Despite cinemas gearing up to open on October 15 all over India, a new set of hyped films have been confirmed for OTT release over the next months. On Friday, Amazon Prime Video announced a slate of nine films spanning five Indian languages that will premiere directly on the streaming service.
These include the Varun Dhawan and Sara Ali Khan-starrer "Coolie No. 1", the Rajkummar Rao-starrer "Chhalaang", and "Durgavati" featuring Bhumi Pednekar.
Expanding their regional content library, the streaming platform will also premiere "Bheema Sena Nala Maharaja" (Kannada) starring Aravinnd Iyer, "Middle Class Melodies" (Telugu) starring Anand Devarakonda, "Maara" (Tamil) starring R. Madhavan, and "Manne Number 13" (Kannada) starring Varsha Bollamma and Chetan Gandharva. Zakariya Mohamme's "Halal Love Story" (Malayalam) and the Suriya-starrer "Soorarai Pottru" (Tamil) were already confirmed for digital premiere in the coming months.
Sara and Varun's "Coolie No. 1" will release on Christmas (December 25), while the Bhumi-starrer "Durgavati" will premiere on December 11.
"Halal Love Story" is scheduled to premiere on October 15 while "Bheema Sena Nalamaharaja" will drop on October 29, and "Soorarai Pottru" on October 30. "Manne Number 13" will premiere on November 19, and "Middle Class Melodies" on November 20. "Maara" is scheduled to premiere on December 17.
"Our previous direct-to-service launches were watched in over 180 countries. We are buoyed by the tremendous response we received and are excited to up the ante with another 9 eagerly-awaited direct-to-service premieres, spanning 5 languages, to entertain our customers through this festive season," said Vijay Subramaniam of the streaming platform.
To this, the platform's Gaurav Gandhi added: "The fact that more than 50 percent of viewership of our Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam Direct to Digital titles came from outside of the respective home states is representative of how digital distribution can expand the audience for great content. We are super excited to present our new slate and are confident that it will delight our customers in India and around the world."