Dhananjaya: No streaming platform has picked up Tagaru Palya yet

Tagaru Palya is actor-producer Daali Dhananjaya’s third home production, in which he had his close friend Nagabhushana in the lead and launched Nenapirali Prem’s daughter Amrutha. The film, directed by Umesh K Krupa, released in theatres on October 27 and, according to Dhananjaya managed to attract over 3 lakh footfalls during its box office stint, which, was a good showing for it. Yet, despite the theatrical success, favourable reviews and his star status as producer, Dhananjaya has been unable to clinch a streaming deal for Tagaru Palya. Speaking to Karnataka TV, the actor was fielding a question about the possibility of seeing him in a web series, when he spoke about the market dynamics of Kannada content consumption and brought up Tagaru Palya’s fate. 

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Dhananjaya is not averse to doing web shows and, given the right opportunity, will take it up. But, having said that, he drew attention to the fact that OTT platforms don’t pick Kannada films citing a lack of consumption from audiences in the state, which would be the case for a Kannada web show as well. The claim, he said, is that even star-led films have not worked out for streamers. Tagaru Palya, he said, has not been picked by any mainstream platform yet. The satellite deal, though, has been done, the actor said.

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This situation will not change until there is a marked uptick in the consumption pattern for Kannada films on OTT platforms, reckons Dhananjaya, adding that commenting about this trend on social media will not help the cause. He added that the feedback from OTT platforms has been that the consumption of Kannada films dubbed in other languages is far better than for the original version. The problem is also that a large section of audiences today head to theatres only for bigger, star-driven films, and wait for the smaller movies to come to OTT. But then, streaming platforms do not pick films until and unless there’s been a fairly decent theatrical outing. This is not a good sign for newcomers, as producers will shy away from investing on them.