Are Drushyam 2 makers renegotiating the direct-to-OTT deal with Disney+ Hotstar?

Narappa, the Telugu remake of Dhanush's rural action drama Asuran, starring Venkatesh, Priyamani, Karthik Rathnam in the lead roles, was released directly on Amazon Prime Video amid a lot of controversies. The remake garnered good responses from crowds and critics, who particularly praised Venkatesh's nuanced performance. While Venkatesh's next film, Drushyam 2, the remake of the Malayalam sequel to the family thriller Drishyam starring Mohanlal and Meena, was widely speculated to be heading for a direct-to-OTT premiere as well, latest reports suggest that the makers are open to release the film in theatres for Dussera.

Apparently, the producers of Drushyam 2, Antony Perumbavoor and Suresh Babu Daggubati have plans for the theatrical release of the film on October 13 and will arrive at a conclusion based on the box office performances of biggies like Gopichand's Seetimaarr and Sekhar Kammula's Love Story. Drushyam 2's streaming rights are with Disney+ Hotstar. At times when even pan Indian releases like Thalaivii, starring names like Kangana Ranaut, Arvind Swamy, are underperforming at theatres, producers are naturally caught in a catch-22 situation, having to look at the recovery of investment and well-being of distributors at the same time.

A popular handle for Telugu film box office updates, AndhraBoxOffice.com, shared a tweet earlier in the day, that read, "#Drushyam2: Makers still open to Theatrical Release and are talking to the stakeholders. If everyone is on the same page, it will be released for Dussehra on October 13th!. A big IF though!." Drushyam 2 is directed by Jeethu Joseph and its shoot commenced in the first half of the year and was wrapped in a record span of nearly 45 days. The film also stars Esther Anil, Kruthika Jayakumar, Nadiya, Naresh and Vinay Varma in lead roles. The film has music by Anup Rubens, while Satheesh Kurup is the cinematographer.