Amazon Prime Video unveils festive line-up serving ‘many Indias’

AMAZON Prime Video serves ‘many Indias’ and caters to the country’s many storytelling cultures rather than focusing on just one language, top executives of the streaming service said on Friday as they announced their new line-up for the upcoming festive season.

The slate of nine films includes Varun Dhawan-Sara Ali Khan’s Coolie No 1, Rajkummar Rao-Hansal Mehta collaboration Chhalaang, Bhumi Pednekar’s Durgavati as well as Tamil film Soorarai Pottru starring Suriya, Telugu film Middle Class Melodies and Malayalam drama Halal Love Story.

The curated offering, like the previously announced slate of movies that included Gulabo Sitabo and Shakuntala Devi in June, will bypass a theatrical release and premiere directly on the service. Theatres have been shut in India since March due to the coronavirus pandemic but are set to open from October 15 with a stringent set of dos and don’ts.

‘As a service, we’ve always been talking about the many Indias that we serve. We programme for many languages,’ Gaurav Gandhi, director and country general manager, Amazon Prime Video India, told.

Amazon Prime Video has been able to take language films in different territories, not only giving them a worldwide market but also introducing them to new audiences, he said.

‘For us, customers across those languages are super important and it’s not just at the language level of content but also from the point of access to our service, the UI (user interface). A couple of years ago, we launched Hindi, Tamil and Telugu user interfaces.

‘So from our point of view, we programme for the many, many Indias, and not just one language or the other,’ Gandhi told on a question about the streamer’s focus on content from south India.

Giving an insight into the performance of previous Indian films released by the service, he said they were watched in over 4,000 cities and towns and internationally in over 180 countries within a short period.

‘In case of many of our regional films - Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam -- 50 per cent of the viewing came from outside their home state 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.’