Screentime
Netflix and Amazon Score Big Wins in Battle for Bollywood
- Hindi film’s online debut shows turning point for streaming
- While fans win, cinemas face scathing battle for films
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“Gulabo Sitabo,” a Bollywood film starring Indian legend Amitabh Bachchan, was supposed to draw millions to cinema halls this spring. Instead, the crowd-pleasing Hindi satire debuted on Amazon.com Inc.’s Prime streaming service as the coronavirus kept Indians home.
Other Indian blockbusters have followed, pouring into online platforms like Netflix Inc. and Walt Disney Co.’s Disney+ Hotstar. That’s won the streaming services first rights to play films usually watched in theaters popular in this nation of 1.3 billion people. Netflix says it has added six new Indian films that would otherwise have gone to cinemas, while Disney has at least seven such movies on tap.