NEW DELHI : When actor Akshay Kumar appeared on a panel to announce a slate of Bollywood films acquired by the streaming service Disney+Hotstar in June, he presaged a likely permanent—and huge—shift in the Hindi movie industry, brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.The deal was thought to be worth around ₹500 crore but, experts say, this is not about money alone.
The virus has changed not only where the money is headed, but the way people view the content (almost always at home) and the content itself.The June deal meant Disney had done the unthinkable: it had convinced Hindi cinema’s biggest names, including Kumar, Ajay Devgn and Alia Bhatt, to part with the theatrical box office and the allure of thousands of screens by selling their.