Amazon Prime Video Enters India With 17 Original Series Planned

Amazon on Wednesday launched its Prime Video service in India and over 200 other countries and territories. The video service is part of the Prime subscription at Rs. 499 per year. To kick off its India launch, Amazon has planned 17 Indian original shows that vary from drama, comedy, psychological thriller, biopic, mythological, sports drama and political satire. Some of the new shows and creators associated with them include:

• Bodhidharma: Master of Shaolin - Ram Madhavi, Prasoon Joshi and Sunil Doshi
• Breathe - Vikram Malhotra, starring R Madhvan and Amit Sadh
• The Ministry - AIB and OML
• Powerful - Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar starring Vivek Oberoi, Richa Chadda
• Mirzapur - Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar
• Stardust - Vikramaditya Motwane, Madhu Mantena, Anurag Kashyap and Vikas Bahl
• The Family Man - DK Krishna and Raj Nidimoru
• Vishpuri - Vikramaditya Motwane, Madhu Mantena, Anurag Kashyap and Vikas Bahl
• Made in Heaven - Ritesh Sidhwani, Farhan Akhtar, Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti

Additionally, Amazon has also announced collaborations with authors, producers, writers and directors to develop several new series currently untitled. The list includes Sujoy Ghosh and Hyunwoo Tomas Kim (Kross Pictures India); Ali Abbas Zafar, Himanshu Kishan Mehra, Sanjeev Gupta (Offside Entertainment); Rajat Arora (Funk Ur Blues); Karnesh Sharma and Anushka Sharma (Clean Slate Productions) and Navdeep Singh, Sudip Sharma, Tarun Tejpal, Raj Kumar Gupta (Raapchik Films); Pritish, Rangita and Ishita Nandy (Pritish Nandy Productions); Amit Kumar and Asif Kapadia (Fission Features); Aaradhana Bhola, Vidyuth Bhandary Tony and Diya Singh (Freemantle Media); and Amritpal Singh Bindra and Anand Tiwari (Still & Still Moving Pictures).

Unlike the Amazon shows outside that need to get green-lit based on the pilot episode, the Indian originals are pre-approved for a complete season.

Prime members will also have access to the global Amazon Original Series from the US, including Transparent, Mozart in the Jungle and The Man in the High Castle, to name a few.

Amazon has tied up with a number of Indian and international studios including Yash Raj Films, Dharma Productions, T-Series, Warner, Paramount, CBS and many more to release popular movies and TV shows exclusively on Amazon Prime Video.

Prime members will also get to access original content from other countries just as the Indian content will be available to members around the world. Amazon has not listed the countries that are available for Indian members, but US is one of them. This means that Indian Prime members can access the full US catalogue of Amazon Prime Video at no extra cost.

Based on the current catalogue, one will have to wait and see if Amazon Prime Video will be able to compete with the likes of Netflix and Hotstar which have already established a strong base in India.