On an unexpected move, Suriya on Saturday announced that his most awaited film 'Soorarai Pottru' will premiere on Amazon Prime Video and start streaming from October 30th.

Directed by 'Irudhi Suttru' fame director Sudha Kongara, the film is based on real events and struggles of low-fare airline Air Deccan founder G. R. Gopinath. 'Soorarai Pottru' was originally scheduled to release on April 9th of this year. Because of the coronavirus pandemic and the cinema halls continue to remain shut, the makers of the film, Suriya's home banner 2D entertainment and co-producer Sikhya Entertainment decided to release the film directly on Amazon Prime Video come October 30th.

While the makers were denying direct OTT release of the movie until recently, this announcement was very surprising and gets mixed reactions from fans and netizens. Section of the actor's fans, moviegoers and critics on social media claims that the actor's decision disappoints them, as they would miss the 'First Day First show (FDFS)', celebrations, theatre experiences and box-office collections, etc.

Suriya in his OTT release announcement said "I wish to release the film in theatres and would want to watch it with my fans, the prevailing situation doesn’t allow that. It is important for a producer to release a film at the right time... In these difficult times I think it is important to take decision as a producer more than an actor."

While Suriya claims that that he made the decision as a producer (to make money), some film critics claims that releasing big stars movie like 'Soorarai Pottru' is indeed loss to the producer comparing to releasing in movie theatres. But, is it really loss to the producer of 'Soorarai Pottru', Suriya? Let's do the math,

Budget

Remuneration	₹35 Cr
Production Cost	₹25 Cr
Total Budget	₹60 Cr

Collections

Satellite rights (Tamil) Vijay TV	₹20 Cr
Hindi dubbing rights	₹12 Cr
Audio rights	₹03 Cr
Amazon Prime Release (Premiere)	₹60 Cr
Total business made so far*	₹95 Cr

*To be noted that the movie Satellite rights and dubbing rights for other languages are not included in the sales numbers.

While the streaming rights of the movie was already grabbed by Amazon Prime video for twenty crore rupees, now the non-theatrical rights for exclusive premiere on Prime Video has been sold for sixty crore rupees.

You can see from the numbers that the makers of 'Soorarai Pottru' already made a profit of thirty five crore with not including some more sales numbers to the profit.

Per trade analysts, the movie is capable of minting more money if it opts for theatrical release because movies with such star value could collect more than hundred crore in a week or less than that at box-office.

The actor cum producer has now taken the return on investment sooner than waiting for the theatres to reopen, which Suriya himself made it clear on his statement, quoting "It is important for a producer to release a film at the right time... I am also hoping I can work hard and act in one or two films and keep them ready for theatrical release once the situation improves."

Between money value and time value, Suriya might have taken a wise decision by choosing the later opting to release the movie on OTT there by saving and investing his valuable time to take up few more projects in future rather than spending time on promotional activities and sales on 'Soorarai Pottru' post normalcy.

We wish the 'Soorarai Pottru' to release on theatres later though premiered on streaming platforms, to satisfy the ardent fans of Suriya and moviegoers to have a classical theatrical experience.