Kangana Ranaut-starrer Thalaivii will release theatrically on 10 September. The film’s producer Vishnu Vardhan has reportedly decided to release Thalaivii digitally two weeks after the theatrical release, Film Information reported.
The film, which follows the life of actor-turned-politician J Jayalalithaa, also stars Arvind Swamy and will release in Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi. While Zee has the distributing rights for the film, the digital streaming rights lie with Netflix for the Hindi version and Amazon Prime Video for the Tamil and Telugu versions.
Film Information reported that the reason behind Vardhan’s decision is the box-office collectons of recently released films. The producer decided to keep the window between theatrical and OTT release at 2 weeks since films haven’t earned a lot at the box office post-pandemic. BellBottom producer Vashu Bhagnani reportedly convinced exhibitors to let him release the film on OTT four weeks after it released in theatres even though the pre-pandemic window for films used to be 8 weeks.
BellBottom was the first film to release in theatres after the second wave of the COVID pandemic, even as theatres in Maharashtra continued to be shut. This affected their box office earnings since Maharashtra contributes almost 30% to box office earnings. Even cinemas in other states opened at a partial capacity.
While some filmmakers have decided to opt for direct-to-OTT releases, Chehre producer Anand Pandit and Thalaivii producer Vishnu Vardhan are among those who decided to give their films theatrical releases. There are also many Bollywood films that’ve indefinitely postponed their release owing to the pandemic.
Zee had announced Thalaivii’s release on social media and wrote, “With a personality queen size, Jayalalithaa's story has always belonged to the BIG SCREENS! Embark on her inspiring journey from being a cine star to becoming one of the most influential CMs IN THEATRES near you on 10th September.” The film’s release was earlier delayed due to the pandemic.
Thalaivii stars Kangana as former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa and Arvind Swami as the MG Ramachandran, and is written by KV Vijayendra Prasad and directed by AL Vijay. The film’s trailer was released on Kangana’s birthday on 23 March. Thalaivii also stars Prakash Raj, Madhoo, Bhagyashree, Poorna, and Jisshu Sengupta.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)