Disney+ Hotstar has unveiled a new slate of web-series that will be premiered over the course of the rest of the year.
The streaming platform announced an entire slew of stars, including Shabana Azmi, Siddharth, Pratik Gandhi, Shefali Shah, Sathyaraj, Raj Babbar, Poonam Dhillon and Pankaj Tripathi, that will feature in these upcoming originals.
Besides returning stars like Sushmita Sen and Kay Kay Menon, the platform has roped in filmmakers like Tigmanshu Dhulia, Nikkhil Advani, Ram Madhvani and Vipul Shah to helm the series.
As previously announced, Ajay Devgn will be making his digital debut with Rudra: The Edge Of Darkness. An official adaption of BBC’s Luther, the web-series also stars Esha Deol Takhtani, Raashii Khanna and Atul Kulkarni.
Devgn said in a statement, “My upcoming series Rudra: The Edge Of Darkness is bigger than anything I’ve done before. As an actor, I have always believed in reinventing myself with diverse roles to provide an entertaining experience to the audience and I am thrilled to embrace a new form of storytelling with Disney+ Hotstar.”
Advani’s The Empire, starring Azmi, Kunal Kapoor, Dino Morea and Drashti Dhami, is a historical web-series that will track the origins of the Mughals.
Six Suspects, adapted from Slumdog Millionaire author Vikas Swarup's novel of the same name, will feature Pratik Gandhi, Richa Chadha, Ashutosh Rana and Sharib Hashmi. The web-series, directed by Dhulia, will be jointly produced by Devgn and Priti Sinha.
As the title suggests, the show revolves around six suspects in the murder of a home minister's playboy son who was himself only recently acquitted in a murder case.
Scam 1992 (2020) star Gandhi stated, “As an actor, this has allowed me to expand my horizons and work on stories and roles that challenge and teach me. Tigmanshu Dhulia has created some of my favourite movies. It is an absolute honour to work with a stalwart like him on Six Suspects.”
Shefali Shah and Kirti Kulhari star in the medical drama Human. Shah, who recently made her own directorial debut with the short film Happy Birthday Mummyji, said, “[Human is] about the underbelly of the medical world. Raw, real, gritty. I am thrilled to be part of this journey, not only because this is a new genre for me, but [because] I'm playing a character I've never ever played before.”
South star Siddharth, Jaaved Jaaferi, Ritvik Sahore and Shweta Tripathi headline the tech thriller Escaype Live, while Tisca Chopra, Saurabh Shukla and Rajesh Tailang star in the suspense drama Fear 1.0.
Choreographer-turned-filmmaker Remo D’Souza will feature in the reality series Dance+ while the animation series The Legend Of Hanuman returns for a second season with the voice of actor Sharad Kelkar.
City Of Dreams (Season 2), starring Priya Bapat, Atul Kulkarni, Eijaz Khan and Sachin Pilgaonkar, is scheduled to have its premiere on 30 July.
Sushmita Sen’s Aarya and Pankaj Tripathi’s Madhav Mishra will be seen once again as the web-series Aarya returns for a second season and Criminal Justice for a third.
Menon’s Special Ops follow-up will showcase the origins of his character Himmat Singh in the spy thriller Special Ops 1.5 directed by Neeraj Pandey.
The Telugu web-series Gharshana is a political drama featuring Naveen Chandra, Sarath Kumar and Jagapathi Babu, and Baahubali actor Sathyaraj will make his digital debut with the Tamil series The Perfect Husband.
The mystery thriller Family Matters will star Murali Sharma, Nandu, Akshara Gowda and Sonia Agarwal, while author Anuja Chauhan’s Those Pricey Thakur Girls will be adapted in a web-series starring Akshay Oberoi, Saher Bamba, Raj Babbar and Poonam Dhillon. Set in Delhi, Those Pricey Thakur Girls follows the lives of the alphabetically named Thakur sisters and their parents.
Besides the slate of web-series, Disney+ Hotsar will premiere the films Bhuj: The Pride Of India, starring Ajay Devgn, Sanjay Dutt and Sonakshi Sinha, and Bhoot Police, featuring Saif Ali Khan, Arjun Kapoor, Jacqueline Fernandez and Yami Gautam, in August and September, respectively.