Filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj says “good cinema” is facing a deep struggle in the current filmmaking landscape, a challenge he believes existed even before the rise of streaming platforms but has intensified in the present environment.

The director said films driven by “heart and sensibility” are becoming the biggest casualties as producers and platforms increasingly push projects into rigid distribution categories.

“Now you won't be able to raise money for them. Now there is a straight demarcation, 'This is the subject, take it to OTT' and OTT people say, 'No, we don't want it, release it in theatres first, then we will take it here'. Good films are getting beaten in the process,” Bhardwaj told PTI.

According to Bhardwaj, raising funds for unconventional or content-driven films has become far more difficult than it was in the past, when projects such as Haider by Bhardwaj, Udaan by Vikramaditya Motwane and Gangs of Wasseypur by Anurag Kashyap were able to secure theatrical releases and find appreciation among discerning audiences.

He said a “revolutionary step” may be needed to revive the situation. “We are in a very strange and difficult phase of filmmaking. I think it's global... The films to be made for theatres have taken a totally new turn,” Bhardwaj said.

The filmmaker lamented that many of his contemporaries, including Anurag Kashyap, Dibakar Banerjee, Shriram Raghavan, Vikramaditya Motwane and Imtiaz Ali, are increasingly working with streaming platforms.

“… It's so sad. I don't remember Vikram's last film in theatres. I am Vikram's fan. I am Dibakar's great fan, they make great cinema,” Bhardwaj added.

He also pointed out that the theatrical business has historically faced disruption, including during the rise of satellite television when films would arrive on TV five to six months after theatrical release.

Today, he said, films often arrive on streaming platforms about eight weeks after their theatrical debut.

“If you want to make films for theatres, you have to look at yourself from a new perspective. By doing all that, how do you still keep yourself alive in that film is a challenge. In between, OTT platforms were making originals but that's also now less… Good cinema is going through a deep struggle, which is always the case anyway,” the filmmaker said.

“To make people go that 'I want to see it now, I don't want to wait for eight weeks', to create that lure, you have to do all kinds of things. What is happening is, the ones who are getting defeated are the cinema of the heart, cinema of the sensibilities,” he said.

The director, whose latest film O’Romeo features Shahid Kapoor and Triptii Dimri, also flagged ticket prices and the shrinking theatrical window for the decline in theatre-going audience.

“I was in Delhi and a few of my friends were going to watch my film. So they said, 'Give us Rs 6,000, we are going to watch your film'. They were three. I said, 'Why 6,000? They said, 'You don't know, the ticket price is Rs 1,900 rupees per seat in that (hall)'. Everyone must be having their reasons, the theatres, and the infrastructure of the theatres, the taxes, or whatever.

“People say they will watch it on OTT. But there is so much content available on OTT, not just Indian, but globally, there is so much available. We need a revolutionary step and we don't know when that will happen and whether it will be through a film or a new medium?” he said.