Let’s get one thing straight – there may have been many Malayalam direct-to-OTT releases so far, and many among them have been successful as well; but a good portion of them would have preferred a theatrical release (if not all of them), over an OTT premiere. For every ‘Drishyam 2’, there is a ‘Malik’ being forced to release on an OTT platform. Films like ‘Kurup’, ‘Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea’ and ‘Thuramukham’ have had to fend of eager OTT platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, SonyLIV, Disney+ Hotstar, ZEE5 and many others for over 18 months, who have been trying their best to acquire the streaming rights for these films. And somehow, Dulquer Salmaan’s ‘Kurup’ and the multi-starrer, ‘Pada’ have managed to fend off the metaphorical sharks and will release in theatres next week.
And we really thought that ‘Kurup’ was heading towards Netflix, a couple of months ago. With the second wave of the coronavirus raging through Kerala – it looked like theatres were not going to open in the Southern state till 2022. With the third wave of the Covid-19 virus expected to hit Kerala heavily during the month of October and the threat of heavy rains turning into floods; the 2022 theatre reopening prediction looked more and more realistic. However, something crazy happened.
The number of Covid-19 cases started reducing all over the state and the third wave barely hit Kerala. What’s more, most of the state didn’t get as heavy rainfalls as predicted. And as the first week of October rolled around – it was announced that theatres will open in the Malayalam speaking state during the last few days of the very same month. And what do you know, theatres have finally opened in Kerala, a few days ago.
It hasn’t been all “good news”, however. The Antony Perumbavoor’s produced historical epic, ‘Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea’ will not be heading to theatres, according to latest reports. The aforementioned Malayalam film is the most expensive Malayalam film in history and it is a shame that this film will not be released in theatres. Last time, the producer had spoken with the press; he said that he was ready to wait till mid-2022 if needed – for theatres to allow 100% capacity. Turns out, the producer couldn’t agree terms with the theatre associations and has now opted to do an OTT release.
While Malayalam direct-to-OTT releases have certainly helped the Malayalam industry in expanding their fan base, they haven’t been doing so well financially. With theatres finally opening up, and the quality of films only continuing to get better – we expect the producers and theatre associations to make up the money they lost sooner, rather than later. And thanks to Amazon Prime Video, ZEE5, Netflix and other streaming platforms, Malayalam films have fans in other states (and countries) – making the films easier to be screened in these places.
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