In a major surprise for OTT viewers, Prime Video USA began streaming the much-talked-about web show ‘Kamathipura’ on Monday. The premiere of the show on Amazon Prime Video in the USA was a sudden development, with no prior notice from the platform – neither on Prime Video itself, or on any of its social media handles. OTT audiences in India will have to wait a bit longer to watch ‘Kamathipura’. There’s no word on the streaming information for the series on Indian OTT. What makes the situation even more intriguing is that Kamathipura was a heavily promoted show; and a property of not Amazon Prime Video, but of……Disney Plus Hotstar!
This makes it a confusing scenario – ‘Kamathipura’ started out as a Hotstar Specials show. It was heavily promoted by Disney Plus Hotstar as a hard-hitting show and a mustwatch, with the significant date of March 8, International Women’s Day, set as its premiere date. What’s more, Disney Plus Hotstar even announced with much fanfare that the show would be free-to-watch for everyone – no paid subscription needed. The last time Disney Plus Hotstar had made a property free to watch was when it premiered Sushant Singh Rajput’s ‘Dil Bechara’ on its platform. That was the level of importance the platform accorded to ‘Kamathipura’.
However, something went wrong for Disney Plus Hotstar before it could release Kamathipura. We, at Binged, had reported on March 8 that Disney Plus Hotstar has postponed Kamathipura indefinitely. Given the fact that Kamathipura is full of strong, expletives-laden language, graphic violence and disturbing scenes, it was thought that Disney Plus Hotstar had taken the aforementioned action to comply with increased Government monitoring of OTT content. It was thought that Disney Plus Hotstar had postponed the release of Kamathipura, and will sanitise it appropriately so that it can be released and watched without unwanted hitches or raucous calls for a ban on it.
Now, however, it seems that there’s more to the story. Kamathipura has begun streaming on Amazon Prime Video only for US viewers. Meanwhile, there’s not a single word from either Prime or Disney Plus Hotstar on its India release. So, has the web series been shelved for Indian streaming? Has the new OTT guidelines of the Indian government found its first victim? If not, where will Kamathipura stream for Indian viewers – Hotstar or Amazon Prime Video? And when?
Right now, there seem to be more questions and no answers whatsoever. All we can do is wait for more information forthcoming from either of the two streaming platforms involved.
Kamathipura stars Meera Chopra, Tanuj Virwani, Anang Desai and Varun Joshi, besides Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Chirag Trivedi and Priyanka Khatri. It is directed by Shravankumar Trivedi, and is a murder mystery set in the backdrop of Kamathipura, the largest red light area in Mumbai.
Stay tuned to Binged.com for fresh updates on the India streaming of Kamathipura. In the meanwhile, have a look at the trailer of Kamathipura –
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