OTT Releases This Weekend (Photo: Film Posters)
Hyderabad: This weekend brings a mix of romance, thrillers, supernatural mysteries and comedy to OTT platforms. From Malayalam romantic drama Bethlehem Kudumba Unit to Pooja Meri Jaan, #Love and Mahendragiri Varahi, several new films and series are now available to stream. Here’s a look at the major OTT releases arriving this weekend, along with their streaming platforms and cast.
Bethlehem Kudumba Unit
OTT Release Date: October 2
Streaming Platform: JioHotstar
Cast: Nivin Pauly, Mamitha Baiju, Sangeetha Prathap, Suresh Krishna, Bindu Panicker
The Malayalam romantic comedy-drama Bethlehem Kudumba Unit follows a college student named Ashley (Mamitha Baiju), who moves into a Catholic neighbourhood near Ernakulam with her family. There, she finds her life entangled with a local church neighbourhood prayer committee and develops a secret, heartfelt romance with her unmarried older neighbour, a caterer named Justin (Nivin Pauly).
Despite their 12-year age gap, their bond grows over a mutual love for music, but they must quietly go through local community gossip, protective family dynamics, and personal hurdles, including the chaotic antics of Justin’s temperamental younger brother Joel (Sangeeth Prathap) and advice from his aunt Kunjaunty (Bindu Panicker).
Pooja Meri Jaan
OTT Release Date: October 2
Streaming Platform: Zee5
Cast: Mrunal Thakur, Huma Qureshi, Vikram Singh Chauhan, Vijay Raaz, Sunita Rajwar
Pooja Meri Jaan is a courtroom and psychological thriller that revolves around Pooja Dogra (Mrunal Thakur), a young woman who views her longtime theatre buddy Aniket (Vikram Singh Chauhan) strictly as a close friend. When Aniket confesses his deep, one-sided love for her and proposes, Pooja firmly rejects him. Unable to accept the rejection, Aniket’s fragile male ego and obsession drive him to take his own life, leaving behind a manipulative message that frames Pooja for his actions.
The tragedy quickly turns into a public nightmare as Pooja is arrested and put on trial for the abetment of suicide, forcing her to go through severe societal vilification and victim-blaming. In the courtroom, her common friend and defence lawyer, Sana, battles against a fiercely patriarchal prosecutor named Jatin to uncover the true nature of Aniket’s toxic obsession and prove Pooja’s innocence.
Tougen Anki: Nikko Kegon Falls Arc
OTT Release Date: October 2
Streaming Platform: Netflix
Voice Cast: Kazuki Ura, Hiroshi Kamiya, Gakuto Kajiwara, Kenichi Suzumura, Yuki Kaji
In Tougen Anki: Nikko Kegon Falls Arc, teenage demon Shiki Ichinose (played by Kazuki Ura) and his mentor Naito Mudano (played by Hiroshi Kamiya) travel to a secret facility near Nikko’s Kegon Falls to track down an rogue Oni group called the Kikoku Unit led by Hayate Todoroki (played by Gakuto Kajiwara), leading to intense battles against opposing Momotaro agents like Kusabi Momoura (played by Kenichi Suzumura) and Hizumi Momotsugi (played by Yuki Kaji) where Shiki faces major turning points in mastering his powers.
I Would Rather Die
OTT Release Date: October 2
Streaming Platform: Prime Video
Cast: Fernanda Castillo, Luis Fernando Peña, Armando Hernández, Diego Bernal, Farah Justiniani
The plot of the Mexican horror-comedy series I Would Rather Die (originally titled Prefiero la Muerte) follows Archie Pérez (Diego Bernal), a high-school misfit living in the quiet town of Mendoza who gets bitten by a zombie at a corner mini-mart. Instead of immediately turning into a mindless monster, Archie is caught in a strange limbo between a normal teenager and the undead.
Desperate to find a cure before completely transforming and harming others, he teams up with his goth best friend and his longtime platonic crush. Together, the teenagers try to uncover and stop a bizarre conspiracy involving a vitamin pyramid scheme, a strict group of local religious ladies, and a school bully that could unleash a full-blown apocalypse on their town.
#Love
OTT Release Date: October 2
Streaming Platform: Netflix
Cast: Aishwarya Lekshmi, Arjun Das
The Tamil romantic drama #Love follows a tech founder, Tara (played by Aishwarya Lekshmi), who firmly believes relationship success relies on structural compatibility, and her adventurous rival investor, Matthew (played by Arjun Das), who argues that raw, unpredictable chemistry is what truly matters.
To prove whose dating app ideology is superior, the two enter into a 60-day dating challenge where they must use each other’s apps to find a match. However, as they spend time together during the challenge and try to keep Tara’s startup afloat, their own undeniable chemistry and mounting tension force them to question their corporate logic and confront their true feelings for one another.
Mahendragiri Varahi
OTT Release Date: October 2
Streaming Platform: Netflix
Cast: Sumanth, Aishwarya Rajesh, Malavika Nair, Manju Bhargavi, Brahmanandam
Mahendragiri Varahi is a Telugu supernatural mystery thriller that revolves around a two-century-old curse haunting the royal family of the Mahendragiri village, where every male heir mysteriously dies upon turning 33. The story follows Siddharth (played by Sumanth), an atheist YouTuber who exposes superstitions and travels to the village to investigate these tragic deaths.
As he digs deeper alongside his assistant Satyam (played by Vennela Kishore), he uncovers a dark ancestral sin connected to the anger of Goddess Varahi (played by Aishwarya Rajesh), forcing him to unravel whether the fatalities are truly a divine curse or a clever human conspiracy.