iWorld
Roadies Telugu set for debut as JioHotstar unveils 25 new South titles
CHENNAI: JioHotstar threw open the chequebook and rolled out the red carpet on 9th December, pledging Rs 4,000 crore over five years to supercharge southern India’s creative economy. At a glittering ceremony graced by Tamil Nadu’s deputy chief minister Udhayanidhi Stalin, member of parliament and Padma Bhushan recipient Kamal Haasan, and a constellation of southern cinema’s biggest stars including Mohanlal, Nagarjuna and Vijay Sethupathi, the streaming platform unveiled 25 new titles and signed a letter of intent with the Tamil Nadu government.
The partnership reflects a shared ambition to accelerate the state’s creative and production ecosystem. JioHotstar will introduce regional-first formats and support new storytellers whilst scaling their work beyond geographical boundaries. The platform will launch writing labs, mentorship programmes and skill-building workshops aimed at nurturing the next generation of filmmakers, writers, editors and digital storytellers.
Stalin, unveiling JioHotstar’s blockbuster southern lineup, emphasised the transformative potential of the alliance. “Chennai’s tradition and passion for art and culture are ages old, and even Telugu and Malayalam films are made here,” he said. “Art is a powerful force in politics and life; art can liberate, and movies can educate. We have a history of stories causing social changes, with figures like Annadurai and Karunanidhi instrumental in revolutionary changes in Tamil cinema.”
The deputy chief minister made bold claims about the economic impact. “The partnership with JioHotstar will have a massive impact: it will create 1,000 direct jobs and 15,000 indirect jobs. Our government is committed to building a strong economy hand-in-hand with cinema.” He also acknowledged the disruptive nature of streaming. “We recognise that OTT is not replacing cinema; it is expanding it. Today, everyone has a voice. A filmmaker in Madurai or Salem can upload a story and reach an audience across the world.”
Sushant Sreeram, head of subscription video-on-demand business and chief marketing officer at JioStar, framed the vision in characteristically ambitious terms. “JioHotstar started as a dream. To build the entertainment future of tomorrow, one that’s rooted in the rich storytelling heritage of our great country and its many facets, powered by cutting-edge technology, and serve as the default destination for Indian entertainment everywhere. The resplendent story-telling heritage of South India and its sheer impact on India’s storytelling culture motivates us to keep championing rich, authentic and rooted narratives.”
Krishnan Kutty, head of entertainment for the south at JioStar, added that over 500 creators, directors and showrunners have joined the platform in just ten months. “The South has always been a creative powerhouse, and it is a privilege to serve a region that is defining the next era of Indian storytelling. The stories born here are bold, the creators are fearless and the audiences are among the most invested than anywhere in the country. We want every creator in the South to dream bigger, build faster and take their stories further than ever before.”
Kamal Haasan, addressing the gathering, offered a characteristically philosophical take on the evolving media landscape. “Today, stories are truly screen-agnostic. They travel with the viewer. The audience has become the platform. Stories do not belong to any screen; they always travel with the listener and belong to people. Screens simply follow them. Today, regional is becoming the new national, and ethnic the new international. Stories born in Madurai, Malappuram, Mandya or Machilipatnam are no longer regional cinema. They are national cultural events.”
The 25-title slate showcases one of the most diverse content portfolios in the region spanning originals, franchises, films and unscripted formats. Blockbuster franchises return with Kerala Crime Files S3 (starring Aju Varghese, Lal and Arjun Radhakrishnan), Save The Tigers S3 (starring Chaitanya Krishna, Priyadarshi Pulikonda and Abhinav Gomatam), Heartbeat S3 (starring Anumol, Karthik Kumar and Deepa Balu) and Good Wife S2 (starring Priyamani, Sampath Raj and Aari Arujunan).
New originals include Cousins And Kalyanams, Moodu Lantharlu (starring Aishwarya Rajesh), LBW: Love Beyond Wicket (starring Vikranth and Niyathi Kadambi), Resort (starring Vijay Kumar Rajendran and Thalaivasal Vijay), Secret Stories: ROSLIN (starring Meena, Vineeth and Hakim), Lingam (starring Kathir and Divya Bharathi), Vikram On Duty, Varam (starring VishwaDev Rachakonda, Shivathmika Rajashekar and Srinivas Avasarala), Batchmates, Anali (starring Leona Lishoy and Nikhila Vimal), 1000 Babies S2 (starring Neena Gupta and Rahman) and Love Always (starring Jaya Prakash, Jayasudha, Gauri Kishan and Ramsan).
Premium originals expand with Vishakha (starring Kajal Aggarwal), a regional adaptation of the Hindi series Aarya, alongside Kaattaan (starring Vijay Sethupathi and Milind Soman) and Pharma (starring Nivin Pauly, Rajit Kapur and Shruti Ramachandran). New films include Lucky The Superstar (starring GV Prakash, Anaswara Rajan and Meghna Sumesh) and Kenatha Kaanom.
The unscripted portfolio, dominated by Bigg Boss across Tamil (hosted by Vijay Sethupathi), Telugu (hosted by Nagarjuna), Malayalam (hosted by Mohanlal) and Kannada (hosted by Kichcha Sudeepa), expands with culturally rooted formats including Comedy Cooks, Mad for Each Other (starring Radha Nair and Sreemukhi) and Second Love. In a landmark first, Roadies will debut in Telugu.
The content library unites the region’s finest talent, from superstars Kamal Haasan, Mohanlal, Nagarjuna, Dhanush, Vijay Sethupathi and Sivakarthikeyan to celebrated actors including Nivin Pauly, Aishwarya Rajesh, Kajal Aggarwal, Meena, Priyamani, Nayanthara, Samantha, Nithya Menen and Nandamuri Balakrishna. The ecosystem spans acclaimed directors like Jeethu Joseph and Ahammed Khabeer alongside leading production houses such as Banijay Group, Vikatan, DQ Productions, Aashirvad Cinemas, ARKA Media and Naavi Productions.
With Rs 4,000 crore committed, government backing secured and southern cinema’s royalty assembled, JioHotstar has made its ambitions unmistakable. Whether the platform can deliver on promises of jobs, creative labs and boundary-breaking storytelling, or whether this proves another case of streaming hyperbole meeting subcontinental reality, will become clear as those 25 titles begin rolling out. For now, the south has found its deepest-pocketed champion, and the cameras are rolling.
e-commerce
Visa report tracks rise of India’s affluent, experience-led spending
Affluent base doubles to 130 lakh, travel 58 per cent of elite spends.
MUMBAI: In India’s new luxury playbook, it’s less about owning more and more about living better. A new whitepaper by Visa Consulting and Analytics (VCA) maps a decisive shift in India’s affluent economy, where spending is becoming more intentional, experience-led, and closely tied to personal identity rather than pure income growth.
Titled India’s Affluent Economy 2025–2026, the report draws on a Visa-commissioned Yougov study and VisaNet data across travel, dining, retail and lifestyle categories. The headline number is hard to miss: individuals earning over Rs 10 lakh annually have nearly doubled from 69 lakh to 130 lakh, significantly expanding the country’s discretionary spending base.
But it’s not just about scale, it’s about behaviour. As consumers move up the affluence ladder, discretionary categories are taking a larger share of credit card spends, positioning cards as key enablers of premium, lifestyle-driven consumption.
The geography of wealth is shifting too. Affluence is no longer confined to metros such as Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru, with cities like Ahmedabad, Surat, Jaipur and Lucknow increasingly mirroring metro consumption patterns.
The report highlights a clear pivot from ownership to access. More than 50 per cent of affluent consumers now use cards for elite memberships, while 7 in 10 are drawn to limited-edition drops and curated collections. Increasingly, luxury is defined by seamless access be it concierge-led travel or curated dining where time saved is as valuable as money spent.
Spending patterns reinforce this shift. Among the ultra-elite, travel accounts for 58 per cent of discretionary spends, far outpacing retail and luxury combined at 28 per cent. Cross-border spending penetration stands at 63 per cent, signalling a growing global outlook among India’s affluent.
Closer home, indulgence is becoming routine. Nearly 4 in 5 affluent consumers dine at premium establishments at least three times a year, while 1 in 4 visit luxury venues more than five times annually. Dining spends are also climbing, with Rs 20,000 emerging as a new entry-level benchmark per experience and Rs 50,000 marking premium territory.
Retail, meanwhile, is becoming more selective. Three in four affluent consumers make a high-end purchase at least once a quarter, while one in four shops premium every two weeks. Luxury retail intensity is also rising, with 2 in 5 consumers spending over Rs 5 lakh annually, and a smaller but significant segment exceeding Rs 10 lakh.
Technology and wellness are carving out new roles in this ecosystem. High-end gadgets now see average spends of Rs 60,000 or more per purchase, while ultra-elite consumers are eight times more likely to visit spas and show five times higher engagement with cosmetic stores than non-affluent groups.
The broader takeaway is structural. Affluent consumers are no longer buying products, they are buying ecosystems. Integrated experiences across travel, dining, wellness and payments are becoming central to how this segment lives and spends.
As India’s affluent base expands beyond metros and aligns more closely with global consumption patterns, the real opportunity lies not just in size, but in speed. For brands, the message is clear: relevance will be defined by how early and how seamlessly, they plug into this evolving lifestyle economy.
