The fact that Anurag Kashyap's Nishaanchi had a second part was known to only those who watched the film in theatres. But those viewers and everyone else were in for a shock when Amazon quietly dropped Part 2 without much fanfare.
Kashyap told Hindustan Times that the weak theatrical response to Part 1 led to him and Amazon taking a collective decision of releasing it directly on Prime Video, on November 14.
Moreover, the "incomplete" experience was another factor. The first film introduced newcomer Aishwary Thackeray as twin brothers who chose different paths. One becomes a criminal to avenge a personal tragedy. The other decides to remain corruption-free. Complicating matters is a woman (Vedika Pinto) who enters both their lives, who learns a terrible truth about what happened to her father.
Anurag also cites the mandatory eight-week window between a movie's theatrical release and its streaming release as another reason for the lack of promotions.
“No marketing could be done because of theatre-OTT rule… theatres don’t allow to even promote the film or drop it anywhere for 8 weeks, and OTT has to do their part of the deal. That’s another thing that theatres themselves don’t adhere to. They will cancel shows and throw the film out if it doesn’t open, not allowing the word of mouth to build up. That’s how they treat non tent-pole films. It’s pretty one sided, and I have seen my films being discarded my whole career by exhibitors themselves. We were lucky that we had a studio, who also has a streaming platform, producing our film and backing us.”