Prithviraj Sukumaran’s Malayalam action thriller Khalifa began streaming on 9 October 2026 on six platforms at the same time, rather than on one exclusive service, according to The Week, 123Telugu and NewsBytes. The platforms are Amazon Prime Video, Aha, ManoramaMAX, Lionsgate Play, STARZPLAY and Simply South.
The film had been released in theatres on 20 August 2026 and ended its theatrical run in early October with a worldwide gross of Rs 45.31 crore against a production and marketing budget of Rs 50 crore, according to The Week. That is a shortfall of Rs 4.69 crore, a subtraction by IndiaX24, and the gross figure includes taxes and the exhibitors’ share, so the producers’ revenue is lower.
The multi-platform release is described as a deliberate recovery strategy. By dividing the streaming rights among several services, the producers could earn licensing fees from each, rather than relying on one deal, according to The Week. The platforms serve different markets: Prime Video and Lionsgate Play carry Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi versions, Aha serves Tamil and Telugu audiences, ManoramaMAX serves Malayalam viewers, Simply South serves the diaspora and STARZPLAY serves the Middle East and North Africa.
The box-office breakdown shows how dependent the film was on one state. It earned Rs 21.53 crore in net collections in India, of which Rs 21.30 crore came from Kerala alone, according to The Week. Kerala therefore supplied about 98.9 per cent of the India net, a share that IndiaX24 has calculated. Karnataka contributed Rs 1.08 crore and Tamil Nadu Rs 43 lakh, according to the same report, which together with Kerala would exceed the national net figure, so the regional numbers do not add up exactly and the report does not explain the difference.
The film faced stiff competition. Its release coincided with the success of Bethlehem Kudumba Unit, a film described in the search summary as a box-office juggernaut, and it received mixed reviews, according to the same summary. The reports reviewed do not give the competing film’s earnings.
The numbers suggest a gap between the film’s reach and its returns. A worldwide gross of Rs 45.31 crore with a net of Rs 21.53 crore in India implies that the rest of the gross, about Rs 23.8 crore, came from overseas and from taxes or other items, which is IndiaX24’s subtraction and which the reports do not break down.
A comparison with the sums shows how thin the margin was. The film’s budget of Rs 50 crore and its gross of Rs 45.31 crore means that the gross was about 91 per cent of the budget, a percentage that IndiaX24 has calculated, and the theatres and tax take a share of that. The streaming licences are therefore a significant part of the film’s recovery, according to The Week’s reasoning, though no amounts are disclosed.
Prithviraj Sukumaran has an IndiaX24 biography that covers his acting and directing career, including Lucifer. The reports reviewed do not give the film’s director, the cast beyond the lead or the licensing fees paid by the platforms.
The strategy is unusual in Indian cinema, where films commonly stream on a single platform after an exclusive deal. Whether other producers will follow it depends on how much the six licences earn, and the reports reviewed do not give those sums.
IndiaX24 will report on viewership and any follow-up from the producers.
Image: A cinema hall in Kolkata (file photo; a stand-in image). Photo by Marajozkee, licensed under CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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