New Delhi: The movie Animal is widely credited as Bobby Deol’s comeback vehicle, but well before that he was already reaching millions as the megalomaniacal Nirala Baba in Ek Badnaam Aashram on Amazon MX Player—the OTT that targets Bharat more aggressively than it does India.
Last year, season 3 of the Prakash Jha-directed series took the second spot among India’s top streaming originals with 27.1 million views. It beat out the likes of Paatal Lok, Panchayat, Dabba Cartel, and Squid Game, helping cement MX Player as a top contender in the race for fastest growing video platform. Much of this growth comes from tier-3 and tier-4 India, where value-for-money is king.
“Amazon Prime Video targets the top 20 million households in India. Everyone else is looking at MX Player,” said Karan Bedi, director and head, Amazon MX Player. “Our content slate spans scripted series like Ek Badnaam Aashram and Jamnapaar to reality shows like Rise and Fall, to dubbed content. We’ve also launched micro-dramas for viewers who have five minutes and want to watch something.”
Amazon MX Player has become a disruptive force in Indian streaming. Launched in June 2024 after Amazon acquired MX Player and merged it with its streaming service miniTV, it’s a formidable package of massy content and Amazon’s ad-tech backbone. It isn’t chasing prestige, but it isn’t short on polish either. Shows such as Jamnapaar, Ek Badnaam Aashram, Sixer, and Rise and Fall draw viewers from East Delhi to Etawah. It even rolled out its answer to Shark Tank this week with Bharat ke Super Founders. Hosted by actor-entrepreneur Suniel Shetty, its focus is on small-town startups.
What has also helped Amazon MX Player punch through a crowded streaming market is the business model. The paid, ad-free version costs Rs 99 a month, but the platform’s scale really comes from its free, ad-supported tier. It’s like TV reborn inside an app, with no need for a subscription but the binge experience on tap. And then there’s its ubiquity—the service is available across Prime Video, Fire TV, and the Amazon shopping app.
By the end of 2025, Amazon MX Player had 1.4 billion app downloads and reached 250 million monthly active users. Its closest rival, Jio Hotstar, has around 300 million subscribers, with a lion’s share coming from the IPL, which is screened exclusively on the platform. By contrast, Netflix has an estimated 20 million paid subscribers in India.
“India as a country is paisa vasool and we saw an opportunity in creating a vast amount of content. There is unlimited demand,” said Bedi. “Our content has been working well not just in tier-3 and -4 towns but also in metros. There is no correlation between a higher price and better content.”
Also Read: Netflix India has turned 10. This is how it changed stardom and Indian viewing
When Bobby became a Baba
If Amazon MX Player has a calling card, it is Ek Badnaam Aashram. The show took a risk on both subject and casting, bringing back a largely shelved star as an unscrupulous godman.
Dealing with themes such as blind faith and rot in ashrams, it encountered protests from groups such as the Karni Sena when it was released in 2020 (when MX Player was still owned by Times Internet), but quickly amassed its own devoted followers.
“When we were conceptualising the show, we thought of Bobby Deol because he is a well-recognised, powerful actor, but he was not active in movies then,” said Bedi. “We took a bet thinking that he fit the character and that audiences would relate to him. We took a similar bet with Suniel Shetty in Dharavi Bank. He wasn’t doing anything in terms of movies at that time.”
The bet on Aashram is still paying off. The third season, released in February 2025, topped streaming charts in its opening week with 9.6 million views, well ahead of Jio Hotstar’s Oops Ab Kya? in second place with 4.6 million views.
When the 50-page story outline was pitched to filmmaker Prakash Jha, known for thrillers such as Gangaajal (2003) and Rajneeti (2010), he was intrigued.
“I always felt Bobby was a good actor. There’s an innate goodness to his demeanour. Baba Nirala is also someone who is adored by his followers—yet is evil and corrupt inside. I found it interesting to cast someone who did not look like an archetypal villain yet shockingly could project darkness,” Jha told ThePrint.
