Sapta Sagaradaache Ello Side B OTT partner not on board yet; here’s why

Sapta Sagaradaache Ello Side A dropped on OTT within a month, but that may not be the case with Side B

Rakshit Shetty in a still from the film

When Sapta Sagaradaache Ello Side A came to theatres on September 1, the title credits did not include a streaming partner, but within days it was rumoured that the film had been sold to Amazon Prime Video, a platform that is home to a few of leading man Rakshit Shetty’s other movies. Several Kannada film aficionados were of the opinion that Side A began streaming way too early, which did not allow the team time to take it to other theatrical markets, like Kerala, for instance. Side A’s OTT deal, though, was not Rakshit’s doing.

Sapta Sagaradaache Ello was a project that Pushkar Films had initiated and which, like 777 Charlie, Rakshit’s Paramvah Studios inherited and took forward. With Sapta Sagaradaache Ello, though, which at that point was meant to be only one film, Pushkar Films had struck a deal with Amazon Prime Video for its outright sale even before the movie was made and this was not something that Rakshit and co could find a way out. What helped Rakshit is that director Hemanth made two films and only one was bound by this contract. Unfortunately, the deal was for a on or before 30-days streaming date, which meant that Rakshit’s plans of releasing Sapta Sagaradaache Ello Side A in Kannada only initially and then letting it travel and become pan-India organically did not work out.

By the time the Telugu version released and he began planning a Kerala outing a week later, it came to his notice that the film would be on the streamer in all five languages. A Malayalam version did not make it to theatres, but Side B, which Rakshit has more control over, does. The film is releasing on November 17 in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam – all of which are markets from where the team got positive response to Side A, especially after the OTT outing. It was initially thought that since Side A came to OTT so soon, Side B would also follow suit. But Rakshit has now clarified that he is yet to get a streaming partner on board.

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Of course, the sensible thing would be to partner with Amazon Prime Video since Side A is also there, but Rakshit is now in a better bargaining position. “Partnering with a platform doesn’t only have to be as an outright sale or on streaming minutes basis. You can also have the streamer host it on their store for rental only and give audiences, including non-subscribers, the choice to watch it or not at a nominal cost,” explains Rakshit.

Depending on how Side B performs at the box office, Rakshit may look at pushing the OTT release further ahead,

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