By Renuka Dhakal
Kathmandu, Jan.6: Trend of watching movies has witnessed an unprecedented change since the beginning of 2020 thanks to coronavirus pandemic.
The outbreak of COVID-19 in December 2019 impacted almost all facets of daily life. The film and entertainment industry was not an exception. It also dealt a particularly nasty blow.
In Nepal, many artistes, technicians and others who are directly or indirectly involved in the film industry are still reeling under the damage inflicted by the COVID-19 contagion.
With the punitive effect on the film industry rendering cinema theatres empty, the trend of watching movies has also shifted to digital platforms.
While living indoors during lockdown, watching movies has become a regular habit of many people, and this has boosted digital platforms.
Various online streaming platforms like Netflix, Amazon and others are heralding a new revolution that might transform the movie watching practice permanently.
Social media apps such as Instgram, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok among others are fostering increasing number of video contents.
For such platforms, the pandemic has been an opportunity in disguise.
If we go back to history, the first film shot in Nepali language was Satya Harishchandra directed by DB Pariyar, It was produced in India in 1951.
Aama was the first Nepali film produced in Nepal in 1965. Likewise, the first film to be produced under the private banner was “Maitighar” which was released in 1966.
From then, cinema houses had been the only place to watch movies until a few years ago.
However, with the emergence of digital platforms, moviegoers can now enjoy movies in their laptops, mobile phones and television from the confines of their homes.
Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney, Hulu, HBO Max and other digital platforms are providing and producing a variety of movie contents to the viewers. Such digital platforms are intensifying creatively to provide a wide variety of contents and are able to attract viewers to the digital world.
In Nepal, there are various OTT (over-the-top) platforms which provide the opportunity of watching films through internet.
One of the oldest video and TV streaming applications in Nepal is Net TV. It is considered to be a first OTT and IPTV service operated since 2015. It provides live TV channels, movie-on-demand and several other contents.
Likewise, Wow Time app is a video streaming service, which has partnered with Nepal telecom and Win Nepal. The mobile app Wow time provides the contents exclusively for Nepal telecom users.
Iflix is another popular video streaming app brought in Nepal by Ncell. It provides a plethora of Bollywood, Hollywood and other contents including series, feature films, animation and more.
Moreover, FOPI, Cinemaghar and other apps in Nepal are transforming the trend of watching films in Nepal.
Of late, the popular application YouTube is famous for Nepali audience as it provides free service and is accessible to the wider audience. The development of technology, the growth of Internet users, as well as the ability to explore a wide range of content in those OTT platforms have been the major reasons for the growing popularity of digital platforms.