Dulquer Salmaan's 'Salute' ditches theaters, opts for release on SonyLIV
There is finally some update about Salute. The Mollywood film, starring Dulquer Salmaan and Diana Penty (in her Malayalam debut) in lead, will not be a theatrical release. Makers of the cop drama have decided to take their film out in the OTT space and top digital platform SonyLIV has bagged its streaming rights. Hence, Salute will be Salmaan's debut in the OTT field.
Salmaan, who is bankrolling Salute, too, retweeted a tweet by SonyLIV that read, "SonyLIV and Wayfarer films (Salmaan's production house) are glad to come together to bring you #Salute directed by Roshan Andrews and written by Bobby-Sanjay (sic)." Makers also shared a poster that showed SI Aravind Karunakaran (Salmaan) sitting on a Royal Enfield bike, with his right hand resting on the police baton.
SonyLIV and Wayfarer films are glad to come together to bring you Dulquer Salman’s #Salute directed by Roshan Andrews and written by Bobby-Sanjay.#SaluteOnSonyLIV #Salute #Dulquer #DQ #SonyLIV@dulQuer @DQsWayfarerFilm #RoshanAndrews #BobbySanjay @DianaPenty pic.twitter.com/q75K3lBhlR
— SonyLIV (@SonyLIV) March 6, 2022
Apart from Salmaan and Penty, Salute will also feature Manoj K Jayan as Karunakaran's elder brother Dy. SP Ajith Karunakaran, Alencier Ley Lopez, Lakshmi Gopalaswamy, and Saniya Iyappan, among others. The film will have Salmaan sporting a khaki for the first time in his career. It's the 30th full-length film featuring him as a principal character. As a producer, Salute is Salmaan's fourth venture.
In January, reports said that the Malayalam film was selected to be screened at the 51st International Film Festival Rotterdam. While this news made Salmaan's fans beyond elated, soon after, India Today reported that this is fake. The publication's Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) found out that while four Malayalam films were selected for the fest, Salute was not among them.
Separately, Salmaan was last seen in the Tamil rom-com Hey! Sinamika, which was directed by ace choreographer Brindha Master. He also has Hanu Raghavapudi's untitled film in waiting. In this, he will play a character named Lieutenant Raghu Ram. Othiram Kadakam, King of Kotha, and R Balki-directed Chup: Revenge of the Artist are also his on slate as of now.
