Devashish Makhija is exasperated with the hurdles he’s facing to make another film after his critically-acclaimed 2020 OTT release, Bhonsle. The filmmaker feels the success of the Manoj Bajpayee-starrer should have made it easier to bring his next project to life.

“Bhonsle was one of the biggest OTT hits of 2020. My fortunes should have changed. I should have found financers and producers for my next feature film. I have been struggling for two years, and only now managed to set up a really small film with Manoj again. And it was only green-lit because he said yes,” he rues.

The Oonga (2013) and Ajji (2017) director also expresses uncertainty over the medium of release: “Everything is so up in the air, every three-six months everyone’s perspective changes. Where we will be six months from now, when my film will actually be set for a release, I don’t know.”

And that uncertainty only gets deeper when one realizes how films starring A-listers failed to win over the box office this year. The director says this was bound to happen. “It was not a surprise as there was so much money pumped into them. I’m not at liberty to reveal the numbers at which we sold Bhonsle to the OTT platform, but it didn’t make its money back. You can guess how little that film was made for. It’s a very corrupt system.”

He adds, “When the industry loses, makers like me are the first people to be jettisoned. They don’t want to hear our voices.”