Pongala, the Malayalam action revenge drama directed by AB Binil, began streaming on Amazon Prime Video on June 12, 2026. The film stars Sreenath Bhasi in the lead role alongside Baburaj, Alencier Ley Lopez, Kichu Tellus, and Sampath Ram in an ensemble cast that brings Kerala’s harbour underworld to life.
Set in the Vypin-Munambam coastal belt near Kochi, Pongala draws from real incidents that took place in the region during the early 2000s. The film follows the clashes and rivalries among people living and working along Kerala’s harbour belt, where friendship, loyalty, and hidden secrets collide against a backdrop of coastal crime and power struggles. Bhasi plays a young man caught in the web of harbour politics, delivering a performance that marks a departure from the comedic roles that first made him a household name in Malayalam cinema.
The 138-minute film originally released in theatres on December 5, 2025, produced by Deepu Bose and Anil Pillai under the banner of Global Pictures Entertainment. Its arrival on Prime Video six months after its theatrical run makes it accessible to audiences across India and internationally, adding to a week that has seen several major Indian OTT premieres including Suriya’s Karuppu and Ali Fazal’s Raakh, both also on Prime Video.
Binil, who also wrote the screenplay, chose the Vypin harbour setting to capture a world that Indian cinema has rarely explored. The fishing communities and harbour workers of this coastal stretch near Kochi have their own codes of loyalty and retribution, and Pongala treats these with a rawness that the censor board took note of, requesting the removal of some violent scenes before granting certification. Cinematographer Jackson frames the harbour landscape as both beautiful and threatening, while Ranjin Raj’s score underlines the film’s shift between moments of camaraderie and eruptions of violence.
The supporting cast adds considerable weight to the narrative. Baburaj, a consistent presence in Malayalam action cinema, plays a rival harbour figure whose ambitions set the central conflict in motion. Alencier Ley Lopez, one of the most respected character actors in contemporary Malayalam film, brings depth to a role that grounds the story’s more volatile sequences. Sudheer Karamana and Sohan Seenulal round out a cast that represents some of the best talent working in Kerala today.
Pongala’s OTT premiere arrives during a particularly competitive week for Indian streaming platforms. Amazon Prime Video has positioned the Malayalam film alongside its Hindi-language series Raakh and Tamil blockbuster Karuppu, while rival platforms launched their own titles including Dridam on JioHotstar and Gullak Season 5 on SonyLIV. For Sreenath Bhasi, whose career has oscillated between mainstream comedies and more intense dramatic work, Pongala represents the kind of grounded action cinema that Kerala audiences have embraced in recent years, following the success of films that blend local specificity with genre thrills.
