Director Blessy’s Aadujeevitham, which has Prithviraj Sukumaran in the lead, is all set to begin streaming on Netflix from July 19 after over 100 days of its theatrical release. While the film was critically acclaimed, many among the audience felt it didn’t quite do justice to the original source material - the eponymous novel written by Benyamin - with several sequences from the book not being included in the movie.

To this, the filmmaker, soon after the movie’s release, had offered an explanation that the original runtime of the movie was almost 3 hours and 30 minutes and that this was trimmed by 30 minutes to suit a theatrical release. He had also said that the OTT version will have a longer runtime.

Aadujeevitham to have a director’s cut on OTT?

In an exclusive chat with OTTplay ahead of the film’s Netflix release, Blessy tells us that the version on Netflix will, however, have the same runtime as its theatrical release. “There is another version but right now it’s too soon to reveal when that will be out. We are in discussions to release that too,” he says.

The movie, which also has KR Gokul, Jimmy Jean-Louis, Amala Paul, Talib Al Balushi and Rik Aby in pivotal roles, will be streaming in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Hindi and Kannada.

There’s also a reason the makers decided to go with Netflix as its streaming partner, more than the financial aspect of its digital rights, says Blessy. “The platform is available in over 190+ countries; this also guarantees a huge reach for our film,” he explains.

Aadujeevitham to enter the 2025 Oscars race?

The survival drama, which revolves around a Malayali man who is forced to work as a slave goat herder in Saudi Arabia, is also tipped as one of the frontrunners to be India’s entry to the Oscars next year. Even if it doesn’t get picked, with movies such as Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light posing stiff competition, the makers have back-up plans, the director informs us.

“It’s a long process. We want people to watch the film and discuss it, across the country. There are several Academy Award voting members in India itself and we want them to watch the film as well,” Blessy concludes.

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