Hope Game Over reaches its audience online, says Taapsee Pannu

For the past three years, Taapsee Pannu has worked in at least four films a year. The actress chooses her projects with care, hoping that they will connect with audiences. One such film was the critically acclaimed Game Over (2019), a Tamil-Telugu bilingual directed by Ashwin Saravanan.

While the thriller got rave reviews, the film itself did not turn out to be a hit. It was shown on few screens and even on those it did not remain for long. In the film Pannu played Swapna, a video-game designer who is trying to get over a traumatic incident in her life.

Taapsee Pannu on Game Over and why it will be a game-changer in Indian cinema

At a recent media interaction before the release of Mission Mangal (2019), the actress was asked why the film wasn’t pushed to find its audience in theatres. She explained that it was out of her hands but wished there had been more faith in letting the film remain in theatres.

“When a film is made, a producer sees it and decides this is the market it will have, and this is the value it will have,” Pannu said. “Now, everyone wants to play safe. So they don’t put extra money to push or publicize it, because they feel it doesn’t have that market at all. So they finish the matter in 700 screens, because they feel why bother putting it on extra screens, people won’t understand it.

“We have underestimated our audience so much for so many years that they can’t muster the courage to serve something else up. That fear of safety, that we must always remain safe, in that case, many films don’t reach the audience that they are supposed to,” she continued.

“[Game Over] is releasing on Netflix on 21 August. I hope it reaches its audience then. When I did this film, I was aware that they won’t promote the film as a regular, big commercial film. But I choose films thinking will I purchase tickets for this film, will I give two-three hours of my life to this film? When I read the script, I thought I would go see the film,” she said.

The actress went on to say that audiences discovered the film despite its minimal marketing.

“[Game Over] recovered its money even before it was made because it was made in hardly any money. I hope because of this response, another niche film like this gets [a better] push,” she concluded.

Game Over, also starring Vinodhini Vaidyanathan and Anish Kuruvilla, is now streaming on Netflix.