Thalapathy Vijay's Jana Nayagan and Yash's Toxic Under Pressure With Lukewarm OTT Deals?

Chennai, May 9 - Two of the most-awaited South Indian films, Thalapathy Vijay's political action drama Jana Nayagan and Yash-fronted Toxic: A Fairy Tale for Grown-Ups have been in the news for various reasons, and this isn't helping their cause when it comes to locking post-theatrical digital deals.

Jana Nayagan, directed by H. Vinoth, was supposed to be released in January this year, but the issues with the censor board delayed the film indefinitely. On top of that, the movie was leaked online recently, which has given a massive blow to the film's overall business prospects.

While the election victory of Vijay in the Tamil Nadu election has filled the fans with enthusiasm and has created a positive atmosphere around the film's theatrical release, which is expected later this month, the same is not making much impact when it comes to OTT release.

The original OTT deal of Jana Nayagan was cancelled due to continuous delay, and now, OTT players are reluctant to secure the digital rights of the movie. Contrary to the original deal, which was reportedly acquired by Amazon Prime Video for 120 crores, the new OTT offer is said to be less than half of it.

It is said that a major OTT player recently offered around 50 crores for post-theatrical digital rights of the movie, which is significantly lower than the original price. There is no clarity yet on whether the deal is locked or not. Some updates are expected in the next few days, with the theatrical release around the corner.

Similarly, superstar Yash's Kannada and English bilingual film, Toxic, is also under extreme pressure due to continuous delay and reportedly fading interest among the digital platforms. The movie was scheduled to release on March 19, but was delayed to June 4 due to the war in the Gulf, since the film carries huge box office potential in this region.

When it looked like it would finally be making its debut on June 4, the makers postponed it again to a later date. In a statement, the team revealed that due to the encouraging response at the CinemaCon event, the makers are now aiming for a much wider release in international territories, and to do that, they are in the process of locking a distribution partner for the same.

The frequent delay in release plans is not only testing the patience of the fans, but also making a huge blow to digital prospects. As per unconfirmed reports, the OTT platforms are not willing to offer more than 100 crores for digital rights, which is much lower than the makers' expectations of at least 200 crores. This is also said to be one of the reasons behind the release postponement.

Interestingly, both films are produced by KVN Productions, with Toxic co-produced by Yash's Monster Mind Creations. With time already running out, and the buzz is fading away, the studio is now in a difficult position to balance films' financial viability against market realities.