Custody out on OTT: Here’s when, where you can watch Naga Chaitanya, Krithi Shetty’s cop drama

Being Naga Chaitanya’s entry into the Tamil market, director Venkat Prabhu’s first in Telugu besides the ensemble cast comprising Krithi Shetty, Arvind Swami, Priyamani, Sarath Kumar and the music of Yuvan Shankar Raja, Ilaiyaraaja, there were immense expectations surrounding Custody at the time of its release. However, the Tamil-Telugu bilingual failed to set the cash registers ringing in both languages.

After a brief run in both the markets this May, the film is now out on OTT. Amazon Prime Video has acquired the post-theatrical streaming rights of the drama and premiered it on Friday. Sampath Raj, Premji Amaren, Vennela Kishore, Premi Vishwanath played other important roles in the film. Srinivasaa Chitturi of Srinivasaa Silver Screen bankrolled the film on a huge canvas.

The story revolves around a constable’s efforts to protect the truth and guard the life of the antagonist and unfolds over a day’s span. Interestingly, both the protagonist and the antagonist aren’t pitted against one another in the film - it’s the vice versa. The male lead is the only person who’s committed to saving the life of the baddie, who’s facing death threats from several corners - politicians, cops and family.

Custody was Naga Chaitanya’s second film with Krithi Shetty - they’d earlier paired up for Bangarraju, the Sankranthi entertainer in 2022. This is also the latter’s second bilingual after The Warriorr (opposite Ram Pothineni), also produced by Srinivasaa Silver Screen. Venkat Prabhu, inspired by Nayattu, penned the story during the COVID-19 lockdown and narrated it to Chaitanya at a time the latter was looking to widen his market.

While there were rumours initially that Venkat Prabhu was to team up with Chaitanya for the Telugu remake of Maanaadu, they decided against the idea and opted for a fresh project. SR Kathir cranked the camera for Custody while Rajeevan was the production designer. Venkat Raajen is the editor and Abburi Ravi wrote the dialogues. Stun Shiva and Mahesh Mathew handled the stunts - the underwater action sequence was reported to be a major highlight of Custody.