Hoichoi

Earlier this year, Hoichoi had announced a robust slate for 2021. New offerings included Maradonar Juto, a romantic comedy directed by Mainak Bhaumik about neighbouring families who have a generational feud about a pair of shoes belonging to the football legend, Maradona. Mohanagar featuring Bangladesh star Mosharraf Karim, Robindronath Ekhane Kawkhono Khete Aashenni, an adaptation of the popular Bangladeshi novel of the same name directed by Srijit Mukherji starring Rahul Bose and films like Kakababur Protyaborton and Golondaaj starring Prosenjit Chatterjee and Dev respectively.

To be sure, regional local language streaming services are in no mood to let go of the wide audience base acquired over the covid-19 lockdown even as parts of the economy open up. Building on the consumer habit of watching streaming content together as a family, a couple of new firms have entered the game with vernacular content even as older VoD (video-on-demand) services are fast lining up offerings.

Marathi filmmaker Akshay Bardapurkar has launched a new OTT service for content exclusively devoted to the language called Planet Marathi for an annual subscription rate of less than Rs500. Meanwhile, a new service called STAGE will offer original content in local dialects such as Haryanavi, Rajasthani, Bhojpuri, Konkani, among others through formats such as comedy, folk, poetry, storytelling and motivational content. Established streaming services are not far behind in recognizing the opportunity in the regional space either.

“At Hoichoi, we aim to bring distinct stories for our diverse audiences with variant taste. Our upcoming line-up is a reflection of that idea; each one of which is a gripping story of human emotions, filled with suspense, comedy, love, drama, thrill and longing,” co-founder of Hoichoi, Vishnu Mohta said in a statement about the service that had notched up 13 million subscribers at last count.