The prominence of OTTs amid the pandemic has put a question mark on the relevance of cinema theatres, which are slowly trying to crawl back to business. Actor Paresh Rawal feels that cinemas would never lose their relevance, and cautions makers to approach the OTT release process with care. “Cinemas will never fade away, but people will have to work on the cost factor. Restructuring is required, because if everyone wants to continue to run their business, there has to be rethinking... But then OTT people should not get so much that they can arm-twist us later,” shares Rawal.

The actor, 65, lauds the contribution of theatres to the film industry. “We have survived because of the big screen. We should not discard and marginalise them, no matter what the demand and need of OTT is. We have to keep a balance,” adds Rawal, who has also had projects releasing on OTT, such as the Tamil film Soorarai Pottru. Mentioning the wide variety of content available on digital platforms, he adds, “The taste of the audience has changed. And we have to be mindful of that.”