Mohanlal's much-awaited film Marakkar-Arabikadalinte Simham is skipping the theatrical release and it will directly appear on the OTT platform. The news has been formally announced by producer Antony Perumbavoor.

Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham
Marakkar: Arabikadalinte SimhamTwitter

Antony Perumbavoor said that he wanted to release the film on big screens, but the talks between theatre' association failed to come into fruition, forcing which the producer to decide on his ambitious flick to release on the OTT platform.

It was reported that the producer demanded Rs 40 crore as advance from the theatre owners for releasing the film on silver screens, but he denied those speculations.

"I had received ₹4.8 crore as advance and it had been refunded as the film is going to have an OTT release. Only 89 theatre owners had signed the agreement to screen the film," The Hindu quoted him as saying.

He claimed that the offer was sent to 230 theatres. 

The movie will be released directly on Amazon Prime.  Apart from Marakkar, four other movies produced by Antony Perumbavoor and starring Mohanlal like Bro Daddy, 12th Man, Alone and an untitled film directed by Vysakh will be out on the OTT platform.

Coming to Marakkar, it is an epic historical war film, written and directed by Priyadarshan. The film was originally scheduled for release on 26 March 2020, along with its dubbed versions in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi languages. The release was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The film was then scheduled for theatrical release on 12 August 2021, but was postponed again.

At the 67th National Film Awards, the film won three awards — Best Feature Film, Best Special Effects, and Best Costume.

Arjun Sarja, Suniel Shetty, Manju Warrier, Keerthy Suresh, Suhasini Manirathnam, and many others are part of the cast.