In a time when even a 30-day window between theatrical and OTT releases is seen as risky for box office returns, a surprising move by the makers of the Telugu-dubbed film My Baby is raising eyebrows. The film was released in Tamil originally, titled DNA, on June 20th, where a decent response was received. The Telugu version of the film comes to theatres on July 18th will be available on Disney+ Hotstar the day after on July 19th in all languages.
Directed by Nelson Venkatesan, DNA is a heavy emotional drama about child trafficking (and human trafficking) at its darkest. The film stars Atharvaa, who you may remember from the film Gaddalakonda Ganesh, and had music composed by five different composers, and the background score by seasoned composer Ghibran, to give the film plenty of technical depth but also a lot of emotional heft.
The biggest concern, however, is the extremely short gap between the theatrical and digital releases in Telugu. While the Tamil version is sticking to the traditional one-month OTT timeline, the Telugu release got delayed due to the late acquisition of dubbing rights. This delay has now led to the unfortunate scenario where the film’s digital premiere is almost simultaneous with its theatrical release.
