OTTs stock up for a Bollywood-packed festive season

New Delhi (IANS) – Superstar Akshay Kumar is leading the trend of booking festival dates to release films on digital platforms, with direct-to-OTT films emerging as top trend during the upcoming big season this year.

With cinema halls shut, the trend of Bollywood stars and filmmakers releasing films on OTT continues. With the festive Fridays round the corner, every digital platform is stocking up on fresh quota of films.

IANS lists down some of the big films slated to release on the streaming platforms in the coming months.

LAXMMI BOMBThe Akshay Kumar-starring horror comedy premieres digitally on November 9, on the occasion of Diwali. The film is a remake of the Tamil blockbuster “Muni 2: Kanchana”. Raghava Lawrence, who had helmed the original, also helms the Bollywood remake co-starring Kiara Advani, Tusshar Kapoor, Sharad Kelkar, and Ashwini Kalsekar. The film is slated to premiere on Disney+ Hotstar.

KHAALI PEELIStarring Ishaan Khatter and Ananya Panday, the Maqbool Khan directorial is a romantic action drama that is being touted as a roller coaster ride that kicks off when a boy meets a girl one night. It will launch on Zeeplex and Zee5 on October 2.

SERIOUS MENStarring Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Sudhir Mishra’s latest is an adaptation of Manu Joseph’s book of the same name. The film is a satire about an underachiever, lower caste man who wants to project his boy as a boy genius. The film releases on October 2, on Netflix.

NISHABDHAMA highlight of the Anushka Shetty-R. Madhavan horror thriller is Hollywood star Michael Madsen of “Kill Bill” and “Reservoir Dogs” fame in a special role. Directed by Hemanth Madhukar, the film has been confirmed for a Gandhi Jayanti release on Amazon Prime Video.

GINNY WEDS SUNNYThe romantic-comedy, starring Vikrant Massey and Yami Gautam, is about Ginny, who gets set up with Sunny but the match is not that simple, and complications arise amid love, life, weddings and music. The film is slated to release on Netflix on October 9.

BHUJ: THE PRIDE OF INDIAThe war action film, based on a true story, stars Ajay Devgn, Sanjay Dutt, Sonakshi Sinha, Ammy Virk, and Sharad Kelkar. It is set during the Indo-Pak war of 1971. The film will release on Disney+ Hotstar.

LUDOAnurag Basu’s multistarrer “Ludo” features Abhishek Bachchan, Rajkummar Rao, Fatima Sana Shaikh and Sanya Malhotra. It is a dark comedy drama is about four people whose lives collide. The film will release on Netflix.

THE BIG BULLThe film stars Abhishek Bachchan. Directed by Kookie Gulati, the film is reportedly based on India’s securities scam of 1992. It will release on Disney+ Hotstar.

TORBAAZSanjay Dutt plays an army officer in the Girish Malik directorial, which also stars Nargis Fakhri and Rahul Dev. “Torbaaz” is the story of one man who rises above a personal tragedy and decides to transform the lives of refugee camp kids who are on the path of destruction, through cricket. The film will release on Netflix.

KAALI KHUHIThe film is about Shivangi, a 10-year-old girl who must save her family’s village in Punjab from the restless ghosts of its horrific past. The film stars Shabana Azmi, Satyadeep Mishra, Sanjeeda Sheikh and Riva Arora. It is slated to release on Netflix.

BOMBAY ROSEDirected by Gitanjali Rao, the award-winning animated romance is about living on the streets and loving on the screen, Bollywood style. The film will release on Netflix.