Padavi Poorva on OTT: Pruthvi Shamanur-Anjali Anish’s 90s campus love story gets a digital partner

Hariprasad Jayanna first announced his intention to turn director way back in 2017 with a film called Premadalli, which, unfortunately, did not materialize. But far from discarding his directorial dreams, he persevered and got his mentor, Yogaraj Bhat to co-produce a film that would launch a new hero in Kannada cinema, Pruthvi Shamanur. The actor’s father joined Yogaraj to make Padavi Poorva, a 90s campus love story with Pruthvi in the lead, along with Anjali Anish, Yasha Shivakumar, Vijesh, Rajneesh, Mandara, Sharath Lohitashwa, and Rangayana Raghu, among others.

The film came to theatres as a 2022 year-end release and was widely praised for Hariprasad’s deft handling of the subject and successfully transporting audiences to the bygone era. Santhosh Rai Pathaje’s cinematography was widely spoken about as an absolute standout. At the time of the film’s release, the team had not been able to crack a satellite and digital rights deal. In fact, an audio clip of Yogaraj Bhat tearing into Zee Kannada Business Head Raghavendra Hunsur had gone viral, after the latter apparently ghosted the filmmaker without taking business negotiations further for any of the former’s movies.

Today, the team announced that they’ve sold the satellite and digital rights for a good price to Sun Network, meaning that Padavi Poorva will debut on Udaya TV and SunNXT respectively. Traditionally, the network has focused on the TV premieres of their acquisitions, with the digital outing timed within a day or two of the former.

Meanwhile, buoyed by the positive response to their first collaboration, Hariprasad and Pruthvi are set to join hands yet again. This time around, though, the actor will be given a mass hero makeover, as the subject is a pakka commercial entertainer. Santhosh Rai Pathaje will return as cinematographer for the as-yet-untitled film, as will Arjun Janya as composer.