest theatrical release is Anirudh Iyer’s action drama An Action Hero, which has Ayushmann Khurrana in the titular role of a film star who flees India after being accused of murder. The dead man’s brother (Jaideep Ahlawat) wants to hunt him down, seeking revenge. An excitement-filled, action-packed ride in which Khurrana appears as an action hero for the first time ever, the film is also competing for consumer eyeballs with Abhishek Pathak’s suspense drama Drishyam 2 and Amar Kaushik’s horror comedy Bhediya despite the latter’s underwhelming performance at the box office.

What does the release of so many new films and the reality of limited time at the potential viewer’s disposal mean?

Ayushmann Khurrana versus Kartik Aaryan 

Kartik Aaryan and Ayushmann Khurrana are successful outsiders in an industry where family ties matter. Aaryan’s mass appeal seems destined to multiply further, while Khurrana is a big star of mid-size Hindi films. Aaryan’s 2022 blockbuster, Anees Bazmee’s horror comedy Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, was a significant success during troubled times for the industry. Khurrana has not fared well recently, his last release, Anubhuti Kashyap’s social drama Doctor G, having started out promisingly before slowing down and completing its lifetime run without an impressive box-office score. However, attributing his recent lack of success to diminishing appeal will be an unfair judgement passed too soon.

Disney+ Hotstar, Freddy’s chosen platform for release, is the leading OTT platform in India. How many Indian subscribers who are part of its reported 61.3 million subscriber base will prefer Freddy ahead of An Action Hero in the first weekend? To what extent will An Action Hero get affected because it is simultaneously dealing with challenges offered by a still-strong Drishyam 2 and Bhediya, which also promises to be around in cinema halls for a while?

An Action Hero has reportedly grossed around Rs 1.3 crore at the Indian box office on the first day. It needs to fare a lot better in the coming days to make break-even — and make some more.

Growing viewership for offbeat cinema

If released in pre-pandemic, pre-OTT times, Qala would have been like that beautiful painting that is appreciated by not many who see it. Today, the long-existent boundary separating commercial cinema from its arthouse counterpart has crumbled. The result is more viewers for films that merge elements of both. Among them are those Netflix subscribers, who have been exposed to a variety of quality content during the lockdown period. They could choose a film like Qala as their viewing option during the first weekend after release, spending the remaining time at home with family and binge-watching some web series or the FIFA World Cup.

Increasing impact of OTT Releases

Most well-marketed OTT releases have the guarantee of viewership since they can be watched at home without having to spend on tickets on a free day after a hectic week at the workplace. If an OTT film has a star such as Kartik Aaryan in Freddy, it can affect the box-office performance of a new theatrical release on the first weekend more significantly than many would like to believe. The film industry, in short, has a new self-created competitor to deal with, a reality it must acknowledge as it looks forward to the box-office performance of theatrical releases every week.

The author, a journalist for three decades, writes on literature and pop culture. Among his books are ‘MSD: The Man, The Leader’, the bestselling biography of former Indian captain MS Dhoni, and the ‘Hall of Fame’ series of film star biographies. Views expressed are personal.

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