Jaggesh’s Thotapuri 2 to get a direct-to-OTT release

Thotapuri was Navarasa Nayaka Jaggesh’s second collaboration with director Vijayaprasad, after their earlier Neerdose, which had found an audience despite its adult-comedy content. Thotapuri was no different, mixing a philosophical thought about religious tolerance with adult humour. The film was to be presented in two parts, with the first releasing on September 30 last year.

Thotapuri was coming to theatres shortly after the dismal failure of Vijayaprasad’s Petromax, which had Sathish Ninasam and Hariprriya in the lead, and was widely panned for the sheer amount of sex jokes. The team was still hopeful that audiences who liked the Neerdose combination would return for this one, especially since the cast also included Aditi Prabhudeva, Suman Ranganathan, Veena Sundar, Hema Dutta and Dhananjaya. That was not to be and Thotapuri part 1 failed miserably at the box office, which was dominated by Kantara and Ponniyin Selvan-1.

The film subsequently dropped on Zee5 Kannada and the latest we hear is that the makers are taking the second instalment also directly to OTT. Thotapuri 2, which will feature Dhananjaya in a larger role, is expected to drop on Zee5 Kannada shortly. The streamer will make an official announcement soon.

Jaggesh’s other film, Raghavendra Stores, which has been ready for a while and was supposed to release in August last year, is also being prepped for an OTT outing. It was earlier reported that Jaggesh’s veiled attack on Kantara makers Hombale Films, who also backed Raghavendra Stores, is the reason behind the film being pulled from a theatrical outing and pushed to OTT only. It is expected to be released on Amazon Prime Video, although the team is yet to confirm this. When OTTplay had earlier reported that there were rumours the film would be on OTT only, Jaggesh had liked the same, which provided affirmation about Raghavendra Stores’ status.