Streaming services, online distribution way forward for Kannada industry

BENGALURU: With new age platforms for visual content distribution, Kannada films and content are not just being released the traditional way now. Many are going online or are also joining the bandwagon of streaming services. With Netflix and Amazon being all-intrusive and highly popular, it is no wonder that a number of films also want to be on these platforms.

Pawan Kumar’s U-Turn was one of the first Kannada films to be sold to Netflix, following his lead, says B S Srinivas, founder of Purple Arrow Films that specialises in the distribution of Kannada content worldwide. He, and a number of other panelists spoke on the topic, ‘Fragmented distribution of content - A shot to traditional content.’

Kannada movie, Shuddhi, directed by Adarsh Eshwarappa, which was released just last year to positive reviews and box office success, is the latest to join Netflix. It will be released today.Pawan Kumar teamed up with foreign company, Home Talkies, for his movie Lucia. Peter, founder of Home Talkies, says, “What we wanted to do was build a community data that was geocentric and indicated the kind content that people liked and wanted to see in particular places.” With Lucia, Peter says a different model of funding was also established. “With Lucia, I think my company broke records in terms of the contributions as well,” he adds.

Anand Vardaraj, founder, Cine Center, also spoke about the new age system of giving movie prints using cloud based systems rather than using physical copy of disks to theatres. He also says that tie-ups with Netflix and Amazon is also in the pipeline to distribute content using such technology.