Exclusive! Nivin Pauly set for OTT debut, Kanakam Kamini Kalaham to release on streaming platform

Mollywood star Nivin Pauly is all set to make his OTT debut with Kanakam Kamini Kalaham, which is also produced by the Premam star. The movie’s director Ratheesh Balakrishnan Poduval has exclusively revealed the news to OTTplay.

Talking to us, the Android Kunjappan Ver. 5.25 director said, “The film’s cleared by the CBFC with a U certificate. It will probably release this month, mostly on an OTT platform. Theatrical release was our initial plan. It’s a comedy and we weren’t sure how well humour would work on an online platform. That’s why we were waiting. But with the reopening of theatres being pushed indefinitely, we are looking at an OTT release. We are yet to confirm the streaming platform.”

The movie, which also has Grace Antony, Vinay Forrt, Joy Mathew, Jaffer Idukki and Rajesh Madhavan, was shot in a hotel in Kochi after the lockdown restrictions were lifted last year. On the movie’s plot, Ratheesh tells us, “After the 20th minute of the film, the story takes place over a day in a hotel. It’s about a couple who gets stuck in a hotel due to an issue. And the hotel is something we can’t imagine because it’s that crazy. If it was a horror story, you would say it’s a haunted hotel, but here the couple, who have their issues, gets to a place that has even bigger problems and a backstory. The rest of the story evolves in the hotel. However, viewers wouldn’t feel claustrophobic because through its approach and humour, we have tried to break that and we think we have succeeded.”

Ratheesh, who has also scripted the film, says that the movie has over-the-top comedy. “But that wasn’t how it was supposed to happen. During the scripting, it was written as a realistic film as the story is inspired from an incident that happened in my life. But that changed when we reached the hotel and planned the costume and art design of the movie. So, the entire mood and space evolved and the quirkiness got elevated once the production design came into play. As I also have a background in that, I could execute it easily. For instance, you would find influences of Wes Anderson’s movies in many places in the film. But this thought wasn’t there during the scripting stage or discussions with Nivin. It just happened unknowingly during the process of filmmaking. From the spot boy to a star like Nivin was staying at the same hotel and all of us enjoyed the process of making this film. It’s a boon that happened due to the pandemic,” he explains.

Also read: Ratheesh Balakrishnan Poduval: Kanakam Kaamini Kalaham’s humour evolved during its shoot 

Meanwhile, Nivin has also completed shooting for Thuramukham, which was set to release in theatres on May 13. There were rumours that the producers were in talks with OTT platforms for its release, but when we reached out to its director Rajeev Ravi, he dismissed those reports.