In an era of digital cinema crowded with streaming giants, a familiar question arises: why should anyone create yet another OTT platform? Isn’t the market already saturated with options? The answer lies in the current state of independent filmmaking, a state marked by near invisibility, lack of appreciation, exclusion from mainstream circuits, and relentless struggle.In India, independent filmmakers have virtually no viable distribution platforms for their work. Unlike mainstream commercial cinema, most independent films begin without a pre-sale agreement or any distribution deal in place. The journey is lonely, risky, and seriously underfunded. Film festivals are their only hope at recognition, a chance to get recognised by distributors, producers, or streaming executives who may consider giving the film a platform. Yet, the odds are slim. Only a handful, maybe three or four independent films a year, make it to theatres or major OTT platforms. That is not a system. It is a lottery. And a lottery is no way to sustain an entire artistic movement.Even for those who do get recognised, the celebration is limited. Mainstream platforms swoop in, acquire the rights, and absorb the film into their content libraries, leaving the ‘independent cinema’ with little more than symbolic rewards. Years of personal investment, creative risk, and emotional labour are traded for a one-time business transaction. The intellectual and cultural value of these films is often monetised far more by the platforms than by their makers. Ironically, it was these very platforms that once depended on independent creators to fill their libraries and attract early audiences. Almost a decade ago, when streaming services were new, they were hungry for original voices and experimental content. Independent filmmakers were courted, celebrated, and promoted as the faces of a new digital revolution. But as the financial models of these platforms stabilised, their focus shifted. Today, they chase celebrity-driven projects and high-concept, mass-market content designed to secure subscribers in bulk. Indie filmmakers are now left behind, abandoned on the margins.

The Struggle of Indie Filmmakers

Independent filmmakers in India face challenges that are not just logistical but existential. Financing is a constant headache. Very few producers invest in independent cinema unless they have philanthropic motivations or personal stakes in the subject. Crowdfunding is still just an emerging culture in India and cannot sustain an entire industry.As a result, filmmakers are forced to juggle commercial gigs, advertising projects, music videos, teaching positions, or endless grant applications just to stay afloat. Every hour spent away from their own film: pitching to a client, running a classroom, or creating branded content, pulls them away from the very work that defines them as artists. The cost is burnout. And with burnout comes the gradual erosion of artistic courage.Gatekeeping compounds the problem. It is not just resources that are blocked; information is blocked too. Filmmakers often don’t know which producers to approach, what grants they qualify for, what the submission timelines for labs and funds are, or even what revenue models exist for their films. The ecosystem is opaque, and opacity always favours the powerful.The result is a slow, silent death of many promising filmmaking careers. Talented directors and writers simply disappear from the scene because they cannot find a pathway to sustain themselves. In a culturally and linguistically vast country like India, with 22 scheduled languages and hundreds of dialects, this is not just a professional loss but a cultural tragedy. Cinema has become one of the most significant forms of artistic expression over the past two decades. Yet without a viable distribution network, countless works of cinematic art end up buried on YouTube, struggling to gather a few thousand views amidst the digital void.

The Broken Trust Between Platforms and People

There is a deeper wound here: the breakdown of trust. Over time, corporations have betrayed both creators and audiences. They sell visions wrapped in marketing hype, presenting themselves as champions of diversity, originality, and bold storytelling. But the moment shareholder expectations shift, those promises are abandoned. Audiences are no longer communities — they are data points. Creators are no longer collaborators — they are suppliers.Everything is reduced to numbers: viewership metrics, retention rates, and revenue per minute streamed. Creativity becomes a line item in a quarterly report. Art is measured not by its cultural resonance but by its ability to attract and hold subscribers for thirty days.This is not to vilify these companies or the people running them — they are doing what corporations are designed to do: maximise profit. But the cost of that design is the slow starvation of independent storytelling.

Cinema Is Not Just a Business

Cinema is more than a business model. It is an emotion, a form of collective dreaming, a medium that lets us witness other lives and reflect on our own. It is meant to surprise, challenge, and even discomfort us. And the current OTT model is failing, not just the creators but also the audiences.Look at the content pipelines of most major OTTs today. Many have merged with global players or diluted their identities in the desperate race to survive. They rely on consultants, advertisers, and influencers to tell them what audiences want, instead of listening to the two groups that matter most: the artists who create and the audiences who care.As a result, viewers are served algorithmic sameness. The same faces, the same genres, the same formulaic arcs, recycled endlessly until fatigue sets in. And when fatigue sets in, people assume the medium itself is dying. But it isn’t dying; it’s simply being suffocated.

The Case for a New OTT Platform

This is why there is an urgent need for a platform that pledges its loyalty to two groups above all: the storytellers and the audience. Independent cinema doesn’t even have competition right now, because as things stand, it barely exists in the public imagination.A new OTT platform could change that by championing independent films as cultural events rather than disposable content. Such a platform must be built on a few core principles:

1. Curation – Instead of flooding audiences with endless choices, carefully select and present films that matter, films that are artistically relevant, culturally rooted, and emotionally resonant.
2. Fair Monetisation for Creators – Revenue-sharing models must be transparent. Pay-per-view, subscription pools, and direct audience tipping can ensure that filmmakers see a fair return.
3. Community-Building – Create spaces for interaction, Q&As with directors, live discussions, filmmaker diaries, and behind-the-scenes content. Let the audience feel like co-travellers in the journey of cinema.
4. Multi-Language, Multi-Format Support – India’s diversity must be reflected in the catalogue. Support subtitles, regional curation, and even experimental forms like VR shorts or web documentaries.
5. Data With Dignity – Share viewership insights with creators so they can learn, grow, and strategise, but never reduce them to mere suppliers.

Not every good film wins awards, breaks the bank, or garners glowing reviews (and let’s admit that most reviews in India today are sponsored anyway). But should that deprive audiences of the chance to discover a great story? At the heart of cinema lies a simple equation: the storyteller and the audience. Everything else, the box office numbers, the marketing campaigns, and the critics’ stars, is just icing on the cake.If independent cinema is to thrive, it needs a home that is not governed by quarterly profit expectations but by cultural curiosity. It needs a space where risk-taking is rewarded, not punished. Where the next generation of storytellers can dare to experiment without fearing extinction.Building such a platform will not be easy. It will require vision, capital, and a long-term commitment to both art and audience. But if done well, it could redefine how India watches cinema and how the world watches India.