The Indian sports drama, 83, is finally going to release for streaming on an OTT platform – and it is expected to happen by the end of this month. But the best part – the film is going to be available for streaming on two OTT platforms simultaneously (presumably) – on Netflix and Disney+ Hotstar. The last major Indian film to do such a release was the Kangana Ranaut starrer, Thalaivii. While there hasn’t been an official confirmation from any of the parties involved, we expect an announcement to happen soon.
Similar to the aforementioned Thalaivii, the two streaming platforms (Netflix and Disney+ Hotstar) will release different versions of the film. Netflix will release the movie in the original Hindi language with multiple subtitles, while Disney+ Hotstar will release the movie in multiple dubbed versions including Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam. The latter will have multiple language subtitles as well.
When the film was announced back in 2017, the film producers were in talks with Star India over the television rights. Since the “OTT boom” hadn’t hit India then, Star Gold won the television rights for the film. Then, of course, coronavirus happened and the entertainment industry changed overnight. Star India, which is the subsidiary company of Disney, then acquired the streaming rights for the regional versions of the film. Netflix had managed to acquire the original version AKA the Hindi version of the film as soon as the “OTT fever” took over the country.
83 will release on TV on the Star Gold channel, a couple of months after its OTT release. 83 is expected to release on both Disney+ Hotstar and Netflix on either February 18th or 25th. And when that happens, it will only be the second major Bollywood film to have had a dual OTT release (after Thalaivii).
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