iWorld
YuppTV set to close Rs 100-crore plus funding
MUMBAI: The OTT video space is slated to get hyper-competitive with a slew of broadcaster-led players and even deep-pocketed telcos haring into it. YuppTV, one of the early movers, has now decided to fortify its financial resources in a bid to face the onslaught.
The company – led by Uday Reddy – says it is on the threshold of closing its second round of funding which will see it adding funds running into three digit crore to its kitty. Speaking to Hindu BusinessLine, Reddy said that the company has already pocketed $15 million in its Series A, and was about to close its next round of fund-raising.
Reddy sees the market heading toward consolidation. “We are contemplating acquiring a firm to strengthen our leadership,” Reddy informed BusinessLine. YuppTV has also appointed the Telugu superstar Mahesh Babu as its brand ambassador.
It offers a bouquet of services including 200 TV channels, seven-day catch-up TV, 100-plus TV shows, and 5,000 plus movies as a VOD service. Its subscription packages vary from Rs 5 a day to Rs 30 a week to Rs 99 a month.
YuppTV is taking a major step with making Babu the ambassador. Babu is a big name of Tollywood, and it is sure that the collaboration will work great for the promotion of the channel.
The web portal of YuppTV was established in 2006, offers more than 898 Indian TV Channels in 13 languages that include Kannada, Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam, Bengali, Marathi, Oriya, Gujarati, Punjabi, Sinhalese, Urdu and English. The best part of YuppTV is it allows access through 25 devices to six screens, Internet STBs, connected TVs, PCs, smart phones, smart BluRay players, gaming consoles and tablets.
iWorld
Subedaar puts Indian original cinema on the global map with record-breaking Prime Video debut
MUMBAI: Prime Video has a runaway hit on its hands. Subedaar, the gritty action drama starring Anil Kapoor, has stormed to become the most-watched Indian original movie on the platform in its opening weekend, cracking the Top 10 across 31 countries and landing in 91 per cent of India’s pin codes within days of its March 5 premiere.
The film, a visceral, emotionally-charged story of a retired soldier, Subedaar Arjun Maurya, wrestling with civilian life amid crime and corruption, has struck a nerve. Directed by Suresh Triveni and co-starring Radhikka Madan, Mona Singh, Saurabh Shukla, Aditya Rawal, Faisal Malik, and Khushboo Sundar, the film is already being hailed as a showcase for what Indian original storytelling can achieve on the world stage.
“Subedaar’s success is a reflection of the growing scale and global resonance of Indian storytelling,” said Nikhil Madhok, director and head of originals at Prime Video India. “The film’s emotional narrative, its rooted portrayal of a soldier confronting his toughest battles beyond the battlefield, has struck a chord. Anil Kapoor delivers an acting masterclass, while Suresh Triveni’s solid direction and great performances from the ensemble cast have resulted in love and appreciation from customers across the world.”
Kapoor, 62, has been here before, but rarely at this altitude. Written by Triveni and Prajwal Chandrashekar, with dialogues by Triveni, Saurabh Dwivedi, and Chandrashekar, the film is a production by Opening Image Films in association with Anil Kapoor Film & Communication Network (AKFCN), produced by Vikram Malhotra, Kapoor, and Triveni.
Subedaar streams exclusively on Prime Video in Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu across India, and in over 240 countries and territories worldwide.
For Prime Video, the numbers tell the real story: one weekend, one film, a global footprint, and a very loud signal that Indian original cinema is no longer just travelling well. It’s arriving.
