Amazon Video, the digital arm of online retailer Amazon, is setting foot in India, slowly but surely.
While the Amazon Prime service was made available to Indian customers since Thursday, NDTV reported that Amazon Video is 'coming soon' to India.
Now, HuffPost India can report that the senior execs of Amazon Video have already met top directors from Bollywood who they've roped in to direct original web-only shows for their platform.
A source close to the development revealed that Vishal Bhardwaj and Vidhu Vinod Chopra have already been brought on-board and are developing shows that will premiere on Amazon once the service goes live in India, around November.
Amazon's biggest rival, Netflix, already has signed Anurag Kashyap to direct the film adaptation of Vikram Chandra's Sacred Games, while other OTT platforms like Eros Now and Viacom's Voot are still trying to make their mark (to little avail) in the online ecosystem.
Before this, Netflix snatched the distribution rights to Q's Sundance breakthrough Brahman Naman, but the Phantom film with Kashyap is likely going to be their first commissioned project.
A report by Screen International, quoting tech blogs, said that Amazon is investing $300 million in producing and acquiring local content in a bid to stock up its library before making a splashing debut in India.
The report also states that the company has already hired Nitesh Kripalani, former executive vice president of Multi Screen Media (MSM), to head Amazon Prime in India and former Cinestaan executive Aparna Purohit as head for creative development.
Among some of Amazon's most noted original online series include shows like Transparent, Mozart In The Jungle, The Man In The High Castle while an untitled Woody Allen project is keenly awaited.
HuffPost India reached out to Chopra and Bhardwaj for a comment but received no response.
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