From Shivaji Surathkal 2 to Kabzaa - here are the Kannada films in theatres and OTT on April 14

It’s school and college exam season, the IPL is going on and in Karnataka, elections are upon us shortly. Although there have been big-ticket film releases at such time in the past that have done well at the box office, traditionally, most film teams steer clear of the season. That, though, does not mean that there is a complete drought of Kannada films in theatres. Since the backlog owing to the pandemic delays is still being cleared, every week there are 2-3 smaller players trying their luck to draw crowds.

This week, Shivaji Surathkal 2 is the relatively bigger title that’s coming. This is the second instalment in the Shivaji Surathkal franchise led by Ramesh Aravind, in which the actor plays the eccentric title character sleuth. Directed by Akash Srivatsa, the sequel is called Shivaji Surathkal: The Mysterious Case of Maayavi, which is set six years after the events of the original. Joining the cast of this instalment are veteran actor Nasar, Meghana Gaonkar and Vinayak Joshi, among others.

Also in theatres is actor Komal Kumar’s comedy Undenaama, which was previously called 2020. Directed by KL Rajashekar, the film, which also stars Dhanya Balakrishna in the lead, with Harish Raj in a pivotal role, is a comedy about events that transpired during the pandemic lockdowns.

The ‘big’ OTT release of the week is R Chandru’s Kabzaa, which is landing on Amazon Prime Video within a 30-day window. The Upendra-led gangster flick, which also stars Shriya Saran, Sudeep, Shivarajkumar and many others, was widely panned for being a ‘cheap copy of KGF’. The film will be available to stream in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Hindi.

If an outing to the theatres is not on the agenda now and Kabzaa doesn’t rank high up on the list of must-watch movies, there are a couple of other titles that can be checked out. One among the late Sanchari Vijay’s last films, Melobba Maayavi can be streamed in a pay-per-view model on the platform called Cinebazzar. Upon payment of a nominal charge (Rs 25), the film will be available to watch multiple times within a 24-hour time frame. Namma Flix’s release this week is the dubbed version of a 2019 Telugu film, starring Bigg Boss Kannada season 8 contestant Divya Suresh. Called Degree College, this is a love story of two collegians from different socio-economic backgrounds.