Siddharth Roy Kapur opines that people need their dosage of entertainment to combat stress
Filmmaker Siddharth Roy Kapur has been a part of multiple digital conferences and summits this year to discuss the ever-changing technologies used during the filmmaking process or how various entertainment platforms have affected people. As the year comes to an end, the filmmaker recently attended the Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CII) 9th Big Picture Summit 2020. Based on the theme of ‘Big to BIGGER: Creativity, Technology & Innovation – Reshaping Consumer Experience’, he shared that the audience likes to be entertained even though the modes of distribution keep on changing due to society’s needs.
He said, “This year has showcased that no matter what happens, one of the basic needs of human beings is to be entertained, especially when times are tough and they are being asked to sacrifice. The modes of entertainment might change from time-to-time, but people need their dosage of entertainment, to take their minds off from the day-to-day drudgery. Even though the modes of distribution keep on changing depending on what happens in society, this need will exist. As known to all, TV and OTT Platforms have seen a massive jump due to us not being able to go to cinema halls or recreational places. The fact remains that even if the modes of entertainment are shifted the need for entertainment never goes away.”
Single screens have been a huge part of our lives when it comes to experiencing Bollywood movie-watching with our friends and talking on their current fate, Siddharth Roy Kapur shared, “We have all experienced first hand how much destruction a pandemic can cause to lives, livelihoods and our favourite modes of entertainment, us as an industry need to realise that we need every form of distribution to share our content with the audiences. Sharing from an audiences’ point of view, they want the ability to watch what they want, when they want it and on a mode, they want to watch in. Talking about the sector, within the entertainment industry at least, that has been the most impacted our cinema theatres. Thousands of single screens had to be shut down over the last few months, we need to figure out whether there are ways in which we can support the single screens to either re-open or be able to continue the business. They can be allowed to access loans at easier rates as they need easy access to capital, they need a light touch regulation on terms of the measures that they have to take, I think these points should be taken in consideration or the singles screens with unfortunately shut down which might lead us to lose a massive heritage as far as our cinemas are concerned.”
Always having paved a path for fresh talent by backing content-driven projects, Siddharth Roy Kapur has impressed the audience with his skill to pick out winning scripts. The President of the Producer’s Guild of India, he aims to continue to retain the essence of entertainment while adapting beautifully to the changing times and encouraging others to do the same.