Amazon Prime Video announces Vidya Balan's Shakuntala Devi biopic will premiere directly on streaming platform

Amazon Prime Video India on Friday announced that the much-awaited Hindi biopic Shakuntala Devi will exclusively premiere on the streaming platform.[caption id="attachment_7346031" align="alignnone" width="1000"] Vidya Balan in a still from Shakuntala Devi. Twitter[/caption]Featuring National Award-winning actress Vidya Balan, the film is based on the life of Shakuntala Devi, nicknamed the “human computer" for her innate ability to make incredibly complex calculations within seconds. The film also stars Sanya Malhotra, who will be seen playing the role of Shakuntala’s daughter, with whom the genius enjoyed a complicated but extraordinary relationship, alongside Amit Sadh and Jisshu Sengupta in pivotal roles.

Written and directed by Anu Menon, the film has been produced by Sony Pictures Networks Productions and Vikram Malhotra. The screenplay is written by Menon and Nayanika Mahtani, while the dialogues are penned by Ishita Moitra. Menon and Moitra have previously collaborated on the first season of Amazon Prime Video India Original show Four More Shots Please!.

The announcement comes merely a day after the streaming platform announced the the direct-to-digital release of Shoojit Sircar's comedy Gulabo Sitabo, starring Amitabh Bachchan and Ayushmann Khurrana. It became the first film out of the ones that were scheduled to release theatrically but were indefinitely postponed because of the coronavirus outbreak and the subsequent lockdown.

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Shakuntala Devi was initially scheduled to release in theatres on 8 May. On Thursday, cinema hall chain INOX issued a statement criticising the producers of Gulabo Sitabo for setting an unfair precedent by moving the premiere of a planned theatrical release to a digital platform. It accused the producers to be "fair-weathered" friends and not "all-weathered" companions.

Now that another major film will soon make its premiere directly on a streaming platform, it may further disappoint INOX and other cinema hall chains. But given the uncertainty of the impact of the coronavirus outbreak, the producers may not afford to wait.