Agnyathavasi on OTT: Where to watch Hemanth M Rao-produced murder mystery after its theatrical run

In November last year, OTTplay had received information that Hemanth M Rao had organized a screening of his production venture Agnyathvasi for a leading network. The outcome of the said screening was not made public at the time, but if the latest promotional materials of the film are anything to go by, it seems to have been fruitful, after all. Ahead of its April 11, 2025 theatrical outing, Agnyathavasi has a satellite and digital partner on board.

Agnyathavasi satellite and digital rights bagged by Zee

Agnyathavasi, directed by Janardhan Chikkanna of Gultoo fame (watch the Telugu-dubbed version here), has been picked up by Zee Network for both its TV and streaming rights. As such, following the theatrical run, the film will land on Zee Kannada and Zee5, respectively. A few days ago, during the trailer launch of the film, Hemanth had explained that he’d held on to the release of Agnyathavasi for well over a year, as the environment was not right back then, in terms of bringing a film to theatres and other business aspects, like post-theatrical rights.

Waiting for Agnyathavasi? Watch chilling murder mysteries like Rekhachitram, Identity, Anjaam Pathira, among many others with OTTplay Premium 

Whether or not the environment for a theatrical outing is any better now will be revealed in a few days’ time, when the film releases and word-of-mouth publicity spreads. There is, no doubt, anticipation among a niche crowd that ardently follows all of Hemanth’s work and, to some extent, Janardhan’s too, based solely on the good reviews of Gultoo. Janardhan’s follow-up to that, the comedy Powder, had been a theatrical failure. But given that they have OTT and TV deals in place, details of which remain unknown, any revenue from a theatrical release may just be a bonus.

Agnyathavasi has Rangayana Raghu in the lead, along with Ravishankar Gowda, Pavana Gowda, Siddu Moolimani, Sharath Lohithashwa and Arvind Kuplikar. Janardhan has been quoted as saying that he chose to have Raghu as the protagonist, based on the actor’s performance in the Kannada-Tamil bilingual Cyanide (watch here), an adaptation of the events following the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.