Shaakuntalam on OTT: Is THIS when Samantha and Dev’s mythological drama begins streaming?

The tale of Shakuntala, the daughter born to sage Viswamitra and the apsara Menaka, and her relationship with King Dushyanth, as told by sage Vyasa in the Mahabharata, or then later by classical Sanskrit author Kalidasa’s Abhijnanashakuntala has had dime-a-dozen adaptations for theatre, TV and the big screen over the last several decades and languages.

The latest was the much-talked about version led by Samantha Ruth Prabhu as the title character. Directed by Gunashekar, Shaakuntalam was released across the country in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi on April 14, but despite the hype around it, the film failed to make a mark at the box office. The big-budget mythological drama was widely panned for its lacklustre story-telling and computer graphics, so much so that even the good performances by its cast could not salvage it.

Read our review: Shaakuntalam review: Gunasekhar’s magnum opus is ambitious but falls short of epicness 

and 

Shaakuntalam on OTT: Where, when to watch this Samantha Ruth Prabhu starrer 

Shaakuntalam has an ensemble cast including Dev Mohan, Sachin Khedekar, Mohan Babu, Prakash Raj, Madhoo, Jisshu Sengupta, Kabir Bedi, Kabir Duhan Singh, Aditi Balan, among many others. Amazon Prime Video had snapped up the post-theatrical digital rights way before the release and while no streaming date has been officially announced, the streamer has been bringing films that have not had a great box-office run to its platform well before the 30-day mark.

While it was earlier said that the film could be headed to the streamer anywhere between 5-8 weeks from the theatrical release, the latest buzz is that it could drop as early as May 5. This despite the fact that the film has been produced by Dil Raju, who had earlier passed a resolution to delay OTT premieres of films, irrespective of scale, to 5 weeks and later from theatrical release. This has not been enforceable, though, with several box office failures landing on OTTs within the 30-day mark.