The entertainment industry is full of firsts. Amid the OTT revolution and partial stagnancy now and the resurgence of box office in 2023 – it has become certain that there is no battle between these two mediums and both can co-exist in a way where there is enough for everyone. Excel Entertainment and Amazon MGM Studios managed to create history earlier today as they went on to make a momentous announcement as they confirmed the extremely popular web series, Mirzapur is all set to be made into a film for the cinemas. That is correct.
On the one hand, this speaks volumes about the penetration of OTT and how the viewership is enough to potentially have a bigger reach to the masses who resonate and like/hate these characters. On the other hand, this opens doors for other iconic shows who might look at this as a possibility and wonder if their subject strong and popular enough to be made into a theatrical film!
The options are endless but this needs to be dealt with intricately as well. Just because you have been a successful show doesn’t necessarily transpire into having a good idea for the big screen. Here’s looking at a few shows that have the potential to be translated into a film that doesn’t affect the storytelling and yet, makes a substantial impact.
It is only fitting that the propeller of the OTT space in India is considered to be made into a film – Sacred Games. The Netflix original has all the ingredients to be made into a taut and tight-knit film that doesn’t complicate things and still goes through the trajectory of Sartaj (Saif Ali Khan) and Gaitonde (Nawazuddin Siddiqui). On similar lines is The Family Man – the Manoj Bajpayee-led show is just the kind of fine storytelling marrying humor and other elements that the big screen has a dearth of. Srikanth Tiwari deserves the big screen treatment.
On the lighter yet poignant side are shows like Kota Factory, Little Things and Panchayat – all of them have enough gravitas and massy appeal for community viewing especially the latter two where good romcoms and rooted stories are somehow the most appealing but it is a perplexing case that they haven’t been done well recently.
Two more shows that deserve the big screen potential would be Asur and Inside Edge – for wildly opposite reasons. Asur, with its complex concept and mythological roots, can be made into a slow-burn yet satisfying mystery thriller while Inside Edge, once again, is one of the classic concepts that literally has everything going for itself – a potential ensemble, cricket, murkiness, betrayals and so on.
There are plenty of other shows that one would easily make a case for – but to be just jumping to the wagon without a cohesive script also risks tarnishing the legacy of the show – so tread slowly and smartly.