Anurag Kashyap's 'Kennedy' heads to OTT: Cast, plot, premiere details
What's the story
Anurag Kashyap's much-anticipated film Kennedy is set to skip a theatrical release and head straight to OTT. The neo-noir crime thriller, which stars Rahul Bhat and Sunny Leone, will be available on ZEE5 from February 20, 2026. The film was earlier screened at the Cannes Film Festival on May 25, 2023, and later at the Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival in October 2023. Here's all you need to know about the acclaimed drama.
Storyline
What is 'Kennedy' about?
The film follows Uday Shetty/Kennedy (Bhat), an insomniac ex-cop who moonlights as a hitman for a corrupt police commissioner, Rasheed Khan (Mohit Takalkar). Khan promises to help him find Saleem, the gangster responsible for his son's death. Set in post-lockdown Mumbai, Kennedy explores a dark, gritty world, completely in line with Kashyap's storytelling style. Leone plays Charlie, Megha Burman plays Anuradha, while Shrikant Yadav is seen as SI Abhijit Kaale.
OTT release
Why the film opted for OTT release
Speaking about the film's direct-to-OTT premiere, Kashyap recently told film critic Sucharita Tyagi, "By January 2024, we were ready to release it theatrically. But the issue...is the lifelong problem I have had with cinema, which is the interval block." "I don't know how to design an interval block. In most of my films...I had to forcefully incorporate intervals." "Kennedy just didn't have any point where I could insert an interval, and without one, theatrical distribution would be impossible."