Karnataka to float state-sponsored OTT platform to promote Kannada films; announce price cap on movie tickets
Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah announced on Friday that the cost of the tickets in all theatres of the state, including multiplexes, will be capped at ₹200. In his historic 16th budget, Siddaramaiah also announced Karnataka will create an OTT platform to promote Kannada movies. (Also Read: Kannada star Ramya says Kangana Ranaut’s Emergency was a badly made film: ‘That is why the audience rejected it’)
Kannada films struggle to find OTT platforms
Recently, leading Kannada actor-producers like Rakshit Shetty and Risabh Shetty complained they could not get any major OTT platforms to pick up the Kannada content.
Incidentally, Rakhsit’s production house, Paramvah Studio, began streaming its Kannada web series Ekam on a custom platform in July 2024 when it was unable to find an OTT platform.
In June last year, he posted on X (formerly Twitter), “There is not a single avenue we’ve not explored for Ekam in these last couple of years. But we hit familiar roadblocks every time. However, I think the audience deserves a chance, and the right, to decide the worth of any content. So we decided to bring Ekam to you, on our own platform.”
The CM has also earmarked ₹3 crore for creating a repository of Kannada films, both in digital and non-digital formats, to preserve movies depicting the state’s social, historical, and cultural values.
Cinema sector to be considered ‘industry’
Heeding another demand from the stakeholders, Siddaramaiah said the cinema sector would be given the status of an industry and that the facilities provided under the Industrial Policy would be extended.
According to him, a multiplex movie theatre complex will also be developed under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) on 2.5 acres of land owned by the Karnataka Film Academy in Nandini Layout in the city.
Also, 150 acres of land have been transferred to the Department of Information and Public Relations for developing an international-level Film City in Mysuru at a cost of ₹500 crore under the PPP model, Siddaramaiah said.
