Sandalwood AKA the Kannada film industry has been finding it difficult to gain a foothold amongst major OTT platforms. Most Kannada filmmakers and directors have been finding it hard to tie up with prominent regional OTT collaborators such as ZEE5, Amazon Prime Video and Netflix, but that all might just change with this small budget horror flick, ‘H/34 Pallavi Talkies’. For those of you who do not know, ‘H/34 Pallavi Talkies’ is a film that has been in development for at least 6 years, with the film actually having finished production back in 2017. So what’s special about this movie?
First time director Srinivas Chikkanna, also known as Seeni within the film industry, got the idea for the film back in 2013, when he watched ‘The Conjuring’ in a Urvashi Theatre (from the chain of theatres). After hearing about a story of a person who passed away after watching the same film, Seeni took inspiration from the news and decided to pen a script for a film which he would then go on to direct. Creating an ambitious horror movie with a low budget was enough to attract many OTTs right off the bat, without even needing to look at the script.
A film based on such a synopsis is quite interesting indeed, even for those who do not like to watch films from the horror genre. Such interesting concepts are likely to attract viewers and with them, potential OTTs for streaming. With the director recently announcing his production team’s decision to aim for an OTT release, we expect this movie to get many offers for its streaming rights. Watching a horror film in a dark room in one’s house is just as scary (or maybe even more) as watching it in a dark theatre filled with people. And with the production cost being low as well, OTTs will find this film an attractive undertaking.
No matter which OTT platform ‘H/34 Pallavi Talkies’ ends up on, we expect this film to boost the profile of Kannada films (and film personnel). Many young and aspiring filmmakers are coming up in Sandalwood and one of the quickest ways to get noticed is to show their work. ‘H/34 Pallavi Talkies’ can show the work of one such director and with its release, we expect more OTTs to approach other Sandalwood creators and producers.