There are portions of the country where 3G and 4G do not work. We have leveraged our tech in a way that people can download and watch, and optimised the content so that it can be data-saving. We broke the concept that if data is better, the viewing experience will be better
-Karan Bedi, director and head, Amazon MX Player
Set in Uttar Pradesh, Aashram follows the rise of Baba Nirala, a godman with a massive following and political protection. Drawing on real-world cases of Indian godmen convicted of crimes, from Ram Rahim to Asaram Bapu, the series also digs into issues such as caste bias and corruption.
With arched brows and a steady gaze, Deol’s Nirala Baba manages to convey both magnanimity and menace within a few frames.
“Bobby worked very hard. He made sure to internalise the character of Baba and bring everything he had to the table. That really helped in shaping up Baba Nirala,” said Jha.
It was the show that propelled MX Player into the ‘national league’, at par with paid OTT platforms. Since then, the platform has shown a willingness to test newer genres without losing its mass base. Its latest release, Bhay: The Gaurav Tiwari Mystery, is billed as India’s first ‘real’ paranormal series, based on the life and death of the eponymous paranormal investigator.
TV experience on mobile screens
What Amazon MX Player has brought to streaming is the rhythm of television. There are breaks within episodes for ads but no one minds because it’s free—unlike Prime, which has been criticised for running ads.
“Going beyond the natural break between episodes, our approach is to integrate brand messaging into the show, especially in unscripted formats. We do not run disruptive ads. We target the messages in a way that is absorbed organically. That is kept in mind even while designing the show,” said Girish Prabhu, head of Amazon Ads India.
Unlike YouTube, where an ad directs viewers to an external link, MX Player integrates shopping seamlessly. After a video ad plays, product options appear below the screen, allowing users to shop without leaving the show.
A certain TV-like sensibility also shows up in the content. Shows such as Yeh Meri Family, set in small town India of the 1990s, appeal to nostalgia. Created by TVF, a frequent collaborator and an old hand at ‘rooted’ storytelling, the series has run for two seasons, each set in a different town and centred on a different family.
It’s a refreshing escape to the pre-smartphone era, especially at a time when fatigue is setting in for hyper-polished and AI-generated content.
“What makes Yeh Meri Family relatable is the emotion, the purity of love among the family members, and the simplicity of how they deal with relationships,” said Rajesh Kumar, who plays Sanjay Awasthi, a schoolteacher in Lucknow. “Living in the 90s was a time when technology was still evolving and the purity of interaction with each other was very much alive.” The cast also includes Juhi Parmar, a familiar face from early-2000s television.
Amazon MX Player really understands what younger audiences connect with. The content feels fresh, relatable, and accessible. They experiment with different stories and give space to new talent, which keeps the service exciting and relevant for today’s generation
-Shruti Sinha, actor
But the mechanics and ethos are strictly 21st-century. Apart from content, the strategy of targeting smaller towns and semi-urban areas has also been developed through the use of in-house technology.
“There are portions of the country where 3G and 4G do not work. We have leveraged our tech in a way that people can download and watch, and optimised the content so that it can be data-saving. We broke the concept that if data is better, the viewing experience will be better,” said Bedi.
Targeting ‘young’ India
Whether it’s influencer Elvish Yadav taking on campus bullying or Hindi-dubbed Demon Slayer, the platform is tailoring content for different sections of young India—be it rural, urban, Gen Z, or Gen Alpha.
Aukaat Ke Bahar, starring Elvish Yadav, is set against the backdrop of Delhi University. Yadav plays a 19-year-old boxer from Haryana who faces bullying and discrimination on campus. Another long-running show on college life, Campus Beat, completed five seasons in 2025.
“It’s not just a basic campus story that revolves around friendship, romance, and dance, but goes a step forward with honest and real-life situations, which have managed to strike a strong chord with the audience,” said actor Shantanu Maheshwari, one of the leads in the show.
Jamnapaar, meanwhile, tackles the ‘in-between’ space that exists after completing education and starting a career. It also explores the East Delhi-South Delhi social divide through the character of Shanky Bansal, who tries to erase his ‘Jamnapaar’ identity to fit into the glass-fronted offices of South Delhi. The first season of the show in 2024 registered 9.2 million views.
