A few years ago, it was believed the South Indian movies are simply formula based massy movies with frivolous dialogues, style, dance, and action sequences. However, the OTT has opened the country's eyes to cinematically rich content from the South industry that is not just realistic, but has the ability to make you think too.
All over the country and abroad, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam films have become popular. Bollywood actors who wanted to emulate Hollywood are now preferring to work in South Indian films or remake South Indian films for Hindi audiences.
The cinephile's vision has changed with OTT, they are looking for new concepts in any language they can find, including Punjabi, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil, and Telugu. Here is the list of the best movies from South India on OTT, you can't afford to miss.
BHOOTHAKAALAM
Revathy, a veteran actress, had a Telugu release last year, Itlu Amma, in which she played a traumatised widowed mother who loses her son under mysterious circumstances. The unassuming mother then sets out to find her son's killers and the reason for the murder. Bhoothakaalam may or may not be a sequel to that film. However, the film's trailer suggests a psychological journey involving a woman and her son. Shane Nigam plays the son. A latest release, look out for this slow-burning thriller.
Platform: SonyLIV
PUKSATTE LIFU
The film did not receive adequate publicity initially, but the storey itself was unique, involving the travails of a simple key maker living in Bangalore's gullies. The rest of the film is about how his life turns upside down after becoming involved with a gang of corrupt cops.
Platform: Zee5
DRISHYAM 2
Just when you thought a movie buff had evaded the arrest of his family members by using plot tidbits from movies, karma strikes in the form of a senior cop who believes they've been duped. If you thought the first edition kept you on the edge of your seat, wait until the second one comes out because there's no getting away from it.
Platform: Amazon Prime Video.
CINEMA BANDI (TELUGU)
A driver finds an expensive camera in his auto-rickshaw and becomes ambitious about making a film about his village. The goal is to draw attention to his drought-stricken village's plight and the harsh conditions. The audacity of the plot is the main protagonist of this film, and it is well worth seeing.
Platform: Netflix
KARNAN (Tamil)
The story takes place in a run-down village in Tamil Nadu, where Karnan must battle both caste demons and some of his own. Against him is a system that works to widen the caste divide between the authorities and the proletariat. The protagonist's fellow villagers' role makes life difficult for him.
Platform: Amazon Prime Video
THE GREAT INDIAN KITCHEN
Patriarchy is a language-independent phenomenon. And this film made us sit up and take notice. The way a kitchen is used to subjugate women in Indian households has made most of us uncomfortable because we may have
witnessed something similar. And possibly justified it because the perpetrator was a close relative.
Platform: Amazon Prime Video
MANDELA (TAMIL)
This is the story of a man who doesn't have an identity, not even a name. He does odd jobs in his village and also works as a barber. The rest of the story revolves around his attempts to obtain a voter card in his assumed name. The satire begins when two sons of a local leader vie for his vote to depose the other from power.
Platform: Netflix