ZEE5’s content acquisition model has been far from satisfactory. Not a single one of ZEE5’s direct to OTT Telugu releases has managed to impress the Telugu OTT audience. Now, ZEE5 has added another dud to the tally with Sumanth Akkineni’s Malli Modalaindi which premiered on the platform today.
Malli Modalaindi is available for streaming on ZEE5 now and the film has opened to rather weak reviews. It is being termed a lackluster drama that has very few things going its way. It revolves around the life of Vikram (Sumanth) who sustains a failed marriage, only to fall for another lady and enter another complex relationship with her. Related proceedings are narrated in a bland and predictable manner.
The fundamental problem with ZEE5’s content acquisition is not just that they go after uninteresting films, but also that they acquire films that don’t even have any brand-boosting value. For instance, not many people even know that a film titled Malli Modalaindi premiered on ZEE5 today. This is not just because of the weak promotional campaign, but also because of the fact that the film does not have any hook point that can pull the attention of the OTT crowd.
ZEE5 will now be hoping to expand its footprint in the Telugu OTT space with BAngarraju, which will be arriving on the platform on the 18th of this month. This is one of ZEE5’s premium outings in recent times.
The future looks bright for ZEE5 as they have bagged a handful of biggies including Radhe Shyam (South Indian language versions), RRR (South Indian language versions), and RC15. All these three much-anticipated Telugu mainstream biggies will be streaming on ZEE5 post the theatrical release. These films could be the real game-changer for ZEE5.