OTT Round Up - Salman Khan's Radhe Opens Huge On ZEE5, Sardar Ka Grandson, Runaway Lugaai And November Story Bring Variety Next Week

Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai has seen mixed reviews coming its way, and that was expected as well since mass affairs tend to get polarized views.

By Joginder Tuteja

Salman Khan's Radhe - Your Most Wanted Bhai has opened beyond expectations on its OTT premier. Though there was quite some hype around the Eid release, one still wondered whether this new viewing model would cut ice amongst the audience. As it happened though, the film garnered 4.2 million views on its first day and that was huge indeed considering it was not even Eid. As a matter of fact, Eid arrived a day later [Friday] and while one waits to get the final viewing numbers for this date, it can be expected to be quite big as well.

The Prabhdeva directed film has seen mixed reviews coming its way, and that was expected as well since mass affairs tend to get polarized views. That said, let the fact be stated; the film is better than Race 3 and Dabangg 3, and with hit songs further helping its case, Radhe is set to find continued audiences in days to come. Moreover, it is practically the only new biggie that has released this year and hence audiences are hungry as well to check out all the entertainment. With the film available at the comfort of the home, expect it to rake in numbers.

Meanwhile, Sanjay Kapoor led supernatural murder mystery thriller The Last Hour also released on Amazon Prime this weekend. Frankly, the release couldn't have been more ill timed since there was hardly any visibility around it. Radhe was promoted in a way as if it was seeing a theatrical release for itself and with Salman Khan too leading from the front and making sure that his film reached out to one and everyone, a web series like The Last Hour didn't really manage to create much of a traction. In fact it has even been missed to be reviewed by critics.

Coming soon

There is quite some variety in the offering for audiences this week as Sardar Ka Grandson, Runaway Lugaai and November Story are the three new releases. Each of these belongs to a different genre and that should mean different segment of audiences would have something to cheer about.

Let's talk about Sardar Ka Grandson first. An Arjun Kapoor, Rakul Preet Singh and Neena Gupta starrer, the film is produced by Nikkhil Advani and John Abraham with Kaashvi Nair (an erstwhile assistant of Nikkhil Advani and daughter of veteran filmmaker Shashilal Nair) making her debut as a director. The film was originally designed for a theatrical release but with pandemic striking hard, the makers have taken a call to release it straight on Netflix. It is a good decision too since the family feel of the film should get audiences on the premium channel.

The film's promo was released a few days back and promises light heartred entertainment which would be easy on eyes and ears. It is about a bond between a granny [Neena Gupta] and her grandson [Arjun Kapoor] who sets himself on for a mission to fulfill her long standing wish. The film also features John Abraham and Aditi Rao Hydari in guest appearances as Sikhs.

As for those looking for some small town entertainment in the zone of Bareilly Ki Barfi and several other movies set in the heartland of the country, there is Runaway Lugaai which is arriving on MX Player. This one looks funny indeed as the plot revolves around a young woman [Ruhi Singh] who belongs to a small town but is quite forward thinking with a mind of her own. When she runs away from the town soon after marriage, her husband [Naveen Kasturia] and her father-in-law Sanjay Mishra have a job in hand to find her and get her back.

Directed by Avinash Das, Runaway Lugaai has been shot like a film by director Avinash Das who has been quite busy with his OTT offerings in the last few months [She, Raat Baaki Hai]. There are quite a few one liner and moments in the web series, as indicated in the promo, which should keep audiences entertained. One hopes for a rib tickling affair here.

Things are set to turn serious in November Story, a murder mystery thriller which features Tamannaah in the lead. Yet again, one can sense good production values in this Disney+Hotstar web series which has been in news for a while now and is finally arriving on the small screen in the next few days. A Tamil, Telugu and Hindi offering, this one is about a daughter going all out to save her father, writer of crime thrillers, to be accused of a murder that he may or may not have committed. The promo is pretty intriguing for the lovers of suspense thrillers.

Release dates

Sardar Ka Grandson - Netflix - 18th May

Runaway Lugaai - MX Player - 18th May

November Story - Disney+Hotstar - 20th May

(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)