MUMBAI: Shlok Entertainment, headed by the makers of Crime Patrol, Subbu and Neeraj Naik, had launched an intense suspense thriller titled The Razor’s Edge on Youtube some time back.
Talking about the film, Shlok Entertainment director and producer Subbu said, “With the evolution of the internet, we broke the norms with this film and released it on the internet as we feel that it is the right medium for our target audience. A digital release will allow the viewers to enjoy this film in their own space."
He further added, “Now twitter gives you an option to watch a one minute snippets whether it's news or anything else. A majority of the audience watch television episodes on YouTube. A few years ago, Tata Sky started the trend where, with the help of a DTH recorder one could record and watch a favourite show at a convenient time. Now YouTube has taken it to the next level. Most of the channels have started their own web platforms and are uploading their content to tap into online audience.”
The Razor’s Edge was released on 23 October, 2015, and received 5,342 views so far. “The response has been decent. I would not say that the response was very good but we are happy with it. It will take time to get the eyeballs but soon will meet our target,” Subbu said.
The film attempts to expose the trials and tribulations of the film industry while keeping the audience at the edge of their seats. It follows the journey of the protagonist, Sameer played by Pankaj Singh, who like any newcomer, finds no takers for his script. Moreover he lacks backing. His fortune takes a turn when he befriends Tanya played by Shweta Gulati. All doors mysteriously open up for him.
Suddenly Sameer has a line of producers knocking on his door to work with him. Things looksbright for Sameer until Tanya becomes the prime suspect of all the gruesome murders of the producers who refused to work with him.
When asked why he chose to go digital with the film Subbu said, “The idea was to make a suspense thriller because we have been doing shows in that genre for a long time now. With a shorter thriller film it was a good opportunity to foray into digital. Digital is the next big thing with growing viewership and advertising revenue therefore we wanted to explore the platform with this film.”
The production house is looking forward to create more content for online platform. The plan is to come up with new films with an interval of two to three months for online viewership. The team is already working on the couple of ideas.
Speaking about the revenue model he explained, “Currently the concept is not the revenue generating because the digital platform still commands lesser share of advertisement as compared to television. Moreover we lack sponsorship. From a revenue perspective, it looks difficult right now as lots of people are a part of it and many big companies have been associated with a huge library of content with them. So the subscription model works for them. But for smaller entities like us, it may be revenue generating when sponsors come in, because at the end of the day advertising works on viewership. We are hoping more for sponsors to come in as we garner more views on the videos.”
Recently we have seen many OTT players bringing back the discontinued shows on their digital platform. “I see a lot of that happening right now. Netflix has pioneered this trend of moving content from television and putting it on digital. There are a lot of companies that wanted to make content for digital. Today’s younger generation doesn’t watch television which is why the digital space is growing. They prefer to watch series online and some of them don’t have television sets at home. Social media’s growth has also promoted the online content,” he said.
