Two big Malayalam films, ‘Bro Daddy‘ and ‘12th Man‘, made a couple of important announcements last month. The former started the shooting process, mid-way through June, while the latter released its first look poster. Both films feature Malayalam actor, Mohanlal in lead, which means both films have already got a reasonable amount of followers. According to recent reports, both film productions have been approached by major OTT platforms, with ‘Bro Daddy’ given a price tag of Rs. 28 crores and ’12th Man’ set for a price of Rs. 35 crores. If these two movies do end up releasing directly for streaming, it will have a huge influence on the relationship between Mollywood filmmakers and OTT platforms.
Fahadh Faasil is the go-to Malayalam superstar for brilliant character roles (in the past few years) and more recently, pretty much any OTT-streaming film, it looks like. The actor was part of an OTT revolution that helped propel Malayalam cinema onto the digital stage. Films like ‘C U Soon’, ‘Joji’ and ‘Malik’ were all films that helped attract both Malayalam and other Indian film watchers to the platform they were streaming in. However, many forget that Mohanlal’s ‘Drishyam 2’ was part of that revolution.
The fact that one of the two major Mollywood megastars (Mohanlal and Mammootty, which is obvious) was actually a part of a direct-to-OTT released film was itself a huge boost for streaming platforms – but the fact that the movie was successful made it even better. Content is king and with so many good films releasing from the film industry – Mollywood films started getting a lot of OTT attention overnight.
This brings us to the aforementioned ‘Bro Daddy’ and ’12th Man’. Mohanlal is a decorated Malayalam actor who has made successful films in multiple film industries. If an actor of his calibre continues to release movies directly for streaming, especially after theatres open around the country – it will definitely change how Malayalam filmmakers look at streaming platforms.
The movies are still a long way from being completed, however. We don’t expect both films to be ready before the end of this year – which coincidentally is when the apparent third wave of the coronavirus will end by. Hopefully, we will have a better idea about the theatre-OTT situation by then.
We’re hiring!
We are hiring two full-time junior to mid-level writers with the option to work remotely. You need to work a 5-hour shift and be available to write. Interested candidates should email their sample articles to [email protected]. Applications without a sample article will not be considered.
