Early August opened curtains for Christopher Nolan's much-hyped spy thriller Tenet which released in select screens with systematic seating arrangements and strict social distancing norms.
Even Tom Cruise pulled off a real-life mission impossible - cruising to catch Tenet in a cinema hall, cheering along with the people. He tweeted saying, "Big Movie. Big Screen. Loved it."
With Diwali approaching, let's rephrase the same tweet syncing to the closed case scenario of theatres in India - "Big Movie. Small screen. Binged it." The call regarding opening theatres in India is still on hold (The corona caller tune is still playing!).
Streaming platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hotstar have capitalized on this situation and grabbed some of the biggest movies with leading stars. All Diwali blockbusters scheduled for theatrical release have been shifted to your TV screens (Making it officially your home theatre!)
We witnessed a preview for Diwali 2020 when Prime Minister Modi requested the citizens to light a Diya, candle or even wave your mobile flashlight to mark India's fight against corona. (Not as effective as the Bat-symbol searchlight used to summon the batman himself to save us!)
Let's take a peek at the list of all films streaming across all regions for this Diwali season.
Streaming Platform: Disney+Hotstar
1. Laxmii (Hindi)
Release Date: November 9
Laxmii is a remake of Tamil horror-comedy Kanchana (2011) directed by Raghava Lawrence who has donned the director's hat for this remake also. The cast comprises Akshay Kumar and Kiara Advani. The film shows how Akshay Kumar gets possessed by a transgender phantom.
The movie initially titled "Laxmii bomb" was renamed to Laxmii. The title of the film seemed to have set the countdown timer for the Hindu community to blast off into debate and protests because they felt it offended the Hindu goddess Laxmi.
The makers defused this bomb of controversy successfully by removing the word bomb from the title.
2. Mookuthi Amman (Tamil)
Release Date: November 14
Mookuthi Amman (transl. Nose-ring Goddess) is a devotional comedy film with Lady Superstar Nayanthara as Amman with famous cricket commentator, RJ Balaji playing the male lead. Riding upon the success of his previous small budget political satire LKG, RJ Balaji hopes to make it a winning streak.
Streaming Platform: Netflix
1. Miss India (Telugu)
Release Date: November 4
Keerthy Suresh plays the role of an aspiring entrepreneur scaling the classic Indian-made chai business (Spreading positviTEA by staying COVID negative!) to an international level.
She plays the lead in this film followed by her National award-winning performance in the movie Mahanati (Biopic of Indian actress Savitri).
2. Ludo (Hindi)
Release Date: November 12
Just like the trending online multiplayer game Ludo King, this film comprises a multi-starred cast of Raj Kumar Rao, Abhisekh Bachchan and Pankaj Tripathi (Ready for the rampage, locked and loaded straight from Mirzapur!) and hence aptly titled Ludo.
Ludo is a dark comedy-drama directed by Anurag Basu. Touted to be an anthology, it portrays intersecting narratives and personalities.
Streaming Platform: Amazon Prime Video
1. Soorarai Pottru (Tamil)
Release Date: November 12
Soorarai Pottru (transl. Praise the brave) is an action-drama directed by Sudha Kongara, inspired from the life Air Deccan’s founder GR Gopinath. The film stars Suriya as Nedumaaran Rajangam with an incredible dream of selling flight tickets for just a rupee per person.
The theatrical release being postponed numerous times due to the pandemic, amazon prime skydived to buy this biggie for an OTT first release.
2. Chhalaang (Hindi)
Release Date: November 13
Chhalaang (transl. Jump) is a black comedy-drama directed by Hansal Mehta, who is leaping high on the success of his series Scam 1992. Raj Kumar Rao is back again, this time on prime video playing a happy go lucky PT master in a school.
He faces rivalry from Zeeshan Ayyub, a new entrant for the PT master position. Chhalaang is produced by Ajay Devgn and Luv Ranjan.
Written by - Deepan R
Edited by - Ivanova
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