Vidyut Jammwal, Arjun Rampal's Crakk chopped by 15 minutes for OTT version, makers reveal why they changed the climax

Vidyut Jammwal’s sports action film Crakk was quite a dampener, and tanked at the box office when it released in theatres in February this year. And now that the film has recently dropped on an OTT platform, there’s something very unusual we have noticed. The makers have completely changed the climax scene of the film for its web release, so much so that an entire 15-minute chunk that included an unforeseen twist, has been chopped off. This not only reduced the film’s runtime on OTT, but changed the ending from what it was in its original theatrical version.

Also Read: Crakk movie review: An adrenaline junkie’s guide to crack the code for messy, mindless action and sports

Director Aditya Datt reveals that the team collectively took into consideration the film’s poor box office performance, and decided to chop the additional climax. “We tried narrating it in a different format for OTT, just a shorter version. We all sat down re-analysed the film’s performance and thought of making the film sharper. It doesn’t happen generally with all films but you can narrate your films in different formats. It’s just an exercise we thought we would do as a team, it was a call that we mutually took,” explains Datt.

In fact, Abbas Sayyed, co-producer of the film says he was never in favour of the longer cut, so it was a “creative call” to tweak the ending and have a crisper version for its digital release.

“The film ends exactly when Vidyut and Arjun Rampal’s fight finishes. Even in the earlier edit of the theatrical version, we didn’t want the additional part of Vidyut jumping from the flight, and then the song comes — it wasn’t needed. The story ends between two people, the audience doesn’t want to see the aage ka extra masala for no reason. There was a dragging of scenes which wasn’t required, so we trimmed those sequences. So, this was a creative call taken by the producers and the streaming platform’s team.”

Asked if the runtime of the film was a major point of discussion during the second edit, and Datt says it doesn’t really matter, as there’s no set formula that justifies a film’s runtime. “We often see that a 1.5 hour film doesn’t work whereas a three-hour long movie clicks with the audience, for example Animal. The idea behind sharpening Crakk was purely from the intention of the response we got that the film was slow. And when the audience doesn’t connect, you do feel disappointed, but at the same time, you want to look back and re-analyse so that you do better next time,” he states.

The scene that was omitted from the digital version featured actor Bijay Anand, who played the role of Mark, the stepfather of the film’s villain, Dev, played by Arjun Rampal. 

Talking to us, nand reveals that he wasn't even aware about the changes made to the film for its web release.

“I am shocked, I honestly had no idea about this. It’s a big thing," he exclaims, and adds, “Maybe they thought that from the OTT point of view, the movie had to be chopped and made crispier. And if you ask me, mujhe toh second half hi better lag raha tha film ka, but they changed the ending only. Let's see if audience likes it now."