The entire world has been forced to go into lockdown mode by the rampant spread of the COVID-19 Novel Corona Virus! This deadly Virus forced a lockdown in most countries and almost everything including industries, businesses and even day-to-day activities came to a standstill! With not many means for entertainment, people began turning to OTT (Over The Top) platforms for their entertainment needs, as theatres had been closed and there were no new movies or serials due to a ban on shooting! Despite the OTT platforms being around for quite some time, they witnessed a massive boom in these past few days. Movie producers have understood the power of OTT platforms and have started thinking about releasing their movies directly on OTT. Following RK Nagar (which released directly on Netflix), the first Tamil biggie to release directly on a digital platform was Ponmagal Vandhal, which was released on Amazon Prime.

Ponmagal Vandhal's direct digital release caused quite a furore with a number of theatre owners opposing this decision. Most of the industry is very happy with the decision to release directly on OTT, especially in such tough times when theatres are not open. However, there are a few people who have not taken kindly to this decision and it looks like the Tamil Nadu Government's State Minister for Information & Publicity - Mr. Kadambur Raju, is one of them! In a recent interaction with the Press & Media, Kadambur Raju has stated that movies releasing online directly, is not a healthy trend for the industry. He has stated that this affects the producers, distributors and theatre owners, adversely. Earlier, he had stated that in over 100 years of the Cinema industry, movies have only released through theatres and this has benefited 100s of workers associated in this field! Kadambur Raju agrees that applying curbs on OTTs would be difficult but believes this issue can be amicably resolved between the producers, distributors and theatre owners! He also stated that the Government would be happy to assist in this regard, as even it faces revenue loss when movies release directly on OTT!