Kantara on OTT: Netizens urge makers to make film available to stream amid reports that it will not drop soon

In the past few days, the buzz surrounding the possible OTT release of Rishab Shetty’s blockbuster Kantara was in crescendo, as it was believed to drop on the streaming partner’s platform on November 4 in all languages. Fans were literally counting down to when they’d be able to see Shiva and gang again and enjoy repeat watches of the film, when, earlier today, Karthik Gowda of Hombale Films said there was no truth to the November 4 rumours.

Industry insiders had arrived at that date as a possible streaming date given that the digital rights of Kantara had been sold prior to its theatrical release. Following the massive success of Kantara, which Rishab admitted was not foreseen, it was expected that the makers would negotiate a deal with Amazon to push the streaming date by a few days. In fact, Kantara had only been released as a Kannada film initially and the plans for dubbed versions was only for its OTT outing. The record-breaking success of the film changed all these plans and the team had to then scramble to get the dubbed versions ready for release two-three weeks later.

As Kantara heads into its fifth week, there is no slowing it down at the box office. The Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam versions have also picked up traction, with the film accumulating a massive Rs 200 crore + and growing collection. Earlier this week, Kantara also became the highest footfall recording film for Hombale Films, even ahead of KGF1 and 2 and Raajakumara. The film, we hear, is steadily inching closer to the 1 crore mark and is likely to go past the recorded footfalls of the late Puneeth Rajkumar’s James.

The fact that Kantara’s OTT release will be delayed has come as a bit of a dampener for fans, many of who were hopeful of having repeat viewings of the ‘divine blockbusters’. A section of fans from across the globe, where the film has not released yet, or where movie halls were too far and not easily accessible, were also counting on finally being able to see Rishab’s film on November 4. There are rumours that Prime Video may push it out as a rental-only option after all, but these remain unsubstantiated. Industry trackers say that the more likely date is now by around mid-November or early December.