Box-office blues spur film studios to sew up deals with digital content houses

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. At a time when few films have been able to make a splash at the box office, making producers cagey about taking new projects to the floors, a string of unlikely partnerships have taken shape recently between mainstream film studios and independent digital content houses to spice up their entertainment offerings.

While Yash Raj Films (YRF) has announced a deal with Posham Pa Pictures, known for OTT titles like Kaala Paani and Maamla Legal Hai, Sajid Nadiadwala’s film production house Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment and Banijay Asia, a part of Banijay Entertainment, have partnered to create original web series and films, with a total investment of ₹100 crore. Entertainment industry experts say that such partnerships are a win-win for both, as the new players will help bring variety to the established film production companies’ libraries, while the latter have a better relationship with mainstream talent, including actors.

In many cases, these digital content houses could also attract financiers to back the projects, after Bollywood studios saw many of their films bomb at the box office, repelling fresh investments. “Mainstream film studios have realised they need to have variety as far as their library goes, and some of them have really not seen their smaller scale films do well.

So, they need to step out and find partners for small world stories at a time when everyone is looking at expansion in some form. One company can only do a finite job," said a senior film producer, declining to be named.