Photo out on OTT: Utsav Gonwar’s film on migrant exodus during the pandemic is now streaming

Photo, a Kannada film by Utsav Gonwar, which was adjudged the third best Kannada film at the Bengaluru international Film Festival in 2023, came to theatres in February 2024, thanks to the efforts of veteran actor Prakash Raj, who saw the merit in the storytelling. Utsav’s film is a stark reminder of the difficulties migrant workers faced when lockdown was announced in 2020 owing to the pandemic. The film is finally on OTT and is available on Amazon Prime Video, but for rent only. Photo can be streamed at Rs 99 only.

Prakash Raj: Photo is the kind of film that needs support

When Prakash came onboard as presenter, he did it solely because he hoped that his association would give the film a push in the right direction and get it across to a wider audience. He had no other skin in the game. Photo, he felt, is the kind of film that needs a support system and that it was up to artistes like him to do the needful. The actor had said that he lent his name as presenter out of a love for cinema, the honesty that Utsav brought to his film and because it was a subject that had to reach maximum number of people.

Also read: Photo movie review: Utsav Gonwar’s Kannada film about migrant exodus during lockdown is hard-hitting, but to what avail? 

Utsav’s film is a hard-hitting re-telling of the hardships that migrant labourers encountered after the sudden and totally unexpected implementation of lockdown across the country. Photo follows a young boy, Durgya (Veeresh Gonwar), who is sent to Bengaluru to be with his daily-wage labourer father, after schools were shut down when news of the Covid-19 virus began trickling in.

Also read: Prakash Raj: Photo is a film that is relevant and disturbed me at many levels 

His big dream was to convince his father to take him to the Vidhana Soudha and click a picture in front of it, but before that could happen, the duo have to make the harrowing trek back home across kilometres and kilometres of literal ghost towns, with everyone shut inside their homes. How they manage with the limited resources of food and water and whether or not they make it back safe and sound is at the crux of the tale.

FAQs

Q. Is Photo on OTT?

A. Photo is now on Amazon Prime Video, albeit available on rent only at Rs 99.