Zayed Khan says ‘regressive’ to make content based on viewership data and not creativity for OTT: ‘Almost like a dictatorship’

“That is extremely regressive. If you are going by the data of what is working, and you are still making stuff which is not hitting home, can you tell me what the data will be on Friday, can you give me the formula for the next hit film, can you write me an algorithm that this Friday my film will work? He was blank. I said this is why independent cinema must take over. People must take risks, they have to. That is the only way to show that we can’t be governed by a set of rules like ‘these people like this much, this time to this time these people watch this’. It is like inverted thinking. It is like an implosion of a building,” Zayed shared.

He added that creativity is being ‘micro-managed’ and people who should not be involved in the creativity process are getting involved. Zayed said, “What is happening here is there are too many checks and balances that are happening. There are too many people involved who should not be involved in the creative process. It is like dictatorship almost. It is micro-managing creativity, it is not a good space to be in. I am not saying this bitterly, I am saying it in a way that can open up the senses and minds of people.”

Zayed quoted the example of Farhan Akhtar’s Dil Chahta Hai which was made at a time when “it was not the age of that kind of a film” to drive home his point. He concluded by saying that filmmakers should take risks and make films which are more relatable.