In an interesting development, two mainstream Telugu films – Shyam Singha Roy, a periodic action drama featuring Nani in the central role and Akhanda, a heavy duty action drama featuring Balakrishna are set to arrive on OTT on the same day. While Disney+ Hotstar had already implied that Akhanda will be available for streaming on the platform from 21st January, the other day, Netflix confirmed that Shyam Singha Roy will be premiering on the very same day – 21st January.
As far as the hype and excitement factor goes, Akhanda clearly has the upper hand. The action drama fared exceptionally well at the box office and it marks the coming together of Balakrishna and Boyapati Sreenu, two mass forces. While the action thriller genre is not particularly well-received in the Telugu OTT space, Akhanda has enough firepower to pull the OTT audience. The film is loaded with elevation blocks that have great repeat value. More importantly, the OTT audience will be raring to experience S Thaman’s mental mass background score again. All these factors will help Akhanda, and ultimately Disney+ Hotstar.
Shyam Singha Roy received good reviews but it couldn’t post exceptional numbers at the box office. The film is better suited for the OTT audience and we can expect it to gain momentum gradually following its OTT premieres, that is if it can impress the OTT crowd. The periodic action drama has Nani and Sai Pallavi in the lead roles and it is directed by Rahul Sankrityan.
While the OTT clash between Shyam Singha Roy and Akhanda is not a direct one, given that they belong to contrasting genres, it will be interesting to see which of these manage to impress the OTT crowd.