It is an accepted fact that the ongoing pandemic has given a great boost to the OTT platforms be it Amazon Prime Video, Disney+Hotstar, Netflix, or others. The latest threat to the popularity of these is the Regional players. Telugu movie lovers in Andra Pradesh are enjoying the latest entrant Aha which is a digital platform bringing in the latest blockbusters from the Telugu film industry. Ahs has gained immense popularity in a very short span of time. The latest Telugu movies have been procured for direct to digital streaming.
Thank You Brother slated to stream next month on Aha is the latest release and features Anusuya Bhardwaj who is a very popular actress. Although this movie was planned for a theatrical release due to the COVID situation Aha registered their willingness for the film distribution and took up Thank You Brother for an OTT release. Kerala based NeeStream scored very high viewership with Jeo Baby’s The Great Indian Kitchen. It became highly popular not only in Kerala but amongst non-Malayalam audiences as well.
Initially, Amazon had rejected this movie but after the movie became so popular, Amazon has given it a second thought and acquired the global streaming rights of the movie.
All the local actors are supporting their digital regional platforms and are willing to settle for a lower price for films just to show their support. Regional producers are also doing the same. This is another big reason for the popularity of the regional OTT’s. The National and global OTTs are therefore getting some stiff competition from this quarter.
The upcoming web series Vitthal Teedi of Pratik Gandhi who is a Gujrati actor is all set for release on OHO which is the Gujrati OTT platform. This was preferred over a National and global release.