“Amazon MX Player really understands what younger audiences connect with. The content feels fresh, relatable, and accessible. They experiment with different stories and give space to new talent, which keeps the service exciting and relevant for today’s generation,” said actor Shruti Sinha, who stars in Campus Beats.
For shorter attention spans, MX Player has MX Fatafat, which is dedicated to microdramas with reel-sized episodes, such as Darr De Dil, Nafrat, and Pagal Ishq.
The demand for global content, especially Korean dramas, has grown exponentially in India. With international stories now available in localised languages, we’re excited to make these compelling shows accessible to viewers completely free
-Amogh Dusad, head of content, Amazon MX Player
Another big draw is its range of international content for viewers who do not want to pay Rs 699 for a yearly Prime Video subscription.
In September last year, the platform signed a deal with CJ ENM, the Korean entertainment conglomerate, to bring 18 drama series to Indian audiences through a gradual rollout. The shows are dubbed in Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu and free to stream. Titles that have already debuted include My Lovely Liar, Twinkling Watermelon, Wedding Impossible, and Delightfully Deceitful.
With the growing popularity of anime in small town India it has also added titles such as Spy × Family, Demon Slayer, One Punch Man, and Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, among others. All these are also available dubbed in Hindi.
“The demand for global content, especially Korean dramas, has grown exponentially in India. With international stories now available in localised languages, we’re excited to make these compelling shows accessible to viewers completely free,” said Amogh Dusad, head of content, Amazon MX Player.
Turkish dramas such as Chrysalis and Mandarin corporate romance Fake It Till You Make It have been added to the list as well, with more to come.
Also Read: How Old Delhi’s Delite Cinema outlived Golcha, Jubilee, Novelty. ‘Solution is romance’
Getting real
Reality TV is another frontier that Amazon MX Player has been trying to cross, with the biggest breakthrough coming in the form of Rise and Fall. Hosted by BharatPe co-founder and Shark Tank India star Ashneer Grover, the daily show amassed nearly 500 million views over six weeks after its premiere in September last year.
In a curious twist, the series is based on a UK series of the same name that originally bombed, yet it shattered records previously set by Aashram, Bhaukaal, and Sixer.
Rather like Bigg Boss, the Indian version was a combination that involved pitting celebrities such as Aditya Narayan, Arjun Bijlani, Dhanashree Verma, and Akriti Negi against each other. The contestants were divided into ‘Rulers’ and ‘Workers’, with the former living in a luxury penthouse while the latter stayed in the basement and carried out tasks to build the prize pot.
The popularity of Grover, the subject of many a meme, combined with the casting of Dhanashree Verma following her widely publicised divorce from cricketer Yuzvendra Chahal, added to the chatter around the show. A staggered episode release helped keep up interest over time.
“Staggered launches help platforms sustain viewership beyond the period of initial buzz,” said Keerat Grewal, head of business development (Streaming, TV & Brands) at Ormax Media. “Finite series with a one-time drop see peak viewership in weeks one to three, followed by a sharp decline of 70 per cent or more from week four onwards. However, shows with strong content likeability can avoid this drop when released in a staggered format, ensuring more consistent engagement over time.”
In a first-of-its-kind arrangement, Rise and Fall aired on both Amazon MX Player and Sony Entertainment Television, attracting major advertisers such as Lux Cozi and McDowell’s through brand integrations and interactive audience touchpoints.
The latest launch under the reality umbrella is Bharat Ke Super Founders. With a Rs 100 crore investment pool, the series claims to have the largest-ever capital commitment for an Indian reality show. In fact, it exceeds the total investments made in the first four seasons of Shark Tank India (currently in its fifth season). Armed with a panel of heavyweight investors such as Dr A Velumani of Thyrocare, Nitish Mittersain of Nazara Technologies, Dr Aarti Gupta of Anikarth Ventures, and Aditya Singh of All In Capital.
Unlike the investor-centric theatrics of Shark Tank, this show moves the spotlight back to the grassroots founders of India and their journeys.
“With Bharat Ke Super Founders, we are introducing a format that places authenticity at the heart of entrepreneurial storytelling. By combining real founders, real capital, and a stringent evaluation process, the show creates genuine opportunity across Bharat,” said Dusad.
(Edited by Asavari Singh)