Telugu film ‘Narappa’ to premiere directly on Amazon Prime Video

Narappa was originally slated for release in theatres for Eid this May

2 min read . Updated: 13 Jul 2021, 10:25 AM IST Lata Jha

Narappa will skip the wait for theatres to reopen and premiere directly on Amazon Prime Video on 20 July

NEW DELHI: Telugu film Narappa will skip the wait for theatres to reopen and premiere directly on Amazon Prime Video on 20 July. The action-drama is directed by Srikanth Addala, jointly produced by D. Suresh Babu and Kalaippuli S. Thanu, written by Vetrimaaran and stars Venkatesh Daggubati, Priyamani and Karthik Rathnam in the lead roles.

It is a remake of cult Tamil film Asuran that won its lead star Dhanush the national award for best actor this year. Narappa was originally slated for release in theatres for Eid this May.

“With Narappa’s global premiere, we are excited to push the envelope further and add another thrilling action-drama to the diverse content slate of Telugu DTS (Direct-to-service) films on the service which has so far received a phenomenal response globally," Vijay Subramaniam, director and head, content, Amazon Prime Video, India said in a statement.

To be sure, small to medium budget southern language films are fast lining up for direct-to-digital launches as the second covid wave keeps theatres shut. Titles like Malaysia to Amnesia (Tamil), Thank You Brother (Telugu), Mohan Kumar Fans (Malayalam) and Dhanush’s Jagame Thandiran have already started premiering with Nayanthara-starrer Netrikann and comedy Sumo also in talks with platforms.

Movies in the four South Indian languages, particularly Tamil and Telugu, including their dubbed Hindi versions, are bringing big returns for streaming platforms, contributing to 10-25% of overall viewership, following the trend of their popularity on satellite television.

While niche, experimental films have been discovered beyond their native states, on one hand, mass-market offerings starring top names such as Dhanush, Rajinikanth, Allu Arjun on platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ Hotstar and MX Player have also grabbed eyeballs, as families come together to watch stars.

Earlier this month, Jio Cinema started a Malayalam special bringing six titles, including two that had premiered directly on the digital platform.

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