Members Only - Page 10

Main Tag

Dividers

Originally posted by: ShiriFictionPen

Main Tag

Dividers

These r gawjusss❤️

They're lovely Shiri! Now who can make the thread look all beautiful?

Originally posted by: Minionite

They're lovely Shiri! Now who can make the thread look all beautiful?

I guess all of us who have done our writeups can post them again in this thread with the graphics and color codes. NSKay can post first as she has done the positive impact writeup, U would post next, then Poo and then me. After that one of us can pm the final posts link to Yuvika.

Originally posted by: Life_Is_Dutiful

I guess all of us who have done our writeups can post them again in this thread with the graphics and color codes. NSKay can post first as she has done the positive impact writeup, U would post next, then Poo and then me. After that one of us can pm the final posts link to Yuvika.

Let's do this from a fresh page.

6

COVID-19, a deadly virus, has brought the whole world to a standstill with its outbreak and tendency to spread like wildfire, resulting in a worldwide lockdown. Due to this, many parts of the economy got affected and the world’s economy went into temporary recession. One of those affected industries was the glittering and glamorous world of Indian cinema.

However, this pandemic paved the path for Indian cinema to the OTT platforms.

The online platforms’ subscriptions proliferated rapidly. Online streaming giants, like Netflix and Amazon Prime, saw this pandemic as an opportunity and tried to lure every age group with every business trick possible.

These platforms boomed in terms of revenues and audience base. In return, they offered diversity to the audience on their mobile and laptop screens in the difficult time of pandemic when going to theatres was life risking.

One of the factors that worked in these platforms' favor was the ‘content’. Their content is far more superior to regular cinema. This could encourage the mainstream cinema to create some quality content, better than what has been peddled until now.

Additionally, the trend of the audience pivoting around the stars appears to have reduced. Deserving artists and films, that might have not found a niche in the mainstream, are now sharing the same platform and are getting their due recognition and appreciation.

Another sector that bloomed in the midst of the pandemic is animation. Animated content has increased over the pandemic, particularly content targeting children. Many OTT platforms have created a separate section for animated movies.

Moreover, amidst the craze for OTT, the entertainment industry has surprised the Indian audience with the return of mythological shows. TV epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata have bridged the gap between the generations. Not only the directors and producers, but also the actors were delightedly astonished with the skyrocketing TRPs these shows garnered even after decades.

Seeing the enthusiastic response of the audience to these shows, many others took inspiration and aired their own old shows like Star Plus’s Saath Nibhana Saathiya that were a hit when they first aired. This also resulted in remakes or second seasons of these old serials, which are nowadays rocking the TRPs boat.

Also, not to be left behind in the race, the online music streaming segment found a way to grow and provide consumers with another set of exciting features like podcasts and playlists of different genres to engage their audience. An exciting feature, especially for the parents, is the exclusive kid section, which might provide them with a breather for the day.

All in all, the pandemic definitely had some positive impacts on all facets of Indian cinema.

The pandemic has not just brought out positive impacts in the world of cinema, but also many negative impacts with Bollywood being the hardest hit in terms of negativity.

Several popular and celebrated celebrities passed away during the pandemic, including Irrfan Khan, Rishi Kapoor, Sushant Singh Rajput, SP Balasubrahmanyam, Saroj Khan, Nishikant Kamat, Sameer Sharma, Jagdeep, Wajid Khan, and Nimmi. These deaths, while mourned greatly, also brought other celebrities out from under the rocks to celebrate that one 10-minute meeting as a “life-changing” moment. It brought out wannabes and publicity-hungry people who used these deaths for their 10 minutes of fame.

One death sparked a rather controversial and widespread campaign against a long-standing Bollywood norm – groupism and nepotism. On June 14, 2020, Sushant Singh Rajput took his own life and his fans, and later a larger part of the online audience, began a long and arduous battle against nepotism and groupism in Bollywood. They trolled and hated on the likes of Karan Johar, Alia Bhatt, Jhanvi Kapoor, Ananya Pandey, and more. While many celebs claimed that there are no groups and everyone is welcome, others made this a story of personal vendetta posting tweets and videos about their own “struggles” and problems in Bollywood.

Rajput’s death also brought another dark side of Bollywood to light – drug abuse. While drug abuse was not an unknown subject, the various police investigations and cases brought to light the full extent of the drug abuse with many well-known and popular celebrities being named.

All of this negative attention led to many star-kid led films being badly trashed when they released over the web. Movies such as Gunjan Saxena The Kargil Girl, Sadak 2, Khaali Peeli, and Coolie No 1 flopped badly due to the actors and plots, while films such as Dil Bechara and Khuda Haafiz were celebrated and loved by the masses. Additionally, webseries took the place of films in people’s watchlist with many webseries becoming as successful if not more popular than movies.

The pandemic also shut down theatres and shootings, which led to many films getting postponed for theatre reopenings. Films such as 83, Radhe, and Sooryavanshi all saw multiple postponements as producers, directors, and actors waited for the theatres to reopen. In the meantime, the gap was filled by TV and webseries – platforms that Bollywood typically looked down upon but proved their mettle and worth in the pandemic. Shows and webseries that had been shot previously were released during the pandemic. And when shootings were allowed to start again, TV shows and webseries were the first ones back on air.

Finally, the pandemic revealed another ugly side of Bollywood – the elitism. While most common people stayed home and followed pandemic rules, celebrities took the pandemic as a vacation break. Many were caught traveling, partying, and flaunting a general disregard for pandemic closures. Some used their position to get their favourite gyms to open, while others took the pandemic as a time to host a dinner party at their favourite restaurants. When caught they used similar excuses or claimed it was a “heat of the moment decision” or a “bad decision” to get away from the scrutiny.

In general, it can be concluded that the pandemic has been quite a mixed bag overall for Indian cinema. While it has provided many with an opportunity to introspect (given the increased negativity and controversy around both web content and Bollywood stars) and to explore and diversify (using OTT platforms), there has also been increased pressure to maintain and deliver on the pre-pandemic traditional mediums, like TV and cinema halls, that are still considered to have a wider reach.

However only time will tell as the industry enters a new normal, whether the opportunities presented by the pandemic have truly been well-seized by the TV, film, and OTT industries or whether the challenges crippled them This definitely will apply more to the film industry, as the TV and OTT worlds have proven their mettle!

We also asked many members some questions about their opinions and their families' opinions on webseries, TV shows and Bollywood movies and also about their preferences before, during, and post lockdown.

Maximum members said their perception about Bollywood has changed due to anti-nepotism protests during the pandemic and almost everyone gave an average rating to the quality of current Bollywood movies. Maximum members are not keen to watch movies in cinema halls/multiplexes over the next year due to safety. We do believe the popularity and interest in Bollywood movies has declined a lot over the past year though members and their families have still not completely given up on Bollywood.

Next is Indian TV. Almost all the members and their families preferred watching news channels and old mythological shows like Ramayana and Mahabharata during the lockdown. Most of the members have zero interest in Indian TV shows because of the regressive and terrible content and also because they find web shows more interesting and entertaining. Almost everyone have given less than a 5 out of 10 rating to Indian TV shows and believe it's still not safe to shoot for daily soaps.

Last but not the least - webseries. Some members answered that they and their families did watch webseries before lockdown and some members answered they did not. However, almost everyone has given higher ratings to webseries and prefer watching webseries over Indian TV shows.

In conclusion, maximum members interest in Bollywood movies has declined a lot since the lockdown and most of them have answered that their opinions about webseries improved during the pandemic and most of them would prefer watching webseries over Indian TV shows.