Pravah Picture

About Pravah Picture

Pravah Picture is a Marathi-language movie pay television channel in India, owned by JioStar — the joint venture between Viacom18 and Disney India. Launched on May 15, 2022, by what was then Disney Star, the channel is the dedicated movie outlet of the Star Pravah network and the broadcaster's second Marathi channel after the flagship general entertainment channel Star Pravah. It went on air with a library of more than 200 Marathi films and a distinctive promise: a new movie premiere every week, a proposition described at launch as unheard of in Marathi entertainment. The channel broadcasts in both standard and high definition and its content streams on JioHotstar. Its online home is jiohotstar.com.

Announcement and Launch

Disney Star announced Pravah Picture on April 4, 2022, scheduling the launch for May 15, 2022. The announcement positioned the channel as the new home of Marathi cinema, bringing the best of the industry onto a single platform with a launch library of more than 200 titles. Kevin Vaz, then Head of Network Entertainment Channels at Disney Star, said the company was extending the Pravah brand to give viewers a new channel catering to their entertainment needs and an opportunity for families to watch the finest Marathi titles together while celebrating Maharashtrian culture.

The launch had originally been scheduled for December 25, 2021, but was postponed indefinitely before being formally announced in April 2022. When it finally went on air on May 15, 2022, in both SD and HD versions, it became the broadcaster's second Marathi channel after the flagship GEC Star Pravah — not counting the sports channel Star Sports 1 Marathi. Trade observers noted that the channel would bring long-awaited competition to Zee Talkies, which had largely dominated the Marathi movie genre, with the only other competition coming from free-to-air channels such as Shemaroo MarathiBana and Zee Chitramandir.

The Logo Unveiling

The channel's logo was unveiled by Marathi cinema stalwarts Sachin Pilgaonkar and Mahesh Kothare during the special show "Star Pravah Pariwaar Puraskaar 2022," telecast on Star Pravah on Sunday, April 3, 2022. The awards show — the network's annual celebration of its serial casts — featured performances on a medley of popular Marathi film songs, and the logo reveal was staged as the centrepiece of the evening's grand celebration.

Choosing Pilgaonkar and Kothare for the unveiling was symbolically significant: both are towering figures in Marathi cinema, with careers spanning acting, directing and producing across decades. Their presence linked the new channel to the heritage of the Marathi film industry, signalling that Pravah Picture intended to be a custodian of Marathi cinema rather than merely another outlet for film rights.

A Premiere Every Week

Pravah Picture's defining proposition is its commitment to premiere one new Marathi movie every week. At launch, the company described this as a promise unheard of in Marathi entertainment — a weekly cadence of television premieres that would give viewers a constant stream of fresh films. The strategy mirrors the premiere-driven playbook of Hindi movie channels, adapted to a regional industry whose theatrical output is smaller but whose audience loyalty is intense.

The weekly-premiere model serves multiple purposes: it creates appointment viewing that sustains ratings, it gives the channel a marketing drumbeat of new content, and it strengthens the broadcaster's relationships with Marathi film producers by offering a reliable and prominent satellite window. For an industry in which satellite rights are a key revenue stream, a channel guaranteeing weekly premieres represents a significant new buyer of first-run films.

The Launch Slate: Pavankhind and Beyond

The channel's first major television premiere was Pavankhind, telecast on June 12, 2022. The historical epic, starring Chinmay Mandlekar, Ajay Purkar, Sameer Dharmadhikari and Aastad Kale, had performed exceptionally well theatrically and ranked among the top five highest-grossing Marathi films of all time — making it a marquee acquisition for a new channel seeking to make an impression. Leading with one of the biggest Marathi blockbusters in history was a statement of intent about the calibre of films the channel would carry.

The premieres that followed included Hemant Dhome's multi-starrer Jhimma, another theatrical super-hit; the Ashok Saraf starrer Kadhi Ambat Kadhi Goad; Pravaas; superstar Swwapnil Joshi's Bali; Mahesh Manjrekar's Dhyanimani; and the multi-starrer, critically acclaimed Kharkanisanchiwari. The slate balanced commercial blockbusters with critically regarded films, reflecting the range of the 200-plus-title library — from star-driven entertainers to the middle-of-the-road family dramas and historicals that define Marathi cinema's identity.

Ownership: From Disney Star to JioStar

Pravah Picture was launched by Disney Star, the India business of the Walt Disney Company then operating as Star India. In November 2024, the media businesses of Reliance Industries-owned Viacom18 and Disney Star merged to form JioStar, a joint venture combining the Star network — including Star Pravah and Pravah Picture — with Viacom18's Colors channels, the Sports18 network and the JioCinema streaming service. The merger, completed on November 14, 2024, created India's largest entertainment network.

Under JioStar, Pravah Picture sits within a Marathi portfolio anchored by Star Pravah, the flagship GEC whose high-definition feed, Star Pravah HD, launched on May 1, 2016. The combined entity's scale — spanning broadcast channels across languages and the JioHotstar streaming platform — gives the Marathi movie channel distribution and marketing resources far beyond what a standalone regional channel could command. The channel is headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, along with the rest of the network's operations.

The Pravah Brand and Star Pravah

Pravah Picture extends the "Pravah" brand that Star Pravah established as a household name among Marathi-speaking audiences. Star Pravah, launched as the network's Marathi general entertainment channel, built its position on fiction serials, reality shows and events such as the Pariwaar Puraskaar awards — the very show at which Pravah Picture's logo was unveiled. Kevin Vaz's launch statement explicitly framed the new channel as an extension of the Pravah brand equity.

The brand architecture — a GEC flagship plus a dedicated movie channel — follows the pattern the Star network has used in other languages, pairing general entertainment channels with film outlets to capture the full spectrum of viewing. For Marathi audiences, the pairing means the network can serve both daily serial viewers and film audiences under a single brand identity, with cross-promotion between the channels reinforcing both.

Competition in Marathi Movies

Pravah Picture's principal competitor is Zee Talkies, the Zee Entertainment channel that had long dominated the Marathi movie genre with little direct competition. The arrival of a Star-backed movie channel with a 200-film library and a weekly-premiere promise represented the most serious challenge Zee Talkies had faced. Other competitors include the free-to-air Shemaroo MarathiBana and Zee Chitramandir, which serve the price-sensitive segment of the audience.

The Marathi movie genre's dynamics favour broadcasters with deep libraries and premiere pipelines, since the theatrical industry's annual output is finite and the most valuable titles are fiercely contested. Pravah Picture's backing by one of India's largest broadcasters gives it purchasing power in the satellite-rights market, while its weekly-premiere commitment creates a virtuous cycle: premieres drive ratings, ratings attract advertisers, and advertising revenue funds further acquisitions.

Distribution and Streaming

Pravah Picture is a pay television channel distributed across India's direct-to-home and cable platforms in both SD and HD feeds. It is carried on Tata Play, Airtel Digital TV, Dish TV, d2h and cable networks across Maharashtra and Marathi-speaking markets, positioned in the Marathi and movie genres of electronic programme guides. As part of JioStar's bouquets, it is offered both a-la-carte and within curated packs.

On streaming, the channel's films are available on JioHotstar, the merged platform that replaced Disney+ Hotstar and JioCinema in February 2025. At launch the channel's content streamed on Disney+ Hotstar, giving it a digital window from day one; the migration to JioHotstar consolidated the group's streaming offering. The combination of linear premieres and streaming catch-up gives viewