With the football season beginning on October 7 with the Indian Super League (ISL), Malayalam actor Antony Varghese would be aiming to continue his winning record. The actor is getting ready for the release of Aanaparambile World Cup, which had its trailer launch in Kochi on Thursday. The actor’s past theatrical flicks have all been hits.
The fantasy sports drama’s producers have partnered with Kerala Blasters of the ISL, according to the film’s director Nikhil Premraj, who also plays a football player who teaches a U-14 squad in the drama. “We were also able to associate with Kerala Blasters as part of the movie,” says the debutant director. “A few of the players will be attending the film’s preview as well as promotions. Some of the players will also be sharing the movie’s trailers on their pages and we can also do some promotions while the ISL is on.”
“We had initially planned a May release but we couldn’t finalize the OTT deal. We got a good offer initially because all of Antony’s theatrical releases had done really well. However, streaming services had bought a few Malayalam films for huge prices but none of them got the expected returns. This impacted our movie too and they backed out,” says Nikhil, who has written the venture.
The director, however, says that the leading OTT platform backing out has actually helped the movie. “It’s a blessing in disguise because the release date has now been pushed to late October. The ISL is about to kick off and a month after its theatrical release, we will have the football World Cup. Aanaparambile World Cup is the only football film to release during the time,” he says.
The film also stars Balu Varghese, Sudhi Koppa, Jumana Khan, TG Ravi, IM Vijayan, Lukman Avaran, and Nishanth Sagar in addition to Antony. The movie was finished before the epidemic and has been waiting for a suitable release date ever since theatres reopened in 2021 following the second shutdown.
