Earlier this year, Mohanlal starrer Drishyam 2 premiered on Amazon Prime Video, and now, the actor’s five films including Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham, Alone, Bro Daddy, and 12th Man will also be getting a direct-to-digital release.
Antony Perumbavoor of Aashirvad Cinemas recently spoke to the media about the problems between the makers and the theatre owners.
He said, "We all were excited to release the movie in the theatre. However, the theatre owners weren't even interested to discuss our demands. The decision to release the movie (Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham) via the OTT platform was made after getting approval from Mohanlal sir and director Priyadarshan.”
"We held talks with theatre owners and it was decided that the film would be screened for 21 days in theatres. For this, I was asked to get the approval of the theatre owners across the state. However, only 89 theatres agreed to our demands. Now, the theatre owners have informed us that they are not ready to agree to our demands. In such a circumstance, there is no point in releasing the movie in theatres," he added.
Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham was slated to release last year, but was getting postponed due to the pandemic. The film has already received India’s three National Awards in categories like Best Feature Film, Best Special Effects, and Best Costume.