Shaakuntalam on OTT: Where, when to watch this Samantha Ruth Prabhu starrer

Samantha Ruth Prabhu's much-awaited costume drama Shaakuntalam will release in cinemas on April 14 and will later be available on Amazon Prime Video. Given that it's a big-budget film and is produced by Dil Raju, the film might not reach the OTT platform for at least five to eight weeks after its theatrical release. 

It's worth noting that Dil Raju, in his capacity as the president of the Telugu Film Producers Council last year, passed a resolution to delay the digital premiere of new movies by at least five weeks for small-budget movies and eight weeks for big-budget movies featuring major stars. The decision was taken in an effort to increase footfall at the box office.

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However, this rule is not strictly enforced. For example, Raju's latest movie Balagam was made available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video just after 20 days after the film's initial theatrical release. Even after its OTT premiere, the movie reportedly performed well at the box office. Raju's other previous movie Thank You, starring Naga Chaitanya, was also released on the OTT platform just three weeks after its first theatrical release. The film's dismissal performance at the box office was cited as one of the reasons for its early digital release. 

Raju during a recent media interaction noted that the ground conditions were not conducive to implementing a strict rule against the early OTT premieres of the new Telugu movies.  

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Filmmaker Gunasekhar has adapted the mythological epic Shakuntala for the big screen. Shaakuntalam also marks the big screen debut of Tollywood star Allu Arjun's daughter Allu Arha. Besides Samantha and Arha, the movie also stars Dev Mohan, Mohan Babu, Jisshu Sengupta, Madhoo, Gautami, Aditi Balan and Ananya Nagalla in supporting roles.