Peddlers: Anurag Kashyap, Vijay Varma, Guneet Monga Demand Eros to Release Vasan Bala’s Debut Film on an OTT Platform (View Tweets)
Let's hope that Eros hears their pleas and release Peddlers either on their platform, Eros Now, or any other platform. After all, you cannot just keep the collaborative effort of hundreds of minds and their perspiration locked down in a box and forget where you kept the key.
Vasan Bala captured a lot of headlines last year for his acclaimed Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota Hai. The movie, starring Abhimanyu Dassani, Radhika Madan and Gulshan Devaiah, was a quirky homage to the cheesy action entertainers in Indian cinema and had won the People's Choice Award: Midnight Madness award at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival. In India, Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota released to great critical acclaim and was a bigger success when it was released on Netflix. Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota Movie Review: Abhimanyu Dassani and Radhika Madan’s Action-Comedy Is a Sucker Punch to Bollywood’s Monotony.
Contrary the popular perception, MKDNH wasn't Vasan Bala's first film as a director, though it is the first to see a theatrical release. He first made Peddlers, a gritty crime drama, way back in 2012. Peddlers starred Gulshan Devaiah, Nimrat Kaur, Siddharth Menon and Kriti Malhotra. The film was about how young boys are manipulated into drug deal.
Watch the Trailer of Peddlers below:
The movie was premiered at the 2012 International Critics' Week, an independent film event which runs parallel to the Cannes Film Festival where it got two nominations. Here's what the critics have to say about Peddlers.
The Hollywood Reporter - " Though it takes a long time coming together, the Hindi-language film does finally succeed in its action-packed last half-hour, rewarding audiences who hang on for that long."
Variety - "Bala worked as assistant helmer to anointed alternative Indian director Anurag Kashyap, whose association here as producer should prove attractive to followers of the non-Bollywood market. Kashyap’s impact is largely felt in the pic’s gritty cosmopolitan realism, though Bala seems more influenced by Americans like Scorsese, James Gray and even a touch of Abel Ferrara. He’s written compelling characters (though some take too long to reach that state), and his facility with dialogue outstrips many other indie subcontinentals."
However, despite having made in 2012, Peddlers have failed to get a release in India. Now recently, reacting to a tweet from CinemaRare, a popular Twitter handle that disburses information on films on various OTT platforms, Anurag Kashyap asked Eros Now, the company that holds rights to Peddlers to release Peddlers on an OTT platform.
Check out Anurag Kashyap's Tweet Below:
Soon, other film celebs and critics supported Kashyap's demand and requested Eros to release the film on a digital platform soon.
Guneet Monga (Film Producer)
Vijay Varma (Actor)
Aseem Chhabra (Senior Film Columnist/Critic)
Sucharita Tyagi (Critic)
Even Vasan Bala himself requested Eros to let the film see the light of the day.
Let's hope that Eros hears their pleas and release Peddlers either on their platform, Eros Now, or any other platform. After all, you cannot just keep the collaborative effort of hundreds of minds and their perspiration locked down in a box and forget where you kept the key. While we are at it, let's also release Anurag Kashyap's own Paanch on some platform too!
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 07, 2020 06:26 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).