Roaring Star Sriimurali’s first release since 2021’s Madhagaja, Bagheera was the Deepavali release of the year from Kannada. The makers, Hombale Films, chose to release it in Kannada and Telugu only at the time, but despite largely positive word-of-mouth about the Dr Suri directorial, the film did not sustain at the box office after the first week.

At the end of three weeks, Bagheera made its way to OTT. The film is currently streaming on Netflix in Kannada, and Telugu, with Tamil and Malayalam to drop shortly, as part of a digital streaming deal that the makers were able to strike prior to the theatrical release.

Bagheera streaming on Netflix; Kannada audiences have a call to action

Bagheera is the first Kannada film that the streamer has picked up in a pre-release deal. Netflix has, in the past, hosted Kannada films, but the number was severely limited and for quite a while, the streamer had all but shunned the industry. That Bagheera was heading to the platform was seen as a positive sign, even though Hombale Films has an ongoing relationship with Netflix on account of Kanatara (Hindi) and all versions of Salaar being on the streamer.

Nevertheless, social media is abuzz with comments urging audiences to watch Bagheera on the streamer, to encourage it to look at more content from the region. “Let’s bring this on the trending panel. Hope more Kannada films are streamed on Netflix in future!” is the call to action.

Bagheera, which, according to sources was made at a budget of around Rs 35 crore, has, according to trade trackers grossed in the vicinity of that figure, with the theatrical share pegged at around Rs 18 cr to Rs 20 cr. The film’s basic plot line came from Ugramm and KGF maker Prashant Neel, which Dr Suri developed and presented it visually like Batman movies.

Sriimurali plays a righteous cop, who is dismayed by the path of inaction he’s ordered to follow in his crime-riddled jurisdiction. Determined to root out the rot and give justice to people, he dons a mask and becomes the vigilante Bagheera. The film also stars Garuda Ram, Rukmini Vasanth, Prakash Raj, Achyuth Kumar, Rangayana Raghu, among others, with music by Ajaneesh Loknath.

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