Karan Johar emceed a star-studded launch party for Amazon Prime Video’s new season in India. Abhishek Bachchan and Sumukhi Suresh were co-hosts for the evening event. A suave and slim Shahid Kapoor was excited about his first streaming debut with Raj and DK of Family Man fame. Raashi Khanna in a red dress and stilettos exclaimed how she had changed as an actor. Madhuri Dixit Nene dazzled with a dance.
The company announced 40 new titles, its biggest-ever slate in India.
The new lineup spans a wide array of genres, including thrillers, action, dramas, comedies and romances. Amazon also announced new supernatural and horror titles, biopics, true-crime and investigative docudramas, sports/cricket stories and original movies. The new titles will be available in Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu over the next 24 months.
At the launch party, Johar employed his classic Koffee with Karan/FiresideChat/ Filmfare awards style banter. He sported an American English accent, with a smattering of Indian humor and inadvertent lapses into Britishisms.
Prime Video recently completed half a decade in India. It is now doubling its investment in India. Prime Video has announced new multi-year licensing deals and co-productions with some of India’s biggest and most successful studios. The team who curate and commission content call themselves “Story Chasers,” who forage for all sorts of narratives and scripts.
One of the titles the team was excited to share was Farzi, a thriller about counterfeiting starring Pankaj Tripathi. Jubilee will showcase a vintage look for the lovely Aditi Rao Haidari. Happy Family Conditions Apply features the veteran actor Ratna Pathak Shah and Raj Babbar. Naga Chaitanya makes his streaming debut in Dhoota (Messenger) a Telugu original series.
Amazon also launched Prime Video Store, its transactional video-on-demand (TVOD) movie rental service in India. Customers can now get early access to the latest Indian and international movies, including a rich catalog of popular movies.