They Call Him OG and Idli Kadai are two recent South Indian films that have found very different kinds of success. Pawan Kalyan’s They Call Him OG was a hit in theatres. It earned decent numbers at the box office. But when it arrived on Netflix India last week, the response was more muted. Yes, it was received well and the views were nice but it was not something that you would expect from a major Pawan Kalyan film. This week however, which is the second week of the film on the OTT, the film reached only the seventh position in the global list of non-English films, showing that its online viewership was far lower than expected.
In contrast, Dhanush’s Idli Kadai did not make much money in theatres. It was a simple story about a man returning to his roots and dealing with family emotions. Critics and audiences who value good storytelling appreciated it, but the film could not draw large crowds to cinemas. When both films came to streaming platforms, Idli Kadai performed better. It gained more views and attention online than They Call Him OG. Idli Kadai was the second most watched non-English film on Netflix last week.
This shows that audience choices on streaming platforms are very different from what they prefer in theatres. In cinemas, people often look for larger-than-life stars, action, and spectacle. On OTT platforms, the same viewers seem to prefer quiet, meaningful stories that connect on an emotional level. The success of Idli Kadai on Netflix and the slower start of They Call Him OG there highlight how storytelling strength often matters more than star power in the world of streaming.