Rajinikanth's episode of Into The Wild With Bear Grylls to be launched first on OTT app

Discovery channel has entered the OTT market with the launch of a streaming app Discovery Plus. Superstar Rajinikanth's episode of Into The Wild With Bear Grylls will be launched first on Discovery Plus.

Discovery Plus, being touted as India's first aggregated real-life entertainment streaming app, will offer over 40 genres including science, adventure, food, and lifestyle, in eight languages including Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali and Marathi.

The much-anticipated Rajinikanth's TV debut show Into The Wild With Bear Grylls will be launched first on Discovery Plus at 6:00 a.m. on March 23 before the television premiere which is at 8:00 p.m. Discovery Plus will also stream exclusive videos including Behind The Scenes from the episode.

For the app, the content will be curated from brands such as Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, BBC, TLC, Discovery Science, Discovery Turbo, ID, Food Network, HGTV, Cooking Channel, Travel Channel, DIY Network, Motortrend and VICE.

Talking about the app, Simon Robinson, President APAC & CFO International, Discovery, Inc., said: "Globally, we are observing healthy trends from direct-to-consumer businesses and Discovery Plus, with its India focused strategy, is a valued addition. The launch of Discovery Plus is a significant development for our business in India and reflects our commitment to this critical market."

"The consumer is spoilt for choice in the scripted content space but doesn't have a dedicated offering in the unscripted space - a place we intend to fill with the launch of Discovery Plus," said, Megha Tata, Managing Director - South Asia, Discovery, adding: "Our large global library of 3,00,000 hours of premium content and expertise in owning passionate communities will give us a huge competitive advantage in the digital domain."

With an introductory offer of Rs 299 per annum, the app has been developed and curated specifically for India. In the initial phase, the company will reach out to 25 million strong base of core TV infotainment consumers across Tier I and Tier II towns.

On the content, Issac John, Business Head - Digital (South Asia), Discovery, said: "Over the next 12 months, the lineup includes premium content across all our key genres such as ''Into the Wild' with Rajnikanth, Expedition Unknown, Coronavirus: The Silent Killer', Food Factory, Mythbusters, Wild Karnataka and Project Runway among many others.

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2019, superstar Rajinikanth had shot for his part in popular show Man vs Wild show with Bear Grylls earlier this year. While the makers had already released a couple of teasers of the show that is all set to be aired on March 23 at 8 P.M, the channel has now released an interesting sneak peak video of the much awaited episode.

Bear Grylls, who had earlier praised Rajinikanth for his spirit of never giving up seems to have called the superstar a 'Super Hero'. He seems have been mightily impressed with how Rajinikanth is at the age of 70. The sneak peak reveals much more and shows Rajinikanth discussing about the importance of water and how it is a huge problem in India. He also seems to share his story of how he was a bus conductor in Bangalore and how he made it to be an actor. He has apparently narrated the whole story how director K Balachander made him an actor and changed him from Shivaji Rao Gaewad to Rajinikanth.