“Jailer 2,” Rajinikanth’s action-comedy sequel, will begin streaming worldwide on Prime Video on Nov. 12, four weeks after its theatrical debut, the platform announced Thursday. The film will stream in India and more than 240 countries and territories in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi. Prime Video India said on Instagram that Tiger Muthuvel Pandian, Rajinikanth’s character, is “back. Reloaded.” The platform also streams the 2023 original, and an executive said the sequel’s success in theaters led to the deal. Prime Video reportedly paid a Tamil-industry record of 160 crore rupees ($19 million) for the streaming rights.
Nelson Dilipkumar directs the film, and Sun Pictures produces it. It opened Oct. 15 and remains in theaters. Trade tracker Sacnilk put its worldwide gross at 8.21 billion rupees ($98 million) as of Nov. 4, making it the first Tamil film to pass 8 billion rupees. The ensemble cast includes SJ Suryah, Vidya Balan, Mithun Chakraborty, Suraj Venjaramoodu, Ramya Krishnan and Yogi Babu. Mohanlal, Jackie Shroff, Shivaraj Kumar and Hrithik Roshan appear in cameos.
The release date follows a standard four-week Tamil theatrical window and comes with a controversy. Fans criticized the 175-minute theatrical cut for trimming the roles of Mohanlal and Roshan and for dropping scenes shown in the trailer. Producer Antony Perumbavoor, a longtime business partner of Mohanlal, said at an event in Kochi that the Malayalam film community shared the disappointment. Mirnaa Menon, who stars in both films, defended the filmmakers and said Mohanlal was not troubled by the edit.
Indian media have reported that the streaming version will run about 30 minutes longer, which would restore some of the removed material. Neither Sun Pictures nor Prime Video has confirmed an extended cut or addressed the runtime. The first “Jailer” followed a similar path. It opened Aug. 10, 2023, and reached Prime Video on Sept. 7 that year.
