Dil Bechara which was a film made for the theatres but was released on digital has seen a huge response. The film hit the nation on Friday and saw a record response as far as digital content in concerned in India in terms of initial response. The streaming platforms do not give numbers but the response here is said to far higher than anything seen on the Hotstar platform before in terms of viewers

The numbers would be interesting as to see how far it is ahead of the other content but only the streaming company would have these. Hotstar is the biggest streaming giant in India if we go by viewers so if Dil Bechara is the tops on Hotstar it can be said with certainty its higher than the best on the other platforms as well. In all likelhood its a record breaking response for OTT in India.

The two main reasons for these results would be one the death of Sushant Singh Rajput a month or so back and he is the main lead of the film. Naturally a death in such a scenario makes the public see a film in a different light and it also the last time they are going to see the actor which adds an audience.  Also the film was free on Hotstar so you did not have to subscribe but could watch if you download the app and this would have given it a far wider reach and a bit like television. The response here is at a totally different level to Gulabo Sitabo which also premiered on digital a month or so back. It will be multi fold higher in terms of numbers..

It has to be also noted though if these highly media rated OTT series which are actually crap like Sacred Games, Paatal Lok, Mirzapur, Inside Edge etc were made free they would struggle to find an audience as the wider audience does not care for this type of content and never will. There will be many in the industry which will not agree but put these on television which has a wider reach and the results will be for all to see as there will be disaster ratings. Here with Dil Bechara an audience has been found in big numbers on digital which is a first for original Indian content.