Yesterday, Disney+Hotstar posted an update that they are into NFTs (New Fictional Thriller). It had the poster of Human, The Great Indian Murder and Ajay Devgn’s upcoming Rudra.
Needless to say, Hotstar has a bunch of exceptionally popular and brilliant Hindi shows that helped the platform become the biggest OTT platform in India.
Normally, Hindi shows are cliched in terms of content. Following the humongous success of Sacred Games and Mirzapur, most Indian shows tried to emulate the same formula. They would be set in small cities and exploit the local crime with express fast cursing words. Shows like Jamtara Sabka Number Aayega and Yeh Kaali Kaali Aankhein are prominent examples of that.
Fortunately, Hotstar has always stayed ahead of that. Shows like Special Ops, Criminal Justice and Hostages are not only insanely popular but innovative too. Aarya is the biggest example that a female-led series can set new benchmarks for success if the content is good.
Human is another example that was led by two women and turned out to be dark, eerie and something new.
The Empire yet again was not greatly executed but a grand vision on a big scale that no other streamer is even planning in India.
Hotstar is planning to take that to a next level with The Great Indian Murder and Rudra. After Saif Ali Khan, Ajay Devgan is the first Bollywood biggie who is working in a series. Hotstar grabbed the opportunity and the craze is quite visible on Twitter.
Long story short, Hotstar is doing much better than the general competition in Hindi but still, it can be improved to a great extent. SonyLIV also comes out with great innovative content like Tabbar and Scam 1992. So does Prime Video on an occasional basis with shows like The Family Man and Unpaused.
It will be interesting to see whether Hotstar improves the scope and elevates that to the level when New Fictional Thrillers (NFTs) seem something of International standard.