PremiumAgent on OTT: Where Akhil Akkineni’s pan-Indian dreams couldn’t take off
Surender Reddy directed the film written by Vakkantham Vamsi
Last Updated: 07.41 PM, Sep 26, 2023
Agent was supposed to be the star vehicle that’ll introduce Akhil Akkineni as a action hero to the masses across languages. Over a sum of Rs 60 crore was invested into the film by AK Entertainments’ producer Anil Sunkara and Surender Reddy, a specialist at action entertainers, was entrusted with the responsibility of executing a spectacle on a large canvas.
However, the team faced several obstacles during the making. As per the producer’s statement, they went ahead without a bound script, COVID-19 had come their way and Surender Reddy was stuck in a hospital in a near-death situation for months. There were regular reports of creative differences between the actor and the director over the two years.
Despite the unfavourable scenario, regular production delays and release date changes, several Akkineni fans were hopeful of Agent. After all, it had Malayalam star Mammootty, marked the Telugu debut of Dino Morea besides Vakkantham Vamsi enjoying decent credibility as a writer. The team raced against time to release on April 28, clashing with the likes of Ponniyin Selvan 2.
While the film was meant to be a pan-Indian release across Hindi, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam languages apart from Telugu, the team struggled to come up with a proper release plan and had to be content with the Telugu version alone. As they say, the rest was history. Agent faced a drubbing from critics and audiences alike and tanked at the box office right after the initial shows.
After a long wait, Agent is coming to OTT on Sony LIV this weekend on September 29. There have been reports that the team has re-edited the film for the OTT version. Will that make much of a difference? We’ll know better this Friday. While there were rumours about Akhil doing a film with UV Creations besides a project alongside his dad Nagarjuna, he’s yet to make anything official.