New Delhi: After months of anticipation, Akshay Kumar starrer Laxmii finally arrived on Disney+Hotstar. For many months after the lockdown was announced, there were doubts around whether the horror comedy would indeed arrive on the small screen. After all, this is the biggest film to have arrived on this platform and since there were relatively smaller films that were lined up for release on the digital platform, one wondered whether the Akshay Kumar biggie would indeed opt out of a theatrical arrival.
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No wonder, when it indeed did arrive on the OTT, it created a record no less. As per the official statement from Disney+Hotstar, the film is the biggest opener ever on their platform, hence beating even Dil Bechara which held this record. Moreover, even for Akshay Kumar, it had been declared as the biggest opener ever on the first day. Considering the fact that the reviews for the film were not too flattering, this has been an achievement no less. What has to be seen though is how far does the film go from here to increase the subscription base of the premium OTT channel.
Ludo was the other major release in this Diwali week and that did find decent to good appreciation coming its way. There wasn’t much of a hype behind the Anurag Basu directed film. However when it released, it did see good word for it, especially the tracks featuring Rajkummar Rai-Fatima Sana Shaikh and Aditya Roy Kapur-Sanya Malhotra. With its multiple-stories-connected-together concept repeated after the likes of Life In A Metro and Yuva amongst others, the uniqueness in the narrative worked with the audience.
It does have an adult subject though with the core story of a sex tape out there in public domain, which means that audiences would be restricted for the film. Still, for its target audiences, it has a fun element going with it that should help it make gains in the long run.
The one that should find universal audiences though is Chhalaang. Though the film is by and large ordinary with a cliched subject and routine treatment, the good part is that the Hansal Mehta directed film works for the family audiences. As a result, even though the film is not really out of the world, it is still reasonably enjoyable to find audience attention on an ongoing basis.
Yet again, Rajkummar Rao has done well in a small town set up (after Stree) and his natural style of acting does turn out to be an endearing experience. He has also scored a record of sorts to have to back to back OTT releases with Ludo followed by Chhalaang arriving on back to back days. While former was a Netflix release, latter arrived on Amazon Prime.
Watch out for
In the coming days there are a couple of major OTT offerings and both are on ZEE5. While Bicchoo Ka Khel is arriving on both ALT Balaji and ZEE5, Raat Baaki Hai is a sole ZEE5 release.
Taking about Bicchoo Ka Khel first, it features Divyendu Sharma in the lead role again after Mirzapur 2. A dramatic thriller, the series is expected to boast of quite a few twists and turns. On the other hand Raat Baaki Hai is an original film on ZEE5 (and not a web series). It features Rahul Dev as a key protagonist, who is quite a regular with the OTT channel [Poison 2, Operation Parindey, Who's Your Daddy]. Paoli Dam is leading the show in Raat Baaki Hai, which also stars Anup Soni and Rahul Dev. One waits to see how different it is from Nawazuddin Siddiqui's Raat Akeli Hai.
Bicchoo Ka Khel - ALT Balaji and ZEE5 - 18th November
Raat Baaki Hai - ZEE5 - 20th November
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Stay tuned for more updates.
Joginder Tuteja is a trade expert and film critic, and loves to talk and write about anything that is related to films. Views are personal.