Streaming platform Amazon Prime Video has announced a new line-up of nine movies, including Varun Dhawan’s Coolie No 1 and Madhavan’s Tamil film Maara , that will premiere directly on the streaming service.
Spanning five Indian languages, the line-up also features Hindi films Chhalaang and Durgavati , Kannada movies Bheema Sena Nala Maharaja and Manne Number 13 , Telugu feature Middle Class Melodies , along with the previously-announced Halal Love Story in Malayalam and Soorarai Pottru in Tamil.
Vijay Subramaniam, Director and Head, Content, Amazon Prime Video, India, said the previous slate of movies (such as Gulabo Sitabo and Shakuntala Devi) were loved and talked about.
“So that gave us the motivation to go after bigger titles and this is what we have done. We were always on the lookout for a busy and effective programming between October and December. In its totality, it’s a pretty interesting and entertaining festive season that we hope to bring to our customers,” Subramaniam said, ahead of the announcement.
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Titles in languages such Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam received more than 50 percent viewership from customers outside the home states, with customers from Lucknow, Kolkata, Pune and beyond streaming Penguin, Ponmagal Vandhal, Law, French Biriyani, Sufiyum Sujatayum, CU Soon , V and Nishabdham .
Hindi movies Gulabo Sitabo and Shakuntala Devi emerged as the two most-watched movies since the launch of Prime Video in India. They were also the most watched Hindi movies on Prime Video globally, it was revealed.
Gaurav Gandhi, Director and Country General Manager, Amazon Prime Video India, said the learning from the previous slate helped them built on their playbook on marketing these films deep and wide.
“Our movies that were released in India were watched in over 4,000 thousand cities and towns, which is super deep, if you look at it from the context of how theatres do. And internationally as well, the fact that in a short period, they have been watched in over 180 countries, these are interesting facts.”
“In the case of many of our regional films — Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam — 50 per cent of the viewing came from outside the home states, which is quite unique for these films. What streaming can do for these films is to be able to give them a true national release and get customers from around the country to access the cinema,” Gandhi said.
Amazon Prime Video’s direct-to-service slate:
Halal Love Story (Malayalam), which is scheduled to premiere on October 15
Halal Love Story is an upcoming Malayalam comedy film directed by Zakariya Mohammed and stars Indrajith Sukumaran, Joju George, Sharaf U Dheen, Grace Antony and Soubin Shahir in lead roles along with Parvathy Thiruvothu.
Bheema Sena Nalamaharaja (Kannada), which is scheduled to premiere on October 29
Bheema is an upcoming Kannada family entertainer directed by Karthik Saragur. The movie stars Aravinnd Iyer, Aarohi Narayan, Priyanka Thimmesh, Achyuth Kumar and Aadya in leading roles
Soorarai Pottru (Tamil), which is scheduled to premiere on October 30
Soorarai Pottru is an upcoming Tamil language Action/Drama film directed by Sudha Kongara, Staring Suriya in the lead with Aparna Balamurali, Paresh Rawal and Mohan Babu in pivotal roles. The film is produced by Suriya’s 2D Entertainment and Co-Produced by Guneet Monga’s Sikhya Entertainment. This film is a fictionalised version of the book “Simply Fly” written on the life of Air Deccan founder Capt. G. R. Gopinath.
Chhalaang (Hindi), which is scheduled to premiere on November 13
Chhalaang is an inspirational social comedy starring Rajkummar Rao, Nushratt Baruchaa and directed by Hansal Mehta. It is presented by Bhushan Kumar and produced by Ajay Devgn, Luv Ranjan and Ankur Garg.
Manne Number 13 (Kannada), which is scheduled to premiere on November 19
Maane Number 13 is an upcoming horror thriller directed by Vivy Kathiresan. Produced by Krishna Chaitanya’s Sri Swarnalatha Productions, the film stars Varsha Bollamma, Aiswarya Gowda, Praveen Prem, Chetan Gandharva, Ramana and Sanjeiv.
Middle Class Melodies (Telugu), which is scheduled to premiere on November 20
Starring Anand Deverakonda and Varsha Bollamma, Middle class Melodies is a humour packed whimsical tale depicting the congenial lives of the middle class in the village where a young man dreams of owning a hotel in a town. The film is directed by Vinod Anantoju.
Durgavati (Hindi), which is scheduled to premiere on December 11
Directed by Ashok and starring Bhumi Pednekar, Durgavati is a thrilling, scary ride that tells the story of an innocent Government officer who is made the victim of a major conspiracy involving powerful forces. The film is presented by T-Series and Cape of Good Films and is an Abundantia Entertainment production.
Maara (Tamil), which is scheduled to premiere on December 17
Maara is an upcoming Tamil language romantic drama film directed by Dhilip Kumar. Produced by Prateek Chakravorty and Shruti Nallappa of Pramod Films. The film stars Madhavan and Shraddha Srinath in lead roles.
Coolie No. 1 (Hindi), which is scheduled to premiere on of December 25
Coolie No. 1 is a family comedy based on the popular franchise from Pooja Entertainment and is directed by the king of comedy David Dhawan. The film stars Varun Dhawan, Sara Ali Khan, Paresh Rawal, Javed Jaffrey, Johnny Lever, Rajpal Yadav amongst others and is produced by Vashu Bhagnani, Jackky Bhagnani and Deepshikha Deshmukh.
(with inputs from PTI)
