Disney’s powerful India operation has rolled out a new Disney+ Hostar-branded Multiplex service that offers direct-to-streaming premieres of Bollywood movies from 24 July. 

The enhanced entertainment offering comes as Covid-19 cases in India soar. The curve looks nowhere near flattening, and theatres, if hopeful of opening in the next few months, remain closed.

The seven movies that are part of the Disney+ Hotstar Multiplex line up are horror comedy Laxmi Bomb, action war film Bhuj: The Pride of India, love story Sadak 2, crime drama The Big Bull starring Abhishek Bachchan, Dil Bechara, action thriller Khuda Haafiz and comedy thriller Lootcase. 

Disney+ Hotstar Premium and Disney+ Hotstar VIP subscribers will have access to the multiplex at no extra cost.

 The multiplex initiative kicks off with Dil Bechara, starring the late Sushant Singh Rajput, who died on 14 June this year. The film will be available for free to subscribers and non-subscribers “to commemorate his invaluable contribution to Hindi cinema,” Disney said during the multiplex announcement on 29 June. 

Disney+ Hotstar VIP costs Rs399 a year. 

The Walt Disney Company APAC president and chairman, Star & Disney India, Uday Shankar, said while theatres remained a “special experience”, the industry’s potential “can’t be capped by the number of release windows and theatres available”. 

“Our initiative will dramatically increase the number of films that can be made, giving film-lovers more films to enjoy and the creative community more films to make. We firmly believe that this will generate a massive momentum for more and different kinds of films to be made in India,” he said.