Netflix, Amazon join regional bandwagon with Marathi, Bengali, Tamil movies

As the large players look beyond metro audiences, the big thrust is on regionalisation of content

Regional content, be it films or documentaries, comedy or music, has been firing up the Internet in India for a few years now. With cheap data and easy access to content, small local libraries such as Hoichoi (for Bengali content) and national home grown platforms such as Alt Balaji, Voot from Viacom 18, Hotstar from Star India and, besides of course the dedicated channels for several Indian languages on YouTube, have flourished. Now Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hotstar are raising their stakes in the game, commissioning original shows and going all out to acquire regional films for their libraries. Could