Mammootty and Parvathy Thiruvothu-starrer Puzhu, directed by Ratheena, to release directly on OTT?

Even as the majority of the leading actors in Malayalam had direct OTT releases the past year, Mammootty had stayed away from streaming releases, owing to his commitment to theatres. However, the Omicron threat could change all that. According to reports, Mammootty’s next release Puzhu could be heading for a direct-to-OTT release.

The movie, which marks the directorial debut of Ratheena, also has Parvathy Thiruvothu in the lead. Puzhu, which is written by Harshad, Suhas and Sharfu, is touted to be a thriller that has Mammootty playing a character with gray shades. The film’s composer Jakes Bejoy had earlier told OTTplay that the film will have the megastar in a role similar to that of Vidheyan than his ‘mass’ entertainers.

According to reports, the makers are in talks with Netflix to release the movie. While there has been no official confirmation regarding this, it does look plausible with the State government unlikely to increase the capacity in theatres owing to the rising COVID-19 cases. Also, Mollywood has a packed line-up of theatrical releases in January with Dulquer Salmaan’s Salute, Vineeth Sreenivasan’s Hridayam and Tovino Thomas’ Naaradhan, and in February with Mohanlal’s Aaraattu, Mammootty’s Bheeshma Parvam and Fahadh Faasil’s Malayankunju.

The release dates of these movies are also likely to change if the government imposes further restrictions, prompting more Malayalam films to choose OTTs as their release platform. Puzhu is produced by S George and distributed by Dulquer’s Wayfarer Films, which had also sold the OTT rights of Kurup to Netflix.

Mammootty, meanwhile, was already gearing up for his OTT debut with Netflix through their upcoming anthology based on MT Vasudevan Nair’s short stories. The star will be collaborating with Lijo Jose Pellissery for Kadugannawa Oru Yathra. The actor and director had most recently wrapped up shooting for Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam, which reportedly has Mammootty playing a thief.

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