The Telangana Theatres Association is miffed with Natural Star Nani and the makers of 'Tuck Jagadish', which is expected to be streamed on Amazon Prime on September 10. The Nani-starrer is not going to hit the screens. It's a direct OTT release.

The other day, Naga Chaitanya-Sai Pallavi's 'Love Story' locked its theatrical release date as September 10. So, the OTT biggie (read 'Tuck Jagadish') will be clashing with the theatrical release (read 'Love Story'). This has not gone down well with exhibitors and distributors, who feel that the theatrical business will be affected negatively due to the competition from OTT, which is an option that customers readily have in the comfort of their homes at a cheaper price.

On Friday, a General Body meeting was held by the Theatres Association to condemn the decision taken by the makers of 'Tuck Jagadish'. They are unhappy with Nani, whose producers have been claimed to have pocketed Rs 4 Cr more because of the deal with Amazon Prime. (Note: Recently, Nani stated that the ball was always in the court of his producers, not in his hands).

A few weeks ago, the theatres association requested the Tollywood producers not to sell off their movies to OTT platforms before October. But some of the producers have done so. Mostly notable direct OTT releases in September are 'Tuck Jagadish' and Nithiin-starrer 'Maestro'.

The theatres are not liking the upcoming competition from the OTT during Ganesh Chavithi when 'Love Story' will be in theatres and 'TJ' and 'Maestro' will release on OTT. Perhaps, they are afraid that the trend will continue for Dasara and Diwali as well.

"Please don't release movies on OTT for festivals and weekends," the theatres today urged.

Do the producers have a choice? Can they ask OTT platforms not to release movies for festivals? Maybe, no. But the distributors/exhibitors are trying their best to gain bargaining power by issuing threats to producers.