Agnyathavasi OTT release date: When and where to watch Janardhan Chikkanna-Hemanth M Rao’s murder mystery

Agnyathavasi, the film that Sapta Sagaradaache Ello maker Hemanth M Rao decided to back to give Gultoo -maker Janardhan Chikkanna his next directorial, released in theatres on April 11, after more than a year’s delay in getting it there. By then, Janardhan was two films old, having made the comedy Powder for KRG Studios and TVF, which failed to soar. Hemanth, who’s produced the film under his banner Dakshayini Talkies, decided to hold on to its release for as long as he could, as he waited out the unfavourable market conditions, both for theatrical and post-theatrical business.

Hemanth’s perseverance paid off and the film had a satellite and digital partner on board at the time of its release, a rarity in Kannada cinema these days. Zee Network had picked up the rights and we’ve now heard that the platform has set a release date too. In recent times, whenever Zee has had both satellite and digital rights, it has chosen to do simultaneous releases on both media, to maximise viewersip, as was the case with Kiccha Sudeep’s Max an d Venkatesh’s Sankrantiki Vastunam. 

It remains to be seen if Zee will do that for Agnyathavasi too and if the film will be available with dubbed audio apart fromm the Kannada original version. As of now, the streaming premiere on Zee5 Kannada has been set for May 16, 2025. Agnyathavasi stars Rangayana Raghu (Cyanide ), Ravishankar Gowda, Sharath Lohithashwa, Siddu Moolimani, Pavana Gowda, among others, and has music by Charanraj.

The film is set in a sleepy Malnad village in the 90s, where the death of a local landlord arouses suspicions in the police inspector that there was foul play involved. With no physical evidence to prove the same, what was it that he smelt fishy and how does he go about proving his theory? This is at the core of Agnyathavasi, which becomes even more interesting, given that the village has not had a major crime in years, leaving the officers with no know-how on how to crack a case like this.

Also read: Agnyathavasi movie review: Janardhan Chikkanna’s murder mystery has a lot of positives, but isn't entirely satisfying