Disney+ launched in India with 'virtual red carpet premiere' amid COVID-19 lockdown
Story highlights
Bollywood stars interacted with fans via a live chat on the streaming service to promote the launch.
Disney+ had its launch in India via Hotstar. While there were bigger plans in the minds of the management, they had to do with virtual red carpet with Bollywood stars talking about films and what’s there on offer.
Among the stars, Hrithik Roshan, Katrina Kaif, Shraddha Kapoor, Rana Daggubati and Tiger Shroff were seen interacting with fans via a live chat on Disney+ Hotstar as the service premiered ‘The Lion King’ (which was also dubbed in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu) followed by ‘The Mandalorian’.
The live interaction was promoted with the #StayHomeStaySafe hashtag in a bid to increase awareness about staying indoors during the lockdown. While Tiger wrote, “I know times are tough, but we're tougher and we'll beat this”, Shraddha Kapoor said, "I hope you're all staying at home, safe and sound!"
Parineeti Chopra, who is starring in the upcoming Bollywood remake of ‘The Girl on the Train’, shared that she hadn't "stepped out in three weeks. But it is NOT getting to me, because I know this is for my and our country's safety."
In February, Disney CEO Bob Iger said that the company would be launching Disney+ in India through their already established Hotstar streaming service on March 29, to coincide with "the beginning of the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket season." Iger added that Disney would be "rebranding our existing Hotstar VIP and Premium subscription tiers to Disney+ Hotstar."
But as COVID-19 began to spread in India, IPL was cancelled and then Disney had to rethink ways of launching their platform.