The Varun-Dhawan led comedy Coolie No 1 will be premiered directly on Amazon Prime Video on December 25, the streaming platform announced in a press release today. Directed by David Dhawan and a reworking of his 1995 blockbuster, Coolie No 1 also stars Sara Ali Khan, Paresh Rawal, Javed Jaffrey, Johnny Lever and Rajpal Yadav.
The movie is the biggest catch among the seven acquisitions announced by Amazon Prime Video today. The Hindi films that will skip the cinemas despite talk of them reopening are Ashok’s conspiracy thriller Durgavati, starring Bhumi Pednekar. It will be streamed on December 11.
Hansal Mehta’s Chhalaang, starring Rajkummar Rao as a sports coach, will be streamed on November 13.
The Telugu film Middle Class Melodies, directed by Vinod Anantoju and starring Anand Deverakonda-Varsha Bollamma, will be out on November 20. The Kannada family drama Bheema Sena Nalamaharaja, directed by Karthik Saragur and starring Aravinnd Iyer, Aarohi Narayan, Priyanka Thimmesh, Achyuth Kumar and Aadya, will be premiered on October 29.
Vivy Kathiresan’s horror thriller Maane Number 13, also in Kannada, will be out on November 19. The cast includes Varsha Bollamma, Aiswarya Gowda, Praveen Prem, Chetan Gandharva, Ramana and Sanjeiv.
Release dates for two of the films on the list have already been announced. The Malayalam comedy Halal Love Story, directed by Zakariya Mohammed, and Sudha Kongara’s Tamil-language Soorarai Pottru, starring Suriya as Air Deccan founder GR Gopinath, will be out on October 15 and October 30 respectively.
“The disruptive, pioneering format of Direct to Digital movie premieres has, in many ways, been a game changer in the way films are watched in India,” Gaurav Gandhi, Director and Country General Manager, Amazon Prime Video India, said in a press statement. “The fact that more than 50 percent of viewership of our Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam Direct to Digital titles came from outside of the respective home states is representative of how digital distribution can expand the audience for great content.”