Veteran Indian actor Mohanlal undoubtedly boasts of a glorious filmography under his belt which just a handful of other Indian actors presently have. However, since the past few years, the illustrious actor has apparently not been selecting the kind of films which he should, with respect to his theatrical releases. In fact, Indian OTT platforms like Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ Hotstar seem to be doing a better job when it comes to selection of films featuring Mohanlal than Mohanlal himself.
For instance, Mohanlal’s latest theatrical release – Vysakh’s crime actioner ‘Monster’, which was released in cinemas just last week, was mercilessly panned by the critics.
And interestingly, Mohanlal’s film prior to ‘Monster’ was Jeethu Joseph’s mystery thriller ‘12th Man’, which was a direct-to-OTT release and started streaming on the Disney+ Hotstar OTT platform from the month of May. Many critics and a large audience segment had given the film a big thumbs-up. So, ‘12th Man’ turned out to be a good film selection starring Mohanlal by Disney+ Hotstar.
Another 2022 theatrical release featuring Mohanlal was ‘Aaraattu’. Although the action film was a financial success, the movie was not accepted well by critics and audiences alike.
Before ‘Aaraattu’, there was Prithviraj Sukumaran’s directorial dramedy ‘Bro Daddy’, which was released directly on the Disney+ Hotstar OTT platform. And the film received appreciation both from viewers and film enthusiasts. Again, a direct-to-OTT Mohanlal film getting positive critical feedback.
Similarly, the 2019 film ‘Drishyam 2’, which was released directly on Amazon Prime Video needs no introduction. It became a massive streaming success amongst OTT audiences and eventually achieved a cult status. But Mohanlal’s preceding film ‘Big Brother’, which was a theatrical release, performed poorly at the box office and was panned by the critics.
So, as you can see above, Mohanlal’s recently released films have shown an interesting trend of critically panned theatrical releases alternating with well appreciated direct-to-OTT releases.
This trend somewhat suggests that OTT platforms seem to be doing a better job than Mohanlal himself while selecting films featuring the legendary actor. On the contrary, Mohanlal had himself become part of theatrical releases which were either met with harsh criticism or failed to generate decent box-office numbers. Now, all eyes will now be on Mohanlal’s forthcoming films including Shaji Kailas’s ‘Alone’, his ambitious directorial debut ‘Barroz: Guardian of D’Gama’s Treasure’, and Jeethu Joseph’s action thriller ‘Ram’ and whether these films perform critically and commercially.