iWorld
Dollywood Play launches to provide Hindi dubbed movies
MUMBAI: Hindi content consumption has grown a record 94 per cent year-on-year compared to just 19 per cent for English content. Not all Indian movies are masala, but most masala movies are uniquely Indian. Hindi dubbed masala films are now occupying prime time slots on TV. Dollywood Play celebrates these Hindi dubbed movie fans from across the country, and now has given them a platform in Dollywood Play to easily discover and watch their favorite movies on android, iOS and web.
With consumption of Hindi content skyrocketing on the web, there has never been a better time to launch a Hindi dubbed movie platform for the Hindi heartland of India. WAMINDIA (Wide Angle Media Pvt. Ltd.), one of the prominent content distribution companies in India and, Digital Convergence Technologies & dcafé India Pvt. a leading video streaming and OTT product company have joined hands to form ‘Dollywood Digitainment’ to launch their video streaming platform Dollywood Play – AB SAB DUB.
Touted as India’s only dedicated Hindi Dubbed platform, Dollywood Play will feature a wide range of Full Movies, Mini Movies (20 minutes’ version of full-length movies), Clips (Comedy, Action, Hot scenes) and Music videos. Users can now easily download the android/iOS app or visit www.dollywoodplay.com to start watching.
Dollywood Play spends a lot of time curating its content to best suit the viewer’s preferences and taste. When a viewer logs in to Dollywood Play, content discovery is easy and with details including story synopsis, cast and crew, release date and more. With offline download available viewers can now watch their favorite movies in their preferred qualities and time. From genre selection, spot on recommendations, alerts and relevant notifications, Dollywood Play is stuffed with features aimed at movie lovers. Essentially, this platform is created to satisfy its subscribers as opposed to putting them off with features and functionalities which may not be relevant to them.
WAMINDIA founder-director Aneesh Dev says “Dollywood Play aims to reach the user beyond the metros. It caters to Bharat and not India, the 75 per cent that does not live in urban areas. It is for viewers whose watching preferences are not limited to the niche English speaking audience. We have a vast library of entertaining action-packed movies and regularly acquire new movies to ensure there will be new content added every week including Exclusive Digital Premieres.”
Speaking about the partnership with dcafé he adds, “dcafe’s agility and speed of innovation is what attracted us to them. We have the content, audience and the scale, and they have the technology. It is a great fit. There were complex solutions we were trying to build for all specific areas of Dollywood Play – from sign-ins and subscriptions to video compression, search, and offline downloads. dcafé has been able to combine all the tech, which has led us to create a better end user experience.”
One of the biggest challenges with digital entertainment is, “content delivery”. There are multiple issues from poor bandwidth to low-end devices. More so in India, the sheer size of the audience presents OTT operators with numerous obstacles to deal with.
dcafe LLP CEO Vineet Dhawan shares, “Masala films are the cinematic equivalent of the melange of spices used in Indian cooking that provide the name. With multiple genres included simultaneously — let’s say, a romance subplot intermingled with a comedy piece, and added melodrama all alternating under the auspices of an action adventure main plot. Everything is heightened; the hero’s heroism, the heroine’s beauty, the villain’s evil. And this is exactly the type of entertainment a viewer can expect when he enters our platform.”
Taking about the technology behind the platform, Dhawan adds, “With our innovative tech solutions, we will help Dollywood Play acquire new users faster, increase cross-screen engagement, improve personalized search, fine-tune outreach campaigns, capture the right time to engage with users and much more”
Gaming
Formula 1 and Mumbai Falcons launch India’s first official F1 sim racing championship
Nationwide competition creates pathway from virtual racing to pro motorsport
MUMBAI: Formula 1 has teamed up with Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited to launch India’s first officially sanctioned F1 sim racing competition, marking a new step in the country’s growing motorsport ecosystem.
The championship, titled F1 Sim Racing India Open 2026, will offer a structured national platform for sim racers, with participants competing on the official F1 25 across multiple stages. The competition will begin with online qualifiers, followed by city-based simulator rounds, before culminating in a national final in Mumbai this November.
Open to players across PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox, registrations for the event will begin on 30 April via the Mumbai Falcons app. The format mirrors real-world racing, featuring official circuits, team liveries and competitive structures aligned with the global series.
Formula 1 driver Narain Karthikeyan said the initiative arrives at a time when interest in the sport is surging in India, adding that a structured sim racing platform could help identify and nurture the next generation of talent.
Mumbai Falcons Racing Limited managing director Ameet Gadhoke noted that the championship aligns with the team’s long-term goal of building a strong motorsport pipeline in the country and placing Indian talent on the global stage.
The launch also reflects broader momentum in esports, especially after its recognition under India’s Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025. By bridging gaming and real-world racing, the initiative aims to offer aspiring drivers a credible entry point into professional motorsport.
With interest in Formula 1 steadily rising and conversations around its return to India gaining pace, the new championship could become a proving ground for future racing stars.
