Producers Guild Of India issues a statement post INOX expressed displeasure for releasing film directly on OTT

Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, theaters have been shut all across the country. Due to the lockdown, recently, Amazon Prime Video had announced the global premiere of Amitabh Bachchan and Ayushmann Khurrana starrer Gulabo Sitabo on the 12th of June, 2020. This did not go down well with the theater chain INOX. INOX issued a statement expressing extreme displeasure and disappointment at a production house, to release their movie directly on an OTT platform by skipping the theatrical window run. They also urged producers not to skip the theatrical run and stay with age-old and established windowing pattern. 

After INOX issued this displeasure statement of theirs, the Producers Guild of India issued a statement mentioning that 'this is a time for the entire film industry to come together with empathy and support for the difficult predicament that each of our constituents finds themselves in.' They also stated their disappointment in statements that call for “retributive measures” against producers who decide to take their movies direct to OTT platforms. The statement of PGI further read as, "At a time like this, it is important that each stakeholder understands and empathises with the predicament of the other, rather than adopting an adversarial stance which is counter-productive for the entire value chain."

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They added, "The Producers Guild would like to emphasise that we are unequivocally and passionately supportive of the theatrical release of films, and a theatrical release will always be the preference for movies that were conceptualised as cinematic experiences. But these are unprecedented times for all the reasons." 

Check out their entire statement here:

Meanwhile, talking about Gulabo Sitabo, directed by Shoojit Sircar, the movie will premiere exclusively on the 12th of June, 2020, and will be available in 200 countries and territories worldwide. The movie is the quirky tale of two slimy scheming foxes in a game of one-upmanship, each one attracting other members to their clan and each one with an agenda of his own. A Rising Sun Films production, Gulabo Sitabo is written by Juhi Chaturvedi and produced by Ronnie Lahiri and Sheel Kumar. Infact, today, Amazon Prime Video announced the premiere of Vidya Balan starrer Shakuntala Devi as well. With the lockdown, it seems many films will be releasing on OTT platforms instead of theatres.