Zee5 snaps up Prakash Jha, Varalaxmi Sarathkumar films

‘Pareeksha – The Final Test’ by Prakash Jha and ‘Danny’ featuring Varalaxmi Sarathkumar to have digital premiere on Zee5

Adil Hussain (L) with Prakash Jha (R) while filming ‘Pareeksha’

OTT platforms continue to up their acquisition game as lockdown continues with Zee now snapping up a Prakash Jha film and another in Tamil featuring actor Varalaxmi Sarathkumar.

Jha’s Pareeksha – The Final Test had its premiere at the 50th International Film Festival of India last year at Goa in the Indian panorama section. Written, produced and directed by Jha, the film features Priyanka Bose, Adil Hussain and Sanjay Suri.

Varalaxmi Sarathkumar

Touted to be a commentary on the country’s education system,

Pareeksha follows the story of a rickshaw puller in Bihar whose biggest dream it is to provide quality education to his son but it is not as easy as he thinks it is going to be.

The Varalaxmi-starrer is titled Danny , and it follows a police investigation story that involes a sniffer dog who shares the titular name. Written and directed by LC Santhanamoorthy, the film also stars Sayaji Shinde and Vela Ramamoorthy. A teaser for the film was uploaded to YouTube in December 2019.

Both films are being marketed as Zee5 originals, meaning the streaming platform now likely holds, among others, dubbing, satellite and/or remake rights for the concerned films.