NEW DELHI: Karan Johar production Gunjan Saxena- The Kargil Girl is the latest among the films that have decided to skip theatrical release as the reopening of cinemas remains uncertain in India. The Jahnvi Kapoor-starrer will now premiere on American streaming platform Netflix but have not announced a date yet.
Both Johar and Netflix confirmed the development on their Twitter handles. The film, directed by Sharan Sharma and co-produced by Dharma Productions and Zee Studios, tells the story of flight lieutenant Gunjan Saxena who made history by becoming the first Indian women in combat during the Kargil war.
The biopic features Pankaj Tripathi and Angad Bedi in supporting roles.
Earlier this month, Netflix’s rival Amazon Prime Video announced the premiere of seven Indian films across languages on its platform as movie theatres remain shut indefinitely due to the lockdown.
Director Shoojit Sarkar’s comedy drama, Gulabo Sitabo, starring Amitabh Bachchan and Ayushmann Khurrana, and Vidya Balan-starrer Shakuntala Devi: Human Computer, are the two major Bollywood offerings. Amazon Prime has also acquired Ponmagal Vandhal, a Tamil legal drama starring Jyothika and directed by JJ Fredrick, two Kannada films, Law directed by Raghu Samarth and French Biryani featuring actors Danish Sait, Sal Yusuf, and Pitobash, a Tamil-Telugu bilingual called Penguin starring Keerthy Suresh, and a Malayalam movie, Sufiyum Sujathayum starring Aditi Rao Hydari and Jayasuruya.
The move is crucial both for Bollywood, which has so far stuck to the eight-week window between theatrical and digital release, and services like Amazon that had only picked up films with theatrical validation. Netflix, however, has acquired films such as Johar’s Drive in the past that had to forego a theatrical release for direct digital premiere.
Eager to please audiences sitting at home, video streaming platforms are hungry to dish out fresh content. This, however, does not augur well for film theatre owners who have seen revenues dwindling to nothing as they await permission to reopen theatres.
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