MUMBAI: Amazon Prime Video India has announced the creation of multiple Unscripted Originals (reality shows) for India, a first for a digital streaming service.
The lineup comes to life with three new reality shows – Jestination Unknown, The Remix and Comic Kaun featuring industry stalwarts such as Vir Das, Anu Menon, Amit Trivedi, Sunidhi Chauhan and Nucleya; and comedians Tanmay Bhat, Sumukhi Suresh and Abish Mathew. With this foray into reality shows, Amazon Prime Video is once again changing the way video content is created and consumed in India.
Prime Video head of content - Asia Pacific James Farrell said, “Reality shows are now more popular than ever, across a variety of genres. Customers globally have told us how much they enjoy reality shows, like the Japanese Prime Video fan favorite, The Bachelor Japan. With the launch of multiple new Original reality shows, we’re aiming to offer our Indian customers a variety of quality new reality content to enjoy.”
Amazon Prime director - content Vijay Subramaniam said “We’re always looking for new ways to engage with our customers. We know Indians enjoy reality TV, so we are creating new originals with the best new concepts and local Indian talent. We’re excited to add more variety to our service, and continue to reinvent the way Indian customers watch TV.”
Amazon revealed details of three reality shows which include a mix of comedy, music, travel and experiential content.
Jestination Unknown: Jestination Unknown will be a six-episode travelling comedy show that follows celebrated Indian comedian, Vir Das, and a rotating group of his comic friends. As each episode explores a new city across India, Das and his comic friends will explore the most important question of this show: what does India find funny, what doesn’t it find funny, how does the whole package of local culture - be it food, folklore, music, dance - change the perspective of a stand-up comedian, and their quest for comedy in India. Each episode will feature a series of sketches, vignettes, keen insights into how a comedian ticks, and will, eventually, culminate to a new stand-up comedy performance based on the group’s experience in the current city.
Some of the talent that will feature in the show, produced by ‘Weirdass’, along with Vir Das include Sharul Channa, Anu Menon, Kavi Shastri and Ashwin Mushran.
The Remix: Based on an established format that has been sold in 15 countries across Asia, Africa and Europe, The Remix will be a 10-episode music reality competition show where DJs and singers pair up to create remixes and compete for a big prize. In each episode, the DJ/singer pairs will reinterpret a popular song in a new style or format, which will change from challenge to challenge. At the end of every performance, a panel of celebrity judges will choose who advances and who will be eliminated. The Remix will be the first series to incorporate a DJ and electronic music, but will feature many of the same core storytelling elements as its predecessors.
Some of the talent that will feature as judges in the show, produced by ‘Grey Matter’, will include Nucleya, Sunidhi Chauhan and Amit Trivedi.
Comic Kaun (Working Title): Comic Kaun will be a 10-episode nationwide hunt to find India’s next big comic sensation. A panel of top comedian judges will preside over a pool of emerging comedians in India who will compete for the coveted prize. Each episode will focus on a specific comedy genre (e.g. anecdotal, observational, and improvisational) and the judges will serve as mentors in their genre of expertise. Comic Kaun offers an opportunity to embrace this genre in a fresh, new competition format that has not been used in India yet.
Some of the talent that will feature in the show, produced by ‘OML’, will include well-known comics Abish Mathew and Sumukhi Suresh as the hosts along with top comedians like Tanmay Bhat, Kenny Sebastian, Naveen Richard, Aadar Malik, Sapan Verma, Kanan Gill, Kaneez Surka and Biswa Kalyan Rath.
