Vikrant Rona on OTT: Zee5 confirms that ‘the devil is coming’ on September 2

Kiccha Sudeep’s Vikrant Rona has been trending on social media since yesterday, ever since news broke that the film was coming on OTT in September. Naturally, netizens figured that the best possible date in September could only be the Abhinaya Chakravarthy’s birthday on the 2nd, and now, Zee5 has officially confirmed the same. A little while ago, the streaming platform, made the announcement with a video.

Zee Network had picked up the satellite and digital rights of the highly-anticipated fantasy-action drama well before its theatrical release. However, the network only holds the rights to the Kannada version it seems, as the announcement is only for the original version of the Anup Bhandari directorial. The Hindi OTT and satellite rights of the film are yet to be sold, but the team is sitting on some good offers, we hear.

Vikrant Rona was Anup’s first directorial collaboration with Sudeep. The duo had announced another film, Billa Ranga Baasha, which was pushed ahead, in favour of Vikrant Rona. Titled Phantom initially, the film got a title change with an announcement on the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. The film is set in Anup’s Rangitaranga universe, a slice of information that he did not divulge prior to its release. He was sure that eagle-eyed fans would spot the similarities in the trailer. In fact, there was even a split-second shot of a news-clipping about a missing child in Kamarottu Junction. Rangitaranga, which was Anup’s directorial debut, was about missing women in the mysterious village Kamarottu. In both films, a Brahmarakshasa was blamed for the events unfolding in the village, and then one man would unravel the mystery. In Rangitaranga it was Nirup Bhandari, while in Vikrant Rona it was Kiccha Sudeep.

The film then opened to mixed reviews, especially in Karnataka, where fans felt short-changed at being served up a film that was way too similar to Rangitaranga.