aha is an Indian subscription video on-demand and over-the-top

streaming Streaming media is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content i ...

service which offers

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

and Tamil-language content. It is owned by Arha Media & Broadcasting Private Limited, a joint venture by

Geetha Arts Geetha Arts is an Indian film production and distribution company known for its works in Telugu cinema. It is established in 1972 by Allu Aravind. The company is based out of Hyderabad. It has produced around 60 films majority of them in Telu ...

and My Home Group. The service was soft launched on 25 January 2020 and launched officially on 25 March 2020, coinciding with Telugu New Year (Ugadi).

History

Allu Aravind Allu Aravind (born 10 January 1949) is an Indian film producer and distributor in Telugu cinema under his banner Geetha Arts. He co-owns the Indian Super League club ''Kerala Blasters FC''. A part of the Allu–Konidela family, Aravind is th ...

revealed that he was enamoured with the digital environment and developed a habit of binge-watching. Soon he came up with the idea of starting a streaming platform for hosting solely

content. He then discussed the idea with his family, who encouraged him and which led to talks with Rameswar Rao Jupally, who joined as a partner in the venture. Ajit Thakur heads the platform.

Market and expansion

After opting for a soft launch on 8 February 2020 an event named ''aha Preview'' was conducted where all the film makers who worked on ''aha Originals'' attended and presented their work. In November 2020, aha announced actor

Allu Arjun Allu Arjun (born 8 April 1982) is an Indian actor who works in Telugu films. One of the highest paid actors in India, Arjun is also known for his extraordinary dancing skills. He is a recipient of several awards, including six Filmfare Awar ...

as its brand ambassador. The platform has acquired one million subscribers within a year of its launch, and by July 2021, it has over 1.5-million paid subscribers and 40-million-plus users, catering predominantly to the markets of

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to t ...

and

Telangana Telangana (; , ) is a state in India situated on the south-central stretch of the Indian peninsula on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the eleventh-largest state and the twelfth-most populated state in India with a geographical area of and ...

states. In August 2021, aha launched aha kids, a sub-brand focusing on children's programming. It is scheduled to launch on 10 September, coinciding with

Vinayaka Chavithi ''Vinayaka Chaviti'' is a 1957 Telugu-language Hindu mythological film written and directed by Samudrala Sr. It stars N. T. Rama Rao and Jamuna with music composed by Ghantasala. It was produced by K. Gopala Rao under the Aswaraja Pictures b ...

. aha 2.0 was launched in November 2021 on a cloud-native platform from Firstlight Media. The Tamil language version of Aha was launched in February 2022.

Original programming

The service began its operation by acquiring digital rights of films such as ''

Arjun Suravaram ''Arjun Suravaram'' is a 2019 Indian Telugu-language action thriller film written and directed by T. Santhosh. The film stars Nikhil Siddharth and Lavanya Tripathi. It is produced by Rajkumar Akella, and presented by B. Madhu on the Movie Dynami ...

Kaithi Kaithi (), also called Kayathi () or Kayasthi (), is a historical Brahmic script that was used widely in parts of Northern and Eastern India, primarily in the present-day states of Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar. In particular, it was ...

'' (Telugu dubbed version) and '' Choosi Choodangaane''.

Original shows and series

The original scripted content which debuted on the service during the soft launch was ''Kotha Poradu'', ''Shithappens '' and ''Geetha Subhramanyam 2020''. '' Masti's'' created by Krish debuted on 8 February 2020. For the first year, the scripted original content included 25 original shows. Talk show ''

Sam Jam ''Sam Jam'' is an Indian Telugu-language web television talk show hosted by Samantha Ruth Prabhu. Directed by Arun Seshkumar and created by Allu Aravind for aha, the show premiered on 13 November 2020 on the streaming platform aha. It marks S ...

'' with

Samantha Akkineni Samantha Ruth Prabhu (formerly: Samantha Akkineni; born 28 April 1987) is an Indian actress who mainly works in Telugu and Tamil film industries. She is a recipient of several awards, including four South Filmfare Awards, six South Indian I ...

as its host premiered on aha on 13 November 2020. Aha has planning to offer over 50 original shows for the year 2021. Aha Talk show Unstoppable With NBK with

Nandamuri Balakrishna Nandamuri Balakrishna (born 10 June 1960), simply known as Balakrishna or Balayya or NBK, is an Indian actor, producer and politician. He appeared in more than 100 Telugu films over forty years in a variety of roles and established himself as ...

ranked 5th on IMDB among the top 10 reality shows.

Series List

Original Films

The following original films debuted on the service during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

; most films which had scheduled theatrical releases have been shifted to online release. Aha have acquired many films to be presented as aha original films.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Aha, OTT Indian entertainment websites Subscription video on demand services Internet television streaming services Self-censorship Internet properties established in 2020