Malayalam survival thriller ‘Nayattu‘ has been making the news lately for multiple reasons. With theatres shutting down (causing the film producers to turn to Netflix) and Netflix’s Quality Control team messing up the subtitles, it has not been the kind of coverage they have been hoping for. But this time, the hard-hitting, South Indian drama has topped Netflix India’s most popular film list, this week. Finally, the kind of coverage they have been receiving since the film first premiered in theatres, back on 8th April 2021.
Rarely do any regional content make it to the top 10 popular list of Netflix (though it has improved lately), but for a Malayalam film to do so and to top the list is a literal “needle in a haystack” chance. But it did manage to happen and it is a proud moment for every South Indian filmmaker out there, especially the ones collaborating with Netflix.
Although it might not be a literal first for South Indian cinema, brilliant films like ‘Super Deluxe’, ‘C/o Kancharapalem’ and ‘Mandela’ among others, have made it to Netflix’s top 10 list before and have come close to topping the list. There have been some South Indian films that topped the Netflix top 10 most popular list, because of the film’s brilliant marketing campaign but they never stayed on the list for more than a week. But ‘Nayattu’ is a well-written film with fleshed-out characters that has the audience glued to their viewing device/ screen once the movie picks up pace. Aside from the subtitles, there is not much fault in the movie.
This move to Netflix was done out of desperation by ‘Nayattu’s’ film production company. Theatres shut down around Kerala three weeks after the movie was released, so shifting to an OTT platform was their only choice at that point. Luckily, the movie doesn’t lose its magic when watched on a TV or a mobile device and now it has topped Netflix’s most popular films list. We expect the film to stay on the list for the coming few weeks (even if it doesn’t stay at the top).
‘Nayattu’ is currently available for streaming on Netflix.
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