Update: Thanks to the rumblings in the Kerala film industry over a big star like Mohanlal's movie going directly to the OTT platform, there was much pressure brought to bear upon producer Antony Perumbaoor to go back on his plan. And yesterday (Nov 11), we had the strange spectacle of Kerala's Minister for Culture Saji Cherian announcing that Marakkar: Arabikkadalinte Simham will be releasing in theatres on December 2. Mohanlal also echoed the same in his tweet.
Recently when Malayalam stars Fahadh Faasil and Prithviraj Sukumaran had a string of straight-on-the-OTT releases, we thought it was a tough act to emulate. Fahadh has had four straight releases while Prithviraj three. As it happens, the biggest star in Malayalam filmdom, Mohanlal, may well go past them. The superstar, in all likelihood, will see his next five movies getting streamed first.
A trusted lieutenant and friend of Mohanlal, and the producer of all the five films in question, Antony Perumbaoor, recently said the star's upcoming films, all five of them, will release on OTT platforms, instead of theatres.
First off the blocks will be Marakkar: Arabikkadalinte Simham, which is touted to be the most expensive movie ever made in Mollywood. The much-expected film will stream on Amazon Prime Video.
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All five films are biggies
Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham has been lying in the cans for over a year now. It has already won three National Film Awards – Best Feature Film, Best Special Effects and Best Costume.
The remaining four films in the line-up are: The Prithviraj directorial Bro Daddy, the Jeethu Joseph-helmed 12th Man, the Shaji Kailas entertainer Alone, and Monster from director Vysakh who had given one of Mohanlal's biggest commercial successes, Pulimurugan.
Monster film started rolling today. Revealing the first look of the film, Mohanlal tweeted today: "Unveiling the Title and First Look of my new movie 'Monster' directed by Vysakh, scripted by Udaykrishna and produced by Antony Perumbavoor under the banner of Aashirvad Cinemas."
Save for Monster, the shooting of the three other movies, all releasing under the banner of Aashirvad Cinemas, has already been completed.
While Mohanlal's movies going to OTT platforms is good news for those who have gotten used to the streamers in the last one year or so, but it is not so for theatre owners in Kerala who need stars like Mohanlal to continue their business.
All is not well
As it happens, Mohanlal films are scheduled to make it to online channels due to the underlying tensions in the Malayalam film industry, especially between the theatre owners and the producer Antony.
"We all were excited to release the movie in the theatre. However, the theatre owners weren't even interested to discuss our demands. The decision to release the movie via the OTT platform was made after getting approval from Mohanlal sir and director Priyadarshan," Antony recently told the media while announcing the release of Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham on Amazon Prime Video.
He revealed that the original plan was to release the film in theatres.
"We held talks with theatre owners and it was decided that the film would be screened for 21 days in theatres. For this, I was asked to get the approval of the theatre owners across the State. However, only 89 theatres agreed to our demands. Now, the theatre owners have informed us that they are not ready to agree to our demands. In such a circumstance, there is no point in releasing the movie in theatres," he was quoted as saying in news reports.
Director Priyadarshan, for his part, said that they had collectively taken this decision after looking at the finances and how the producer (Antony Perumbavoor) had suffered since the film went into hibernation for almost two years.
The allegation in the Malayalam film industry is that Antony is trying to exploit the 'Brand Mohanlal' and hence ignoring the exhibitors in Kerala.
For the record, the only Mohanlal movie which will have its theatrical release in the coming months is Aaraattu, directed by B Unnikrishnan and produced by Sajeesh Manjery.
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