Actress Samantha Ruth Prabhu’s much-anticipated film Shaakuntalam is headed for an OTT release. Even after putting so much effort into promotional campaigns, the Gunasekhar directorial failed to match the expectations of the audience. The epic romance drama opened on the silver screens with huge expectations, but the film’s response from the masses and critics was quite weak. Now, it seems like the makers of Shaakuntalam are trying to make up for the losses the film incurred by releasing it on the digital platform. Shaakuntalam’s streaming rights have been acquired by Amazon Prime Video. It will be released on the OTT platform on May 12.
According to a report by Track Tollywood, Amazon Prime has acquired the streaming rights of Shaakuntalam in all languages, namely Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, and Hindi. As per reports, the film was made on a massive budget of Rs 60 crores. Half of the amount was recovered by selling the digital streaming rights, while it is to be seen whether the other half is recovered or not. Trade analysts think that the makers have encountered a loss of Rs 20 crores already.
Earlier, in an interview with a YouTube channel, producer Dil Raju bared his heart out on Shaakuntalam’s failure. “Shaakuntalam came as a big jerk in my 25-year career in the film industry,” revealed the producer. Soon after, he added that he accepts the failure because he genuinely believed that the film would work, which proved to be wrong.
Dil Raju blamed his “wrong judgment” for Shaakuntalam’s failure on the big screen. Speaking about the preview premiere, four days ahead of its release on April 14, Dil Raju acknowledged that the film was indeed getting mixed reviews from the masses. “So, from Day 1 of the film, I was ready,” concluded the Shatamanam Bhavati producer.
Headlined by Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Dev Mohan, Shaakuntalam narrates the tale of the eternal love between Shaakuntala and King Dushyant. The film is an adaptation of author Kalidasa’s critically-acclaimed play of the same name. Produced under the banners of Gunaa Teamworks by Dil Raju, Shaakuntalam also stars Mohan Babu, Aditi Balan, Ananya Nagalla, Gautami, Prakash Raj, Madhoo, Kabir Bedi, and Jissu Sengupta in important roles.
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