LOS ANGELES - The new video streaming platform Hotstar offers more than 2,000 movies and 900 television shows as well as live Indian Premier League cricket matches and news, all in multiple Indian languages, with English subtitles available.
It launched in Singapore on Nov 1 for an annual subscription fee of $69.98 through the Hotstar website or the Hotstar app. It is also accessible with Indian+ on the StarHub TV+ service, available to customers at $15 a month on a 24-month contract or $25 a month on a 12-month contract.
For Bollywood fans, Hotstar's Premiere Nights feature will bring new blockbusters directly to their screens. Films premiered under this umbrella have included Dil Bechara, LootCase, Khuda Haafiz and Sadak 2. Upcoming releases include Laxmii, a horror-comedy starring Akshay Kumar as a man possessed by a transgender ghost.
Viewers can also choose from a library of more than 2,000 Hindi, Tamil and Telugu movies, including Indian epic action film Baahubali: The Beginning; Tamil star Karthik Sivakumar's Kaithi and Bollywood legend Irfan Khan's Angrezi Medium.
Other acclaimed films available include Tanhaji, Panga, Bala, Chhichhore, Comali, Saamy 2 and Vada Chennai.
Some of the series are original shows developed under the Hotstar banner. These include:
- Aarya, a crime drama starring former Miss Universe Sushmita Sen as a woman who discovers her recently murdered husband was not the man she thought he was
-Hundred, an action comedy starring Lara Dutta as an ambitious police superintendent who recruits a dying girl as an informant
- Out Of Love, a psychological drama starring Rasika Dugal as a woman who suspects her husband is cheating on her
- Roar Of The Lion, a documentary drama series featuring former Indian cricket captain MS Dhoni
