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Hotstar VIP – Rewind, Unwind and Replay!

As we bid adieu to 2019 and gear up to welcome a new decade, here’s looking back at all the best moments on Hotstar VIP

Launch of Hotstar Specials

With a vision of brining alive Big, Bold and Authentic Stories, Hotstar launched its own content label – Hotstar Specials featuring the best storytellers and creative talent India has to offer. Unrestricted by episode durations or format restrictions, shows under the Hotstar Specials label has been created exclusively for the digital platform and are available in 7 Indian languages. 

Hotstar Specials Series 

Roar Of The Lion (March 2019)

Sports Docu-series Created by Kabir Khan 

Roar of the Lion’ is a story of how a bunch of men in yellow jerseys wrote one of India’s greatest comeback stories under the leadership of M.S.Dhoni. Shot across multiple locations including Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Australia, this is a finite story of 6 episodes of 30 minutes each that follows the human emotions of not only the members of Team CSK, but also of their beloved fans, during the days that led to the CSK ban and the 2 years that followed. 

Criminal Justice (April 2019)

Crime-thriller Directed by Tigmanshu Dhulia & Vishal Furia

Cast: Vikrant Massey, Pankaj Tripathi, Jackie Shroff, Anupriya Goenka and Mita Vashisht

Criminal Justice captures the journey of Aditya Sharma’s (Vikrant Massey) as one incident completely

turns around his life. 24-year-old, simple yet ambitious Aditya Sharma, lives with his family in Mumbai. Coming from a middle-class background, he helps contribute to the family’s income by driving a cab around the city. Life takes the wrong turn on one fateful night, when Aditya’s last trip of his duty ends with him being accused of a brutal murder of a female passenger. As skeletons tumble out of his closet, one begins to contemplate whether Aditya is innocent or guilty of this gruesome crime?

City of Dreams (May 2019)

Political Drama Directed by Nagesh Kukunoor

Cast: Atul Kulkarni, Priya Bapat, Sachin Pilgaonkar, Eijaz Khan and Siddharth Chandekar

Set in Mumbai against the backdrop of Indian politics and elections, the show traces the journey of two siblings - Poornima and Ashish Gaikwad - and their thirst for power. The brother sister duo will stop at nothing in their all-out battle to become the one true heir to their father’s legacy.  Will it be the son who many believe is the rightful successor and has always been with him in all his political campaigns, or will it be the daughter who is a smart and powerful woman wanting to prove herself in a male-dominated society?

Hostages (May 2019)

Crime-thriller Directed by Sudhir Mishra 

Cast: Ronit Roy, Tisca Chopra, Dalip Tahil, Mohan Kapoor, Ashim Gulati

The story follows a renowned surgeon Dr. Mira Anand (Tisca Chopra) who is about to perform a routine operation on the Chief Minister. But there is nothing routine about it when the night before the procedure, her family is taken hostage and she is ordered to assassinate the chief minister – and save her family from a harrowing fate. Prithvi Singh (Ronit Roy), a cop with the Mumbai police team who not only has this hostage situation to deal with, but also his own inner struggles. Will Dr. Mira Anand make an impossible resolution?

The Office (Season 1: June 2019; Season 2: September 2019) 

Comedy series Directed by (Season 1) Rohan Sippy and Debbie Rao; (Season 2) Bumpy 

Set in Faridabad, the show chronicles the 9-to-5 lives of the employees at Wilkins Chawla as they navigate through their mundane routine that invariably gives rise to comical situations. From a ‘fun’jabi branch manager Jagdeep Chadda and the gullible and obsequious TP Mishra to an office love triangle featuring Amit Sharma, Pammi Goyal and Parmeet Chowdhry – this slice-of-life comedy features relatable characters found in every workplace.

Out of Love (November 2019)

Drama series Directed by Tigmanshu Dhulia and Aijaz Khan 

Cast: Rasika Dugal, Purab Kohli, Soni Razdan, Harsh Chhaya, Aanjjan Srivaastav and Sanghmitra Hitaishi

Set against the backdrop of Coonoor (Tamil Nadu), the story follows, Dr Meera Kapoor a 37-year-old woman who is strong and successful; is a devoted mother to an eleven-year-old son and a loving wife to Akarsh Kapoor. Everything in her life changes and her perfect world is shattered when she suspects her husband of having an affair. As the lies and betrayal come to light, we see her unravel both personally and professionally. What will Meera do - will she Forgive, Forget or Fight? 

Hotstar Specials Movies

Chhappad Phaad Ke (October 2019)

Dark Comedy Directed by Sameer Hemant Joshi

Cast: Vinay Pathak, Ayesha Raza, Siddharth Menon and Sheetal Thakur

Chhappad Phaad Ke revolves around the Gupchup family, a living template of Indian middle-class household living in Pune. Everything about their life was ordinary, until the extraordinary day when they discover a bag full of unclaimed money. Locked in a bag and hidden behind layers of clothes, this unused stash of money manages to emanate its vicious tentacles to engulf and tear the basic fabric of this everyday family. 

Kanpuriye (October 2019)

Comedy Anthology Directed by Ashish Aryan

Cast: Aparshakti Khurana, Divyenndu, Harsh Mayar, Vijay Raaz, Chitranjan Tripathi, Gyan Prakash, Harshita Gaur and Rajshri Deshpande

Kanpuriye is a fast-paced comedy drama of three boys from Kanpur who are willing to go to any extent to make their dreams come true. Jaitun Mishra (Aparshakti Khurana) works in a leather factory and wants to marry Bulbul Tiwari (Harshita Gaur). Jugnu Lampat (Harsh Mayar) is caught between his dream of becoming a chef and his father’s plan of involving him in the family occupation. Vijay Dinanath Chauhan (Divyendu Sharma) is a fresh law graduate who has landed his dream job in Mumbai, save for an impending court case that pulls him back. Jaitun, Jugnu, and Vijay Dinanath Chauhan, are busy charting out their lives, unknowing of where they will eventually land.  

Blockbuster, Exclusive Digital Premieres 

This year, Hotstar VIP added a gamut of movies to its expansive library – just after its theatrical release and before the TV premiere. Some of the biggest titles include Mission Mangal, Chhichhore, Housefull 4, Super 30 and many more and regional titles like Kaithi (Tamil), Meeku Maathrame Cheptha, Love Action Drama (Malayalam), Raju Gari Gadhi 3 (Telugu), Gaddhalakonda Ganesh (Telugu), Comali (Tamil), Durgeshgorer Guptodhon (Bengali) and many many more.

This year, Hotstar VIP also marked a global first by providing language segregation by subscription plan for 2019’s biggest movies Avengers: Endgame. To make the movie accessible to millions across the country, it was available to all VIP users in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. 

Unlimited LIVE Sporting Action 

After an immensely successful cricket season, Hotstar VIP continued to deliver on its commitment of unlimited LIVE-sporting action. From Football, Cricket, Table Tennis and Badminton, viewers were able to enjoy their favourite games anytime, anywhere and across multiple languages. 

With Hotstar VIP get access to exclusive new content from the Hotstar Specials label, access to STAR network serials before television 6AM onward, and the latest and best of live sporting action.

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