Jagame Thandhiram vs Soorarai Pottru.
The story of two films. Both films have umpteen similarities. Both feature top Tamil stars in the lead; stars with huge fan followings – Dhanush and Suriya. Both were forced to release directly on OTT platforms owing to the pandemic-induced theatre shutdown. Both faced their share of controversies on the way to a digital release. But now, it’s time for the litmus test – which film will be crowned the ultimate, undisputed king of direct OTT release?
As Jagame Thandhiram gears up to release on Netflix, the one question on everyone’s mind is only this – will the Dhanush starrer be able to replicate the mass hysteria created by Soorarai Pottru when it released on Amazon Prime Video last year in November? Or will it meet the fate of films like Laxmii, which created so much hype before release but sunk like a ship with a massive hole in its belly?
Granted that Jagame Thandhiram has already created such collosal buzz among digital viewers that it is the only movie on their mind at present. But with OTT, it is often seen that a film that generates huge expectations before release fails to live up to those same expectations once audiences get a chance to watch it.
Often, the OTT medium is to blame. Most of the times, it converts film-watching into a distinctly underwhelming experience. Once the larger-than-life aspect of the big screen is gone, most films are reduced to above average ones at best. Another terrible fact of OTT releases is that once a film is watched and done with, it is soon a distant memory. Well-liked films like Andhaghaaram and Mookuthi Amman came, were watched and then vanished without a trace. No one remembers them now.
The same was the fear with Soorarai Pottru. It was a film made for viewing on the big screen. The makers were sceptical about how it would be received on tiny screens, most of which are hand-held ones in a country like India. Thankfully, Soorarai Pottru evaded all of the above. The strong emotional quotient of the film worked to its advantage. The emotions swept viewers away into a whirlpool of feeling, which remains to this day. Soorarai Pottru is still the talk of the town – on social media and in the real world. It is spoken of fondly by cinema buffs, because of which, it is still the reigning King of direct OTT releases that happened in the past 365 days.
Which brings us to the crux of the matter – will Jagame Thandhiram be able to dislodge Soorarai Pottru from that position, and be crowned the new king of OTT releases? Well, Jagame Thandhiram has a lot going for it – most critical of which is the presence of the king of versatility, Dhanush. His recent Karnan has astonished everyone with his impressive range of histrionics; not to say, endeared him to even the staunchest of critics. A black comedy gangster drama is just the right vehicle to entrench that sentiment even more in his fans’ minds. Suruli has already got fans of Dhanush, and non-fans for that matter, in thrall.
So, will it? Or won’t it?
Well, we never said we are soothsayers. We just present the case before you, along with all the pros and cons of it. Only one entity can decide the fate of Jagame Thandhiram and its place in the echelons of OTT releases – and that is ‘Time’.
So let’s wait and watch for when Jagame Thandhiram releases on Netflix, and Time gives its verdict.
Jagame Thandhiram releases on Netflix on 18th June in multiple languages of which Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada are the confirmed ones.
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