Regional drift

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While OTT has become a favourite medium of entertainment, the rise in regional share in overall binge-worthy content is also quite noticeable. According to a FICCI year-end report, it is estimated that more than 50 per cent share will be of regional language content on digital platforms. Currently, it contributes 27 per cent of the total content.

OTT Platforms like MX Player, Sony LIV and Zee5 have brought their A-game with their respective launches or rebranding. In fact, what set them apart from big players like Netflix and Prime Video was their interest in telling stories from towns and villages of India, irrespective of the language. Thus their offerings, be it regional shows like Samantar (Marathi), Aani Kay Hava (Gujarati) and Kalyanam Conditions Apply 2.0 (Tamil) or national shows such as Grahan (Punjab) and Maharani (Bihar) were quite a hit.

Here’s a look at the variety in regional content that the audience is currently hooked on to.

Charm of the South

While Modern Love: Mumbai travels to Hyderabad and Chennai to bring regional flavours of love, South Indian film industry also brings a lot on to the digital table for binge watchers. Original series in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam are being watched by viewers in the Hindi belt as well. For instance, Rana Naidu, Telugu Netflix series, became one of the most-watched on the platform in the first half of 2023.

What’s more, the thriving film industry of the South has not just one genre to offer. Bet it their anthology films like Putham Pudhu Kaalai (Amazon Prime Video) and Paava Kadhaigal (Netflix) or films like 2018 and Kantara, which witnessed a much bigger OTT premiere than theatrical release. Suzhal: The Vortex, which premiered its first episode around June last year on Amazon Prime made it to Ormax’s list of Top 10 OTT originals.

Flavour of the time

Actress Avika Gor, who was recently seen making her first film appearance in Krishna Bhatt’s 1920: Horrors Of The Heart, is set to make her OTT debut with a regional language web series. The Telugu series will be the remake of a Bengali web series, Indu. In 2021, Marathi actor, Swwapnil Joshi was part of a successful series Samantar.

Meanwhile, actress Raima Sen tried her hand at Bengali cinema many times but her debut with a Bengali series, Hello, was praised a lot. The series has three seasons. While Punjabi actor Sukhwinder Chahal was cast in Netflix’s CAT and Jimmy Shergill headlined a series, Your Honor, one with a Punjabi backdrop, it is obvious that the boundaries are just in the minds and digital platforms have broken them for good.

Closer home

One doesn’t have to look far as we see more acceptance of Punjabi films on mainstream platforms, perhaps because the films cater to the entire family. Some the popular Punjabi movies currently available on various OTT platforms include Chall Mera Putt, Qismat, Sufna, Manje Bistre, Jatt & Juliet, and Carry on Jatta.

When a regional OTT platform, Chaupal, offered the hit of this year, Kali Jotta, starring Neeru Bajwa and Satinder Sartaaj, it broke viewership records for the platform. Furthermore, in 2022, Ammy Virk-starrer Aaja Mexico Chaliye clocked maximum downloads, among other Punjabi titles.

Nitin Gupta, chief content officer of OTT channel, Chaupal, shares, “As much as 20-25 per cent audience is from abroad. Among the foreign markets, Canada is the biggest, followed by Australia, America, UK and the middle-east. Punjabi diaspora is hungry for regional content.”

Different flavour, low budget

Thanks to the advancement in technology, the stage is open for regional players. One more factor that works for regional content is that as the budget is low, One can afford to be more experimental, Unlike Bollywood. Ratan Sil Sarma, Assamese filmmaker