Kunal Kemmu: We will have to wait and gauge the appetite of audiences to watch films on the big screen

The actor talks about his direct-to-OTT release Lootcase’s success last year, the love that the film got weighs in on film release dates being announced

Lootcase was never intended to be released on OTT. We had a mixed bag of emotions when it came to the release,” says actor Kunal Kemmu, talking about the sleeper hit of 2020, which was also declared one of most liked direct-to-ott films, in a recent survey.

Kunal is happy that last year, Lootcase gave people something to laugh about.

Talking about his film’s success, he is glad for all the love that the film got and says, “The film has repeat value. Sure, we were hoping it would be a theatrical release as a comedy of this scale, there is another level of energy and fun while watching in theatres with others. For us, the unit of the film, the idea of watching the audiences reactions live is another high. Unfortunately, we were robbed of that for multiple reasons; most important of all was due to the pandemic. Thankfully, in the months of turmoil and stress, I am happy that Lootcase gave people something to laugh about,” he says, adding that the love the film got is its biggest takeaway.

He adds, “Moreover, it’s one thing to think theatres are open and films are releasing but the other thing is, how comfortable will people be to go to theatres right now. There is still a lot of risk as everyone hasn’t got the vaccine. Even in the future, when people will watch movies in theatres regularly, the bigger films will always find bigger muscle to get screens in theatrical releases. We will have to wait and gauge the appetite of audiences to watch films on the big screen and on OTT; and if there will be kinds of films which will only release in theatres. Maybe you would want to enjoy a spectacle film like Avengers or a Rohit Shetty film in the theatres while if it’s a human drama or story about relationships, maybe people might enjoy it on OTT.”