National award-winner Jayaraj's Backpackers will be released directly on the OTT platform Roots on February 12. The film, which has Kalidas Jayaram and newcomer Karthika Nair as the main leads, is a low-budget feature in which the two essay cancer patients. However, it is said to be a light-hearted feature. The tagline says, 'Love is cure'.

Dr Suresh Kumar has produced the film under the banner of Prakriti Pictures. The same company was also behind Jayaraj's Roudram 2018 and Bhayanakam.

Renji Panicker and Shivajith Padmanabhan are also playing integral characters in Backpackers. The latter made his acting debut in Jayaraj's Veeram, the Malayalam adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth.

Backpackers as shot in Vagamon, Varkala, Kottayam, and Gavi by cinematographer Abhinandan Ramanujam. Sachin Shankar Mannath wrote the music.

The registration on the recently-inaugurated platform will begin on Wednesday. Aside from Malayalam films, Roots will also host foreign-language cinema.