Veteran filmmaker Vetri Maaran to present Natesh Hegde’s film festival darling, Pedro

A little while ago, Natesh Hegde revealed the trailer of his debut Kannada feature film Pedro, which has been creating waves at international film festivals across the globe, since its premiere at Busan last year. The film has been widely feted, as has Natesh, and now that the film is in the festival circuit in India and on the home stretch, the makers, led by producer Rishab Shetty, are set to bring it to audiences here. The film will be presented by veteran filmmaker Vetri Maaran.

According to the buzz in Kannada cinema circles, Pedro, which stars Natesh’s father Gopal Hegde in the title role, will get a direct-to-OTT release shortly, an official announcement of which is expected soon. Earlier, Natesh had spoken about wanting to release the film in theatres, to break the notion that festival movies do not get audiences. However, given the current deluge of Kannada films releasing in theatres every week, owing to the backlog of the last two years, as well as the big-ticket movies from other languages, getting a decent window in the foreseeable future looks slim, which is why the makers are considering a streaming platform instead, says a source.

Set against the backdrop of the Western Ghats, Pedro revolves around the accidental shooting of an animal, which not only gets him ostracized from the village, but also takes on an ugly communal tone. The film also stars Raj B Shetty and Ramakrishna Bhat Dundi. Pedro is currently in the India Gold competition section of the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival, but does not have an online viewing option.