Aamir Khan, whose last theatrical release Laal Singh Chaddha bombed at the box office, recently shared that there is a fundamental problem with the business model that is in operation for the business of movies. At the Waves Summit 2025, Aamir said that movies are suffering because an audience member can get to see them at home a few weeks after release, which does not put any extra burden on them, but costs a lot to the filmmaker as they don’t get in as many people inside the door at the time of the theatrical release. Aamir said that the quality of the films being made should be a separate discussion, and pointed that the business model needs to be reworked as it is currently “faulty.”
Aamir said that the problem also lies with the lesser number of screens in India, as compared to USA and China. “In India, we have around 10,000 screens. In the US , which is 1/3rd of our population, or maybe 1/4th of our population, they have 40,000 screens. They are way ahead of us even though they have less population. China has 90,000 screens, compared to our 10,000. Even in this 10,000, half are in the south, half are in the rest of the country so for a Hindi film typically, you will have a maximum of 5,000 screens. Our biggest hits over the years, have had a theatrical footfall of 3-3.5 crore people. That’s 2 percent of our population. In a country which is recognised as a film loving country, only 2 percent of the population watches our biggest hit in theatres,” he said and added that India needs to have more theatres.
He then said that the window between the theatrical and OTT release, which is of 8 weeks, is quite small. Aamir said that the promotions become “awkward” because it feels like he is telling his audience that those who have the subscription to a particular OTT service, don’t need to come and watch it in the theatres. “It’s just a very funny business model,” he said.
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Aamir shared that film industry insiders sit and discuss why their films are not doing well, and he believes that the reason behind this is the OTT model. “Why are films not doing well? Because you are telling the audience don’t come,” he said.
He then jumped on to the quality of the films being made, which are being criticised heavily since the pandemic, and said that this was a separate issue as the business model has nothing to do with the quality of films. “Usually, it goes into that we are not making good enough films. I am saying that is a separate topic, whether your film is good or bad, this business model does not make sense to me. If I make a very good film, this business model still doesn’t make sense to me. So irrespective of quality of films, that’s a separate topic, remove that from the business aspect. I make a good film, I make a bad film, that doesn’t matter, what is my business model? Which according to me currently is a very faulty business model,” he said.
Aamir will next be seen in his film Sitaare Zameen Par.
