Marathi film ‘Bali’ to stream on Amazon Prime Video

New Delhi: Marathi film Bali will stream on Amazon Prime Video on 9 December. The horror film directed by Vishal Furia has been produced by Arjun Singgh Baran and Kartik Nishandar and features Swwapnil Joshi and Pooja Sawant in lead roles.

To be sure, smaller regional language film industries such as Marathi, Bengali and Punjabi that do not boast of large budgets of Hindi, Tamil and Telugu cinema, are bleeding with the pandemic having created losses of nearly Rs. 600 crore, according to trade experts. Not only are multiple projects stuck with interest costs mounting for producers, content in these languages has also still not picked up in a big way by large video streaming platforms which focus on languages with a bigger draw.

Producers active in these language industries have kept all future plans on hold, not green lighting any new films with the bigger worry being whether theatres will allot adequate shows to these niche offerings as theatres slowly reopen across the country. Further, unlike Bollywood, Marathi, Bengali, and Punjabi industries are mostly unorganized, relying on individual producers rather than established corporate houses.

Movies made in smaller regional markets barely ever make more than the cost of their production at the box office. Part of this has to do with the fact that these films are concept-driven and do not come with much star value. Actors in these industries are not really hero-worshipped like in Bollywood and in the south. “Even OTT platforms are not as keen to pick these films up," Marathi film producer Akshay Bardapurkar had said in an earlier interview, adding that at least 60-70 Marathi films are ready for release. Their producers are just waiting to sell these movies somehow and exit the business since they have already gone bankrupt with interest costs mounting," he had said.