Digital is worth it: With The End, Akshay Kumar makes debut in the web space

Superstars are synonymous with the big screen, But what will happen when these stars come to the smaller screen? Another transition the world of entertainment is witnessing with the alternate screen is getting on board reigning superstars like Akshay Kumar for a series called The End.

The first such transformation had happened when a star like Amitabh Bachchan had come to television with the show Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC). However, unlike Kumar, Bachchan was not at the top of his game.

Akshay has been delivering hits at a time when even the Khans of Bollywood are faltering at the box office, and this only raises the bar for the digital medium in India and across the world. This is because even big Hollywood stars are slowly walking the path of coming to the digital medium, especially when it comes to web series. Plus, the digital space in the West is more mature in comparison to India.

Talking to Moneycontrol, Vikram Malhotra, CEO, Abundantia Entertainment, said, “There is a fundamental difference between the way content has moved across mediums in Hollywood than how it has moved in India. Obviously, feature films is dominant, followed by broadcast television, followed by cable television and then the advent of streaming. Now in Hollywood, this was spaced out over decades, which meant that there were sub-segments of the form of TV that was being done.”

“So, cable led to DTH and pay per view and a very strong segment which Hollywood calls Prestige Premium TV. A platform which allows big Hollywood names, established movie talent as well as writers like Aaron Sorkin. So, there are these names that already made the transition and that happened over a number of years,” he further said.

Explaining further, Malhotra said, “Importantly, the audience there across streams again grew accustomed watching content on each screen unpaid. In India, feature films have been the dominant medium when it comes to the emergence of stars. But whenever the big movie stars have come onto the television screen, there always has been disproportionate success, disproportionate expectations."

"Today, I look at the world of digital content or the world of streaming content is that it is still the tip of the iceberg. Such a small number of consumers presently moving to the digital world — small is a relative number compared to the number of people who are watching television. The absolute number of people in the universe of this country who can consume digital content,” he added. 

He thinks that “in a country where the bulk of the population is a non-user or a trend-setter to the streaming medium, the presence of a reigning superstar like Akshay Kumar is a reassurance to them to spend their time and money on subscribing to the services on to these platforms.”

According to him, to see more stars would also mean great amount of reassurance to the non-users to reassure that the amount of time and money they will spent to subscribe or to be present on these platforms will be worth it.

The End, starring Akshay, will be high on action, a genre the actor is famous for.

Abundantia’s first series in collaboration with Amazon Prime, Breathe, that also became a case study at FICCI Frames last year, got on board South superstar and a known name in the Hindi film industry as well — R Madhavan. For season 2, the company has roped in Abhishek Bachchan.

The company, known for successful films like Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, Airlift, Baby, all starring Akshay Kumar, will continue to build its slate. “It has been under development for last two years and which kicks off with Pullela Gopichand biopic followed by official Hindi remake of Hollywood’s Begin Again and then we get on to a film called Rifle Man which is on the backdrop of India China war,” said Malhotra.

Abundantia is also working on a remake of the Malayalam film Angamali Diaries.

The company’s second focus is on premium digital content where they believe they are getting to their sweet spot of telling stories that are uniquely Indian, but the attempt is to connect with the ever-increasing appetite for Indian stories across the world.

“So, if Breathe could get 40 percent viewership from international market, it shows that The End, book adaptation of Manohar Malgaonkar’s book – The Men Who Killed Gandhi will talk more and more to global audience,” said Malhotra.

Talking about the 40 percent viewership outside India, he added, “When Amazon told us that 40 percent audience for Breathe were outside India, my first guess was it must be the Indian diaspora. But no, it was a truly international audience watching in non-home language. Breathe, according to me, is the first show to get a simultaneous release in 200-plus territories. It has taken us 100 years and our films have not travelled to more than 20-30 countries. And in one sweeping move, Breathe went global in the minute of its launch.”

Abundantia has also announced two new verticals. Psyche, which caters to content in the space of horror genre — increasingly finding a growing market in India, and another called Filters, for the young adult world.

Malhotra, who says the writing has always been on the wall, also believes that with the greater exception of television, feature films and digital are under-served.

“There are going to be more innovations. The streamers are going to launch services that will have different prices for consumption across mobile devices and not like the West, where you pay one price for consumption across TV or an Ipad or across the phone.”

“Then there is a possibility of shorter bursts that you subscribe for a day or a week. Just like how it happens for a live sport, it can happen when a show is premiering. You subscribe on the day of the premiere, binge watch all episodes of the show. Smarter streamers and smarter platforms will understand the platform,” added Malhotra.