iWorld
Cyrus Oshidhar’s 101India launches digital series on underground hip hop scene
MUMBAI: 101India.com is planning to launch a web series on the flourishing Indian underground hip hop scene called Hip Hop Homeland.
The first six episodes will be released on 20 January, 2016, followed by the next five episodes on 27 January, 2016.
It is a series of raw, gritty profiles about a fast emerging youth trend, which cuts across gender, class and geography, and makes powerful statements of youth identity and voice.
Talking about the show, 101India CCO and MD Cyrus Oshidhar said, “Our team panned out to different parts of India to discover talented rap artistes. The new trend in hip hop is coming through the slums and the chawls, and the rappers covered in the Hip Hop Homeland series speak in a street ‘bhasha’ that draws on local languages in a quest for authenticity. The sugar-coated romance that we see in Bollywood might have takers but there is also an audience for the angst and rebelliousness these boys express. These are voices worth listening to and their words are being amplified across the internet to a broader audience.”
Hip Hop Homeland begins in Mumbai and travels to Kashmir, Shillong, Punjab, Calcutta and finally South India. The first leg of the series will showcase 11 videos of six – seven mins minutes featuring various artists such as TodFod, Mawwali, Voctronica, Kinga Rhymes, BobKat, Ace, Zake (graffiti artist) Beast Mode (the crew), Shawty Pink, Flying Machine (Arif), DMC.
One of the artists Aklesh Sutar aka Mawali, the Marathi rapper from Swadesi says, “We got the kind of love and reception in our mother tongue that we didn’t in English. Because of the internet, you can be sitting here rhyming in Bengali and finding your audience in Kolkata. It doesn’t matter where you are.”
Rapper Dharmesh Parmar aka TodFod a part of rap crew Swadeshi adds, “Hip means knowledge. Hop means movement. Hip Hop is the movement of knowledge. The reference here is to the larger sub-culture within which it falls. Within hip hop comes not just rap, but also other forms of self expression from music to dance to visual art, and ultimately, for these boys, a philosophy.”
iWorld
Prime Video to stream Tamil thriller Exam from May 15
Seven-episode series from National Award-winner A. Sarkunam streams in India and 240-plus countries
MUMBAI: Prime Video announced on April 27th that Exam, a taut seven-episode suspense drama set against the crucible of high-stakes competitive testing, will premiere on May 15th in India and across more than 240 countries and territories worldwide.
Written and directed by A. Sarkunam, a National Award-winner, the series is produced under the Wallwatcher Films banner by the creative duo Pushkar and Gayatri, who have previously delivered Suzhal: The Vortex (both seasons) and Vadhandhi: The Fable of Velonie for the platform. Dushara Vijayan and Aditi Balan lead the cast, with Abbas in a pivotal role.
The show will stream in Tamil with dubbed versions in Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam, and Kannada, and subtitles in 15 languages, including English, a distribution sweep that underscores Prime Video’s push to globalise Indian regional content.
Nikhil Madhok, director and head of originals at Prime Video India, framed the series as both timely and commercially astute. “Exam is a very timely and relevant story that captures the emotional intensity of competitive exams and masterfully transforms it into a thrilling high-stakes drama,” he said. “We believe it is a story that will resonate deeply with millions.” Madhok noted that it was a privilege to once again collaborate with Pushkar and Gayatri following the success of Suzhal and Vadhandhi.
For Pushkar and Gayatri, the series is as much a moral reckoning as a thriller. “With Exam, we wanted to dig into ambition, injustice, and those moral crossroads that people face when pushed to the edge,” the creative producers said. “At the heart of this story is a young woman who refuses to remain powerless. Her journey is not about glamorising defiance, but about exploring the emotional and ethical cost of standing up to a system stacked against her.” They described Prime Video as “an incredible collaborator” and “the perfect home” to bring the series to global audiences.
Wallwatcher Films, which Pushkar and Gayatri founded and run, has been on a productive streak with the platform. Beyond Exam, the company is also readying Vadhandhi Season 2 for Prime Video, making the duo one of the platform’s most active regional creative partners.
The real exam, it seems, is for Prime Video itself: can a Tamil drama about systemic injustice and a young woman’s defiance crack audiences from Chennai to Chicago? If Pushkar and Gayatri’s track record is anything to go by, the answer is likely yes, and the results will be out on May 15th.
