Sankranthiki Vasthunam: Makers of Venkatesh Daggubati starrer make strategic move as they choose TV over OTT for the first small screen release

Venkatesh Daggubati’s hit film Sankranthiki Vasthunam becomes the first-film ever to skip an OTT release after theatrical run and directly secure television streaming. Read on.

By Srijony Das

Published on Feb 11, 2025 | 11:32 AM IST | 13.2K

Venkatesh Daggubati’s Sankranthiki Vasthunam gets TV release first over OTT (PC: Venkatesh Daggubati on X)

Venkatesh Daggubati delivered a promising hit at the box office with his film Sankranthiki Vasthunam. The Anil Ravipudi directorial has been in the spotlight lately for reports about its much-awaited OTT release. However, it seems the makers have chosen a completely different plan for the movie, which will skip online viewing and will directly air on the television screens.

Well, the Telugu language action comedy-drama will now be airing directly on Zee Telugu. Dropping an official announcement on their X (formerly Twitter) account, the television platform penned, “Get ready to relive the Sankranthi vibe again #SankranthikiVasthunnam Coming Soon On #ZeeTelugu.”

Check out the post here:

This becomes a rather rare achievement by any film ever since most movies go for an OTT release after a few weeks of theatrical run. Television airing becomes the next step for any movie to reach out to audiences beyond the theaters.

Coming back to Sankranthiki Vasthunam, the movie initially hit the theaters on January 14, 2025. It ended up minting a whopping Rs. 225-300 crore worldwide, emerging as the highest-grossing Telugu and Indian film of the year.

Speaking about the cast of the movie, besides Venkatesh Daggubati in the lead, it also features Meenakshi Chaudhary, Aishwarya Rajesh, Sarvadaman D Bannerjee, Srinivasa Reddy, P Sai Kumar and others.

The movie has been bankrolled under Sri Venkateswara Creations and produced by Shirish. Sankranthiki Vasthunam has been shot in several places, including Rajahmundry, Hyderabad, Dehradun, Mussoorie and Rishikesh.

Recently, during the success meet of the movie, Venkatesh Daggubati confirmed the sequel of the film in the making, which would hit the theaters during the 2027 Pongal celebrations.