09 December,2025 08:03 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Nivin Pauly and Kajal Aggarwal
At a star-studded event that marked a watershed moment for South India's Media & Entertainment industry, JioHotstar announced to invest Rs 4,000 crore over the next five years to boost the region's creative economy. The evening was graced by the Hon'ble Deputy Chief Minister Thiru Udhayanidhi Stalin, Hon'ble Member of Parliament Padma Bhushan Thiru. Kamal Haasan, Hon'ble Minister of Tamil Development, Information and Publicity Thiru M.P Saminathan, and some of the most illustrious icons from across the South film and TV industries, reflecting the scale and cultural significance of the occasion. The presence of Sushant Sreeram, Head of SVOD & Chief Marketing Officer at JioStar and Krishnan Kutty, Head of Cluster, Entertainment (South) at JioStar underscored JioHotstar's bold leadership of India's content evolution and reaffirming the platform's commitment to elevate and expand South Indian storytelling at scale.
JioHotstar also announced signing a Letter of Intent with the Government of Tamil Nadu, establishing a partnership that reflects a shared vision to accelerate the state's creative and production ecosystem. As part of this, JioHotstar will play a pivotal role in strengthening Tamil Nadu's creative economy introducing regional-first formats, new age stories and storytellers scaling their work beyond geographical boundaries. Complementing this effort, JioHotstar will also introduce creator-focused initiatives such as writing labs, mentorship programs and skill-building workshops aimed at nurturing the next generation of filmmakers, writers, editors and digital storytellers.
As a symbolic beginning to this next chapter, Hon'ble Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin unveiled JioHotstar's blockbuster South lineup of 25 new titles showcasing a bold vision for the future of regional entertainment, where stories rooted in the South take centre stage.
Present at the event, superstar Kamal Haasan said, "Today, stories are truly screen-agnostic. They travel with the viewer. The audience has become the platform. And when that happens, the relationship between the medium and the message changes forever. Stories do not belong to any screen; they always travel with the listener and belong to people. Screens simply follow them. It is this tectonic shift that makes JioHotstar's initiative so consequential foy Tamil Nadu - not only for its ambition, but for the architecture of opportunity it unlocks. In this new world, every Tamil creator, producer, and storyteller can reach every Indian, on every screen, every day. Today, regional is becoming the new national, and ethnic the new international. Stories born in Madurai, Malappuram, Mandya or Machilipatnam are no longer "regional cinema" - they are national cultural events."
The slate showcases one of the most diverse content portfolios in the region spanning originals, franchises, movies and unscripted formats. The lineup includes the return of blockbuster franchises like Kerala Crime Files S3, Save The Tigers S3, Heartbeat S3 and Good Wife S2 reaffirming the growing demand for long-running storytelling. Alongside these popular IPs, JioHotstar has announced a robust slate of new originals and long-format shows such as Cousins And Kalyanams, Moodu Lantharlu, LBW - Love Beyond Wicket, Resort, Secret Stories: ROSLIN, Lingam, and Vikram On Duty.
Expanding its premium originals catalogue, JioHotstar also introduces the regional adaptation of the acclaimed Hindi series Aarya titled Vishakha, as well as bold new productions like Kaattaan starring Vijay Sethupathi and Pharma featuring Nivin Pauly. The offering is further strengthened by new movies such as Lucky The Superstar and Kenatha Kaanom all housed within a single, expansive entertainment destination bringing together diverse storytelling and strong mainstream appeal.
While JioHotstar continues to dominate India's unscripted landscape, powered by the unmatched success of the Bigg Boss universe across Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada, the slate marks the next leap expanding the reality portfolio with culturally rooted, high-energy formats such as Comedy Cooks, Mad for Each Other and Second Love delivering experiences that resonate deeply with southern audiences.
In a landmark first, Roadies will debut in Telugu, bringing one of India's most iconic adventure formats to the South and strengthening JioHotstar's leadership in non-fiction entertainment.
