FLUENT STREAMS

A ONE-STOP DIGITAL PLATFORM, HOICHOI, OFFERS BENGALI FILMS FROM RAY TO GHOSH

The giants of movies and television are constantly railing against piracy—when they’re not limiting releases to certain regions and cracking down on users trying to break those borders with proxy servers.

“I tell my fans not to illegally download my films. But to be fair to them, what do they do if the films are not released where they are?” says Bengali actor Abir Chatterjee. Now he has the answer. His National Award-winning 2017 film, Bishorjan, is available on a new, all-Bengali streaming service called hoichoi.tv that Sree Venkatesh Films is pushing with massive billboards across Kolkata. The site also includes Rituparno Ghosh’s

Raincoat, which is in Hindi. Featuring Bengali

movies, including those directed by Satyajit Ray, it’s a great idea. However, the website often hangs at the subscription page, forcing you to rely on the app.

Obviously the Ray and Ghosh classics bear watching and re-watching. With more than 500 Bengali films where “subscribers are spending close to 50+ minutes daily”, the service has a niche edge over Hotstar, Netflix and Amazon Prime. It’s also adding at least two original shows a month. Many of these offerings, however, appear to have sacrificed quality (e.g. Dupur Thaakurpo, a series on a Savita Bhabhi-esque character).