Ela Veezha Poonchira to Adithattu, could Kerala State Awards give a new lease of life to the underrated gems on OTT?

Ahead of the 53rd Kerala State Film Awards announcement, Minister of Culture Saji Cherian had read out the jury’s statement that lauded the diversity in Malayalam films and also pointed out that 19 out of the 49 movies that made it to the final round were helmed by debutants. “An encouraging sign for Malayalam cinema,” the minister remarked.

Though this year’s awards was a tightly contested one, it didn’t throw up many surprises in most of the major categories, with mainstream actors such as Mammootty and Kunchacko Boban along with their brilliant movies Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam and Nna Thaan Case Kodu taking home the bulk of the honours.

Also read: Kerala State Film Awards 2023: Mammootty, Vincy Aloshious and Nna Thaan Case Kodu win big, here's the complete list of winners 

That said, there were a few movies such as Shahi Kabir’s Ela Veezha Poonchira, Maju’s Appan, Jijo Antony’s Adithattu, Sanal Kumar Sasidharan’s Vazhakku, Jithin Isaac Thomas’ Rekha and Jithin Raj’s Pallotty 90’s Kids that stand to benefit a lot from the award win. Some of these films, as stated by the filmmakers and producers, have released on OTTs but haven’t racked up the views proportional to the acclaim they got, while others are still struggling to find takers on OTT.

Take Adithattu that won the Second Best Film Award, for instance. Its director Jijo Antony tells OTTplay, “A film’s lifetime doesn’t ever end once it’s released.” The Shine Tom Chacko and Sunny Wayne-starrer, which hit theatres last year and is one of the first Malayalam movie to be shot extensively at sea, however is yet to land a favourable OTT or even a satellite deal, and this due to the “commercial aspects” of the industry that includes its cast and content.

Also read: Adithattu movie review: Shine Tom, Sunny Wayne steer this raw thriller that takes time to sail 

“It’s only been a while since OTTs have started functioning in our country and we are hoping that these platforms will help take our content across the world. While doing Adithattu too, we had that in mind – to make it accessible to people everywhere,” he says. “We are also hoping that it’s the congenial time for OTT platforms too to make that decision for our film.”

Similarly, debutant Jithin’s Pallotty 90’s Kids, which bagged four awards at this year’s edition, is yet to lock a major distributor to even bring it to theatres and the makers are hoping that the win will help give it a good release. Its producer Sajid Yahiya tells us, “The film has a new director, writer, editor and 43 children as part of the cast. We shot it happily but we have struggling to find a proper distributor. This win is a stepping stone towards that goal.”

That said that producer says actors such as Arjun Ashokan and Balu Varghese, who stepped in to act in the film when many didn’t want to be attached to a children’s film, provided impetus to the makers. “That’s why this win belongs to everyone who supported us in this venture,” he explains.

Also read: Appan movie review: Sunny Wayne, Alencier drive this drama about a cruel father and the burden of his sins 

This year’s winners list also included underrated gems such as Soubin Shahir’s Ela Veezha Poonchira (Amazon Prime Video), Sunny Wayne’s Appan (Sony LIV) and Vincy Aloshious’ Rekha (Netflix) that had their OTT releases, but weren’t viewed as widely as the ones featuring big stars. Vincy, soon after she was announced as the Best Actress for her performance in Rekha that is streaming on Netflix, said that she as well as the makers had been contemplating ways to increase the reach of the film. “I hope that people will now watch the movie because of this,” she said.

Also read: Rekha review: Vincy Aloshious, Unni Lalu elevate a formulaic, yet absorbing revenge drama 

Its director Jithin is also hopeful that the award would give it a new lease of life on OTT. “We couldn’t get the movie to the audience when it was released in theatres,” he says. “I think now there are so many films releasing in theatres and people prefer to spend money to watch the movies of actors they are familiar with.”

Meanwhile, director Shahi Kabir’s Ela Veezhapoonchira, which won four awards including Best Debut Director, Best Screenplay (Original), Best Colorist and Best Cinematography, is one of those atmospheric thrillers that was tailor made for the theatres and warrants a revisit on OTT.

“It’s a huge deal to win four awards,” Shahi tells us. “Even the character that Soubin had played was intense and I actually wished he’d win an award. So, that’s the only disappointment for me.”

That said, director Tharun Moorthy’s Saudi Vellakka, which bagged three awards including Best Character Actress and Best Dubbing Artiste (Female), is among those rare Malayalam films in the past year that did well on OTT despite the lack of star power.

“From what I understand, it’s probably got the highest views for a Malayalam film for Sony LIV this year,” Tharun tells us. “It’s great that a film is still being talked. We had a great response after its theatrical as well as the OTT release, and I am hoping more people would revisit the film.”