Over-cautious or wise? This 56-year-old banner plans to release all its upcoming films on OTT

Days after reports of Venkatesh-starrer Narappa, a remake of Dhanush's Asuran, aiming for a theatrical release, we hear that its producers, Suresh Productions are thinking otherwise about their plans. Not only Narappa but also the other unreleased films from the prestigious banner, including another Venkatesh film Drushyam 2 (a remake of the Mohanlal starrer that released on Amazon Prime Video earlier this year) and Rana Daggubati's Virata Parvam are expected to skip theatres and release directly on OTT.

Narappa, in fact, even has a tentative release date. The film, also starring Priyamani, Karthik Rathnam and Rajeev Kanakala in key roles is expected to release on Amazon Prime Video directly on July 24. The streaming rights of Drushyam 2, we hear, is likely to be bagged by Disney+ Hotstar. Streaming rights of both the films have been reportedly sold for a sum of close to Rs 70 crores. What comes as a surprise is that the long-delayed Rana Daggubati-starrer Virata Parvam with a terrific star cast comprising Sai Pallavi, Sai Chand, Priyamani, Naveen Chandra, may also fly to Netflix.

Just when theatre owners and distributors have cautiously expressed their enthusiasm about the reopening of theatres in July, this drastic move by a production house, that also owns theatres and distributes films, is likely to have many repercussions in the industry. It's well-known that the Nithiin-starrer Maestro, the remake of Andhadhun, was the first Telugu film to opt for an OTT release after the second wave of COVID-19. It remains to be seen if several prominent banners will follow suit.