There was a time when a film like Prem Keetanu would have had a fairly straightforward theatrical proposition. A young cast, college life, friendship, romance, comedy, music and a little heartbreak, the sort of Hindi film audiences could pick for a weekend outing without needing it to be an event. That audience hasn't necessarily disappeared. But the way it watches films has changed.
The rapid expansion of OTT platforms gave viewers an alternative to the theatre, especially for films that did not come with a superstar, franchise or spectacle-driven proposition. The pandemic accelerated that shift, making home viewing a habit and giving audiences the confidence to wait for a film to arrive on streaming rather than paying to see it on the big screen. A 2025 India Today analysis of theatre-going noted that audiences increasingly ask why they should go to a cinema when they know a film will eventually be available on OTT.
The romantic comedy has felt that change sharply. The genre, once a reliable part of the Hindi theatrical calendar, has increasingly moved towards streaming. Several film writers have examined the decline of the theatrical rom-com and noted that the pandemic had accelerated the migration of mid-sized romances and rom-coms towards streaming.
But OTT is only one part of the equation. The cost of a cinema outing has risen considerably. The average ticket price across Indian cinema reached INR 161 in 2025, according to Ormax data cited by industry reports. More importantly for the audience, theatre food and beverages have become a major pain point. Ormax's 2026 Bollywood Audience Report, based on research among 2,000 regular Hindi theatregoers, identifies overpriced F&B as the biggest barrier to people going to theatres more often, even ahead of ticket prices.
That changes the calculation for a young audience. If a group of friends is deciding whether to spend an evening at a multiplex, the cost is no longer limited to the ticket. There is transport, food, drinks and, increasingly, premium pricing depending on the show and location. A film that looks like a comfortable home watch can therefore become an easier choice to postpone.
And that is where Prem Keetanu finds itself in an interesting place. The film belongs to a genre that once thrived on the theatrical experience - the college romance. Its appeal lies in the simple pleasures of friendship, banter, first love, jealousy, heartbreak and music. It isn't selling a complicated premise. It is selling a familiar feeling, the madness of being young and falling in love.
The irony is that audiences who have watched the film and enjoyed those very qualities are also part of a generation that has become accustomed to watching such films at home.
There is still a sizeable theatrical Hindi audience. Ormax estimates 28.5 million regular Hindi theatregoers in urban India, with viewers under 30 accounting for 57 per cent of Hindi box-office revenue and as much as 70 per cent of first-day box office. It makes the young audience precisely the group films like Prem Keetanu need to bring back for genres that don't automatically arrive with the pull of spectacle or a major franchise.
The question, then, isn't whether people have stopped enjoying sweet films. It is whether a sweet film can still persuade them that it is worth paying for the theatre experience today.
Prem Keetanu puts that question on the table and asks - can a simple story about college, friendship and love still compete for an audience's money when that same audience has an entire library of entertainment waiting at home?
For the Hindi romantic comedy, that may be the real battle now; they are up against the increasingly attractive option of simply waiting in the confines of their homes for the genre!
