On August 23, the Twitter account of Cinema Rare posted about 2018 Tulu film Paddayi, which is a retelling of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, directed by Abhaya Simha and that it was available to watch on Mubi India. A user responded to the tweet saying that the film was available on Amazon Prime Video (APV) also. This unravelled a series of responses that revealed how the film apparently was taken off APV.
Abhaya responded to this thread saying that APV had told him that the platform did not want a Tulu film at the time and so, the film was removed. Speaking to TNM, he confirmed that the film was uploaded on APV in September 2019, and from at least April this year it has been removed.
“The film was uploaded to APV through an agent. At some point though, the agent informed us that APV’s policies had changed and it was not taking films in languages like Tulu and Konkani, but only in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam etc. There is not an official communication, but this was told to us verbally by the agent,” Abhaya told TNM.
Hi. I am the director of the film. Thank you for your support to our film. We were told that Amazon didn't wanted a Tulu film for now. That's why it was removed. We didn't have a choice.
— Abhaya Simha (@abhayaftii) August 26, 2020
However, one user named Puneet Sapaliga revealed that they wrote to APV about the film being ‘missing’ from APV on April 30. APV said that the availability of content on the platform depends on the content owners (producers or director) who provide the license to stream the titles on APV. Availability is also based on geographical limitations.
— Puneet Sapaliga പുനീത് സപലിഗ (@puneet_sapaliga) August 26, 2020
Puneet said in another tweet that when the film was available on APV, it was categorised under the Kannada section though it was a Tulu film. Puneet had written to APV for getting it properly categorised as well, as per his tweet. Another user named Avinash Shetty also said that though they tried to get APV to “search and identify the difference between Tulu and KAN in a live conversation. They were convinced too.”
I remember you had followed up with @PrimeVideoIN for categorising it correctly under Tuḷu language. Unfortunately, they didn't get it corrected.
— Puneet Sapaliga പുനീത് സപലിഗ (@puneet_sapaliga) August 26, 2020
Anyways we had tried our best to promote the movie on Social media & it did get good response.
Several people then said that it was disappointing conduct on APV’s part.
Thank you for your response sir. It was very unfortunate what had happened. 'Paddayi' was a great movie and we hope you come out with many more such Tulu movies and take Coastalwood to new heights. We wish you the best.
— Avinash Shetty (@AShetty56) August 26, 2020
When a Tulu film was extremely doing well in it's viewship, @PrimeVideoIN suddenly drops the film from it's platform and says it didn't want the Tulu film. So well Tuluvas too should start 'not wanting' @amazon and its subsidiaries from now on. https://t.co/1RyASOA71u
— Mahi Mulki (@Mahimulki) August 26, 2020
Hello @PrimeVideoIN @amazonIN - this is deeply disappointing... Is there any rational behind this?.. Tulu is national language of Dakshina Kannada/Udupi and we hold this language dear and close to our heart. Could you bring it back please ?.
— Mur@li (@_Murali) August 26, 2020
However, Abhaya is not particularly cross with APV for this decision. “At the end of the day, they (APV) are running a business and they have to make decisions based on certain things. Yes, other cinema such as Tulu and Konkani is not as widely recognised in the mainstream but it’s a systematic problem. I don’t think trigger happy responses like uninstalling APV are the solution to that.”
TNM reached out to APV for a comment on the issue, but the OTT platform did not wish to comment. In an email response, APV said, “Thank you for reaching out to us. We don’t wish to comment on this query.”
Paddayi, which stars Mohan Sheni, Bindu Rakshidi, Chandrahas Ulla, Gopinath Bhat, Avinash Rai, Sadashiv Ninasam, Srinidhi Achar and Prabhakar Kapikad, won the Best Feature Film in Tulu at the 65th National Film Awards and the Karnataka State Film Award for Third Best Film.