PremiumDear Friend release date: Here’s when and where to watch Tovino Thomas’ mystery drama online
The Vineeth Kumar directorial, which also has Basil Joseph and Darshana Rajendran, hit theatres on June 10
Last Updated: 08.09 AM, Jun 11, 2022
Tovino Thomas’ latest release Dear Friend hit theatres on June 10. The movie, which marks his second theatrical release this year, also stars Basil Joseph, Darshana Rajendran, Arjun Radhakrishnan, Arjun Lal and Sanchana Natarajan. We have now learnt that OTT giant Netflix has bagged the streaming rights for the movie, helmed by actor-director Vineeth Kumar.
Dear Friend revolves around a group of friends in Bengaluru, who are planning a start-up, and how an incident involving one of the them have a far-reaching effect on each of their lives. Shot in Bengaluru and Mumbai, the film is scripted by Virus writers Suhas and Sharfu along with actor Arjun Lal.
In a recent interview with OTTplay, Tovino said that he had signed Dear Friend while shooting Minnal Murali. Its co-producer Sameer Thahir was also Minnal Murali’s cinematographer. “So, Basil, who was Minnal Murali’s director, Sameerikka and I joined Dear Friend right after we completed the shoot of Minnal Murali last year,” he said, adding that the movie doesn’t follow a usual template.
“There’s an element of experiment. Our audience keenly follow international cinema and so we have tried to present this film without underestimating them,” said Tovino, who also has Vishnu G Raghav’s Vaashi set for release on June 17.
Though Netflix has had only two major Malayalam direct-to-OTT releases – Fahadh Faasil’s Irul and Tovino’s Minnal Murali, the streaming platform has been actively buying the post theatrical digital rights of Mollywood movies recently. Prithviraj Sukumaran’s Jana Gana Mana, Mammootty’s CBI 5: The Brain and Dear Friend are three of its latest acquisitions.
Jana Gana Mana had already gone on to break into its Global Top 10 most viewed Non-English titles in its first week of release. CBI 5 is set to drop on the platform on June 12. Dear Friend could premiere by the end of this month or in July.