1000+ Babies: ‘Rahman, Neena Gupta’s Hotstar Malayalam web series has potential to appeal to audience across world’

Disney+ Hotstar seems to be focusing on web series across South languages recently, to populate its content library. After greenlighting Ahammed Khabeer’s Kerala Crime Story and debutant Praveen Chandran’s comedy series starring Nikhila Vimal and Sunny Wayne, the OTT platform’s third Malayalam web series this year is titled 1000+ Babies that will be helmed by Najeem Koya.

In an exclusive chat with OTTplay, the series’ producer Shaji Natesan, of August Cinema, says, “Rahman and Neena Gupta play the lead roles in the series, which will be made in Malayalam but will be released in all other languages. Its content has the potential to appeal to audiences across India, if not the world, as well as run for several seasons,” he says.

Also read: Kerala Crime Files teaser: Aju Varghese, Lal hunt down a killer with a fake address as the sole clue, in Hotstar series 

Najeem had previously written the scripts for Chera, Two Countries and Kaly, which was also produced by Arya, Santosh Sivan and Shaji’s production company. On the series, which went on floors on Monday, Shaji says, “The entire series will be about 210 minutes in duration. So, it’s almost like shooting two films.”

The web series, which is set to be released on the platform this year itself, will be shot in 93 locations. “In Kerala, Erattupetta, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Alappuzha and Palakkad are the main locations. We will be shooting in Bengaluru and Thenkasi as well. It will be one of the biggest series from South by Hotstar, and that’s one of the reasons we agreed to produce it,” he says. “Currently, the plan is to wrap up the shoot in 90 days because we have 93 locations. We have taken it as a challenge to make it better than a movie and release it as one of the best series from the South.”

Also read: Nikhila Vimal begins shooting for comedy web series scripted by Kunjiramayanam writer, helmed by Praveen Chandran 

Apart from Rahman and Neena Gupta, the series will also have actors from several industries chosen through auditions, Shaji tells us. Meanwhile, Disney+ Hotstar’s Kerala Crime Files, which has Lal and Aju Varghese in the lead, is set to premiere on the platform in June.