PremiumKantara on OTT: Rishab Shetty’s blockbuster to begin streaming in November?
The satellite and digital rights of the film had been sold prior to the theatrical release, so the film could drop on the streamer after a month.
Last Updated: 09.47 AM, Oct 17, 2022
When Rishab Shetty announced the release date of his newest directorial, Kantara, at first it seemed like a major gamble. The film was locking horns with biggies like Ponniyin Selvan 1 and Vikram Vedha at the box office. The actor-director’s film, though, has been literally unstoppable at the box office, since positive word-of-mouth publicity began for it shortly after the premiere shows on September 29.
Shows for the film, which released in Kannada only with English subtitles, have been on the rise, not only in Karnataka, but across the country, with dubbed versions in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi and Malayalam set to release later this week. The film has been setting collection records across regions for a Kannada film.
When Kantara released, it was revealed that the satellite and digital rights of the film had already been sold, with Star Suvarna and Amazon Prime Video holding the same, respectively. Since the deals were struck prior to the release, the question was if Kantara will begin streaming within a month of its theatrical release or at a later date, as has been the case with KGF: Chapter 2, which was also a Hombale Films presentation.
Also read: Kantara review: Spotlight's firmly on Rishab Shetty in this glorious piece of story-telling
Industry insiders say that Amazon Prime Video may bring Kantara to its platform in early November, 4th being seen as the tentative date, to cash in on the craze surrounding the Rishab Shetty directorial. At the success meet of the film, executive producer Karthik Gowda had said that the streaming date would be decided based on a mutual understanding between the production house and the platform. While he did mention that films like KGF2 and 777 Charlie continued to draw crowds in theatres even after their OTT debuts, there is a buzz that Hombale Films may push for an on or after 48 days deal. What will also be interesting to see is if Prime Video will insist on putting the film on rent only initially, or if it will be available for free to all subscribers. We will keep you posted as soon as we get word on more details.
Kantara, which also stars Sapthami Gowda, Kishore, Achyuth Kumar, among others, has music by B Ajaneesh Loknath and cinematography by Aravind S Kashyap.