Mumbai: Telugu OTT platform aha on Monday launched an independent content and IP creation entity - aha Studio, which has also entered into a partnership with Applause Entertainment to co-produce four premium bi-lingual series.
Their first offering- a web series titled ‘Half-Lion’ will tell the story of former prime minister P V Narsimha Rao. Based on the book with the same name written by Vinay Sitapati, the series will be released in Hindi, Telugu and Tamil, the streaming platform announced at an event held on Monday.
aha Studio will work on projects at a Pan-India level and tell stories that have their origins in the South. The entity will self-finance these projects and license it to various platforms once the production is finished. “The studio is an initiative to create content at an arms-length from the platform. Doing this helps us work with the top talent in the country. We’re looking for projects that have a Pan-India appeal but have their origins in the South, that’s our USP,” said aha CEO Ajit Thakur.
“For us, this partnership is about collaborating with a strong creative and production company,” said Applause Entertainment chief executive officer Sameer Nair. “Geetha Arts is one of the largest content creation companies in South India and have been making movies and series for many years, and they’ve launched the platform aha. In order for us to do bigger, better and brighter things, we will have to collaborate with other content studios. This is not the age of going solo. Lot of creative people should work together on projects.”
Elaborating on the new web series, Nair said, “We enjoy telling stories of this kind. These stories are increasingly being told in the language that they deserve to be told. ‘Scam 1992’ was equal part Hindi and equal part Gujarati. Once we’ve made it, I’m sure there will be a lot of people interested in it because it is an important story to tell.”
The series will be helmed by National Award-winning director Prakash Jha known for his socio-political films such as ‘Gangaajal’, ‘Apaharan’, ‘Rajneeti’ and ‘Aarakshan’ and web series ‘Ashram’. “Hardly a small percentage of today's generation knows about Rao, the ''man who changed India''. He brought about changes, systems in our polity, economy, society and everyday life in our country which now is completely irreversible,” said Jha.
aha Studio had acquired the rights to the book ‘Half-Lion’ and approached Applause Entertainment that has the expertise in telling layered narratives with an ensemble cast. The content studio headed by Nair recently bagged 12 Filmfare OTT awards for ‘Scam 1992’ their biopic on stockbroker Harshad Mehta.
“It’s been a remarkable journey with aha in Telugu so far,” said Geetha Arts managing director and aha promoter Allu Aravind at the event. “We are overwhelmed with the love and support we’ve received globally from the audience, who’ve made aha one of the fastest growing apps in India within a span of two years. In what is another pioneering effort from aha, we believe aha Studio will help us work with the best creative talent in the country to present world class entertainment to our global audience.”
Telugu OTT platform aha is set to launch in Tamil language next year. The platform which has grown by 13+ million downloads in the last year and a half will increase its content investments in 2022 and launch new unscripted formats including ‘Indian Idol Telugu’.
