Mumbai: Hungama, India’s largest digital entertainment company, today announced its foray into long-form original programming. Titled ‘Damaged’, ‘Hankaar’, ‘Bar Code’ and ‘Boys with Toys’, each show will belong to a different genre, and feature a diverse cast and crew from the film, TV and theatre world. Hungama will launch 4 shows over the next 3 months, with the first one, ‘Damaged’ premiering on 6th June 2018 on Hungama Play. While the initial 4 shows would be in Hindi, Hungama also plans to create original content in other major Indian languages.
Available on Hungama Play, Hungama’s video-on-demand platform, the company’s strong distribution network will help the shows reach a combined audience of over 50 million in India. Plans are underway to take the content to a global audience with the help of existing and new partners. Hungama’s association with Xiaomi will enable consumers to watch the shows via Hungama Play on Mi Video and Mi TV. In addition to this, users will be able to stream the shows through Hungama Play on Vodafone Play, Idea Movies & TV, Amazon Fire TV Stick and other Android TVs.
Speaking about Hungama Originals, Neeraj Roy, Managing Director and CEO, Hungama Digital Media said, “Hungama Originals are a step forward in storytelling for us. Each of our originals explore different themes and feature strong, contemporary storylines with compelling performances in order to appeal to a diverse, heterogeneous digital audience. We hope to launch 10 – 12 shows in this fiscal year and are certain that through our long-form content, we’ll be able to significantly increase our user base.”
Streaming from 6th June 2018 onwards on Hungama Play, Damaged is Hungama’s first original show and India’s first ground-breaking show about a female serial killer. A psychological crime drama, the show stars Amruta Khanvilkar as the seductress, Lovina – a promiscuous, brutal and remorseless serial killer, and Amit Sial as Abhay – a ruthless, angry and trigger–happy cop. The story begins with the disappearance of a famous painter. Soon the cops realize that his case is just the tip of the iceberg, there are numerous other young men who have gone missing and have never resurfaced. Investigations start and a suspect emerges – Lovina. This turns into an intriguing cat and mouse game between Lovina and the police, led by Abhay.
The show is an interesting study of human behaviour with both the lead stars playing characters that are flawed and have more shades than one. Lovina is an ordinary woman who has a way with men, but finds it difficult to forgive their trespasses. She ultimately embarks on a dark journey from which she can’t return. Abhay, a cop obsessed with solving the serial killings to the extent that he’ll go to any lengths possible, is plagued by his own inner demons that rob him of his humane qualities. The worlds of these ‘Damaged’ characters collide, creating a dramatic and gripping confrontation. The show is directed by Aarambhh Mohan Singh and produced by Alligator Media Productions.
Hankaar, an original crime drama, narrates the story of five Mumbaikars – Nisha (Yogini Chouk), Mangesh (Pramod Sanghi), Pradeep (Rajesh Balwani), James (Shardanand Singh) and Joy (Ram Menon). The story arc follows their struggles and triumphs. Unknown to each other, their lives get intertwined because of a common enemy and certain events in their lives push them to take an unexpected journey. Hankaar is produced by Pocket Films, Talkaholics Productions and Cancom.
Bar Code, an original drama is about the uber-elite and is set against the backdrop of Mumbai’s buzzing nightlife. Starring heartthrobs Karan Wahi and Akshay Oberoi, the show deals with the lives of 2 best friends-turned-enemies, both owners of two rival nightclubs in the city. As much as they have a good life going for them, destroying the other is the only thing on their minds, considering the grudge from the past they hold for each other. Bar Code is produced by Panorama Studios.
A young comedy, Boys with Toys is a hilarious take on the lives of two young men, Aditya (Umang Khanna) and Jignesh (Rishabh Chaddha) whose lives go into a complete flip when one of them receives an unusual inheritance – a box full of sex toys. The boys need to figure ways to turn the inheritance into a thriving business and in the process, have some misadventures along the way. Boys with Toys has been produced by Ashvini Yardi’s production company, Vini Yard Films.
Hungama Originals will address a large audience pool seeking differentiated content across different age groups, genders and geographies, offering something for every viewer. Hungama will continue to focus on stories that appeal to both, Indian and global audiences.
