The Telugu film industry has shown the way forward in the pandemic by releasing OTT releases in theaters. Raj Tharun’s Orey Bujjiga which released on Aha Video arrived in theaters on December 31st. Nani and Sudheer Babu’s V which got premiered on Amazon Prime Video released in theaters on January 1st.
Critics hailed this move saying that it is better to screen the OTT releases than to screen the outdated hit movies of the past. Even though the argument sounds sane, the ground reality is not rosy. Both the films have recorded below par occupancies everywhere. Nani is a star in Tollywood and even his film could not attract the audience.
However, critics say it is not the right moment to make any assumptions about the theatrical release of the OTT films. “V is a failure film and Orey Bujjiga is at best an average for Digital watch. So they can not be used to assume the worth of OTT releases in theaters,” they say. They argue that a successful film like Soorarai Pottru (Aakasam Nee Haddura in Telugu) will be the right choice to make any assessment. South is lining up big releases in the festival season i.e., the middle of this month. So, all this is a temporary phase. But then, Hindi cinema should quickly figure out something about releasing OTT films in theaters.