We Serve Many Indias, Many Storytelling Cultures: Amazon Prime Video Executives

New Delhi: 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 as they announced their new line-up for the upcoming festive season. The slate of nine films, announced on Friday, includes Varun Dhawan-Sara Ali Khan’s Coolie No 1, Rajkummar Rao-Hansal Mehta’ 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 PTI. 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 .