A disturbing trend has taken root in today’s film industry, many movies are no longer being made for audiences but for OTT platforms.
It often looks absurd to see glowing “blockbuster” reviews from the moment of release followed by supposedly massive box-office collections. Everything appears legitimate until examined closely.
It is now openly discussed that several film critics at the national level are being influenced or outright bought by filmmakers. These critics rush to post glowing reviews on social platforms while the first shows are still running.
Forget the independent YouTube reviewers; even reputed critics seem willing to trade credibility for a price. Since a review is technically an opinion some may think selling that opinion isn’t a crime but it certainly erodes trust and results in a negative butterfly effect.
The next issue is even more alarming. Producers allocate huge budgets to mass-book tickets in multiple theatres, especially for big films.
Online platforms display shows as “almost full” yet when some theatres are checked in person the halls are half empty or worse. This discrepancy clearly signals manipulation.
Then comes the buying of box-office tracking portals, many of which are now dedicated to projecting inflated numbers. Only a very few legitimate, one or two, trustworthy BO tracking portals are there at present.
Surprisingly the purpose of all this is not to lure the general audience but to influence OTT platforms.
Major OTT companies set purchase terms based on theatrical collections and critical reception. To secure high-value deals filmmakers artificially boost reviews and box-office data.
It is a calculated strategy to manipulate corporate negotiations rather than to celebrate genuine audience success. Sadly, 'Dhurandhar', the nationwide release is currently caught in this web. Almost many popular Hindi movie critics gave thumping reviews. Fake ticket bookings were also being reported.
According to a Bollywood source, "Dhurandhar continued with its inflated numbers as the feeding spread to more cinemas than the first day. The first day the feeding was mainly concentrated on one chain but the second day saw this feeding go wider. The story of the film is something like the hero infiltrating the terrorists but here its become about infiltrating the multiplexes and buying tickets. The film itself may go not be able to go wider but makers have gone wider in buying tickets."
Adding to this, the sequel of "Dhurandhar" is also announced, set to release for March 2026. So all the current buildup is to add hype for that sequel, the trade circles say.
And, of course, the pattern isn’t limited to a single film. Any movie aiming for a lucrative OTT deal seems to follow the same playbook.
As the saying goes, all that glitters is not gold. Likewise not all box-office numbers are true; many are simply manufactured for a purpose.