Dulquer Salmaan had announced, earlier in March, that his upcoming film Salute will directly release on OTT. He’d shared the poster of the film with the caption, “SonyLIV and Wayfarer films are glad to come together to bring you #Salute directed by Roshan Andrews and written by Bobby-Sanjay.”
The Film Exhibitors United Organisation of Kerala (FEUOK) has reportedly not received the news well and have decided to temporarily ban Dulquer’s releases alleging that the actor violated an agreement with them when he decided to skip the theatrical release.
FEOUK president K Vijayakumar told The New Indian Express, "Now they have announced that Salute will be released on OTT platform, which is a violation of the agreement with exhibitors. The movie's release was postponed due to the spike in Omicron cases. We had opened bookings, but had to refund the money. Wayfarer Films told us the movie would be released in theatres later.”
He added that the association will not cooperate with Dulquer or his production house till they reach an agreement.
OTTPlay quoted a spokesperson from Wayfarer Films saying. “Salute’s OTT deal was signed first. We pulled this down so that the film could release theatres in January. So, we wanted to give the film to theatres, but the streaming service wanted it to hit the platform on or before March 31 and the deadline, they had shared for its theatrical release, was on or before February 14.”
“This was not possible for us because all of us were down with COVID-19. But when we have a contract in place and it’s not honoured, it’s a problem for them and for us. That’s why we had to release it on OTT,” the spokesperson added.
Salute, directed by Rosshan Andrrews, was written by Bobby and Sanjay. The film also stars Diana Penty, Manoj K Jayan, Saniya Iyyapan, Binu Pappu, and Saikumar. In an Instagram post, Dulquer introduced his character in the film as “a stubborn officer who refuses to give up” who is working on “a case that seems destined to be unsolved”.
Salute is scheduled to release on SonyLiv on 18 March.
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