Kannada version of Malayalam hit movie 2018 to be available only on OTT?

The Malayalam film 2018, a retelling of the devastating floods that hit Kerala in 2018 and how people from the state and across the border came together to help tide over the natural disaster, has been running to packed halls in most centres that it released at. The film came to theatres on May 5 in Malayalam only and became the highest grossing industry hit by its third week.

Subsequently, the makers decided to give the film a larger audience and dubbed it in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Hindi, but so far, only three out of the four have hit theatres. Kannada is not one of those. This despite the fact that 2018 made well over Rs 4 crore in the state. According to industry insiders, the Kannada version of 2018 did not release in theatres last week because the makers could not find a suitable distribution partner.

And now that the film’s OTT release has been announced, it looks more likely that those who were waiting to see 2018 in Kannada will have to wait for it to drop on Sony LIV. Earlier today, it was confirmed that the streamer is bringing the film to audiences on June 7, which is just over a week away. It is highly unlikely that the team will look at releasing the Kannada version in theatres with the OTT premiere date so close by.

Directed by Jude Anthany Joseph, 2018 has music by 777 Charlie fame Nobin Paul. The film has Tovino Thomas in the lead, along with Asif Ali, Narain, Lal, Siddique, Aparna Balamurali, Tanvi Ram, Kunchacko Boban, Indrans, Aju Varghese, Vineeth Sreenivasan and Kalaiyarasan, among others. The film touches upon the reasons behind the floods, but focuses more on how people across socio, economic and religious sections came together to help those in distress, with special focus on the fisherfolk from the state who conducted search and rescue operations in their boats.