The Vineeth Srinivasan written and directed feature film, ‘Hridayam‘, has finally been released in theatres. The highly anticipated Mollywood feature has received praise from critics and audiences alike, for the film’s brilliant music, star cast and Pranav Mohanlal‘s acting. Safe to say, this movie is the first successful Malayalam feature of 2022. While it is a little early for box office numbers, we are sure that this film will easily gross over five times its production budget of Rs. 6.9 crores. Now only one question remains, when will this film drop for streaming on an OTT platform?
A film titled ‘Hridayam’ sounds perfect for a direct-to-OTT release. The synopsis made it even more eligible for an OTT premiere. Surprisingly, however, there was no plan for the film to ever release on an OTT platform. Like a lot of Malayalam films expected to release this year, ‘Hridayam’ was a movie that was undergoing shooting on March 2020, when the global pandemic happened. The nationwide lockdown stopped the film shoot and the production of the film was in limbo for more than a year. Eventually, the film commenced shooting later in 2021, with the marketing team dropping a song in October, last year.
During all this time, the film producer, Vishakh Subramaniam promised Vineeth that ‘Hridayam’ will only release in theatres and not on an OTT platform. Even if the wait was to incur losses or if another lockdown happened, this movie will only premiere in theatres. Still, this film will eventually release on an OTT platform after its successful run in theatres. And it might happen sooner than one would think.
‘Hridayam’ has had an exceptional run in theatres so far, but particularly in the international market. The film has done well in the Middle East, as expected – however, ‘Hridayam’ has managed to break a major cinema record in Singapore – the most number of tickets ever sold for the screening of a Malayalam movie. Which is extraordinary, considering the times we are living in. However, “these times” is a major problem for ‘Hridayam’ in Kerala.
The rise in Omicron and Covid-19 cases almost caused theatres in Kerala to shut down, which means ‘Hridayam’ was going to get postponed yet again. Thankfully, theatres in Kerala are still running, but with how the coronavirus cases are still increasing, there is a good chance that the film will have no choice but to go on an OTT platform. For now, it is a waiting game for the cast and crew of the hit Malayalam feature. Hopefully, this film will at least get a month, before theatres are forced to shut down, or something worse happens.