Exclusive! Popular Tulu OTT platform Talkies to extend its portfolio to Kannada in October

Kannada content, both movies and series, on major OTT platforms, continues to be only a miniscule portion of their portfolio, which was a major issue for creators, who were left with no avenue for their products, especially during the pandemic. But that scenario will change soon, with several dedicated OTT platforms for Kannada set to launch soon.

One such is Talkies, an app that has been operational for over a year, but had been focusing only on Tulu content and Yakshagana. Talkies is now set to add Kannada content to its offerings.

Speaking to OTTplay, Ravi Shankar Pai, Business Head-Talkies, says, “Although we began as a film production company, the demand for screenings of Tulu films outside Mangaluru and the country drove us to launching an OTT platform for this content. We bought close to 200 titles in the past year and a half and are now branching out into Kannada content. At the moment, we have only our own production Malgudi Days and a crime show called Crime Talkies, which is on the lines of Crime Patrol. The plan is to officially launch the Kannada section in early October,” he says.

At the moment, adds Ravi, Talkies will focus on Kannada web shows, with one launch every month. “Currently eight shows are ready for telecast and another four are under production. We are looking to begin once we have content for the next one year in place, and will continue to boost the portfolio with newer acquisitions. For instance, we have been buying content from Shivarajkumar’s production house, which is run by his daughter, as well as Sakkath Studios, among others, and are in talks with Puneeth Rajkumar’s production house as well. The idea is to give Kannada audiences quality content at bare minimal cost and what will make it interesting is that they will get to see all their favourite stars here, like, for instance, Ranjani Raghavan, Chandana Ananthakrishna, Mokshita Pai, Bharath Bopanna, etc.,” says Ravi.