Director Balaji Tharaneetharan’s critically acclaimed film Baththa is set to have its digital premiere about a month after its theatrical release. Starring Vijay Sethupathi, Sai Prithviraj and Lijomol Jose, the film is set to release on Netflix on October 29, the streamer announced on Sunday. It will become available on the streamer next Thursday also with dubs in Hindi, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.
The Baththa OTT release date announcement comes at a time when the film is being affected by piracy, with clips from it being widely circulated online. Despite the unanimous praise from critics and audiences upon its initial theatrical release on October 01, the film did not earn as much money from the box office as it should have. According to data from the tracker Sacnilk, it only minted a gross collection of around 33 crore from theatres.
The film tells the story of a boy (Sai Prithviraj) who accidentally locks up a dreaded gangster (Vijay Sethupathi) in a school toilet. When he realises his mistake, the boy goes back to free the gangster, but he could not go through with it out of sheer fear for the man.
Produced by Murad Khetani, Priya Atlee, Alok Jain and Ajit Andhare, as well as presented by Atlee, Baththa also stars Ajay Ghosh, Santhy Balachandran, and Arjun Chidambaram.
A feel-good coming-of-age film, Baththa explores themes of masculinity, the fears and vulnerabilities of human beings, patriarchy, redemption, and the value of genuine human connection. It has earned a favourable comparison to C Prem Kumar's Meiyazhagan, another recent heartwarming film in Tamil cinema.
At the time of its release, critics and viewers praised Balaji Tharaneetharan’s sensitive direction, the performances by Vijay Sethupathi and Sai Prithviraj, and Sai Abhyankkar’s music. The ‘Magale' song from the film serves as an emotional anchor for the story and has been dominating social media shorts and reels ever since the film's release in theatres.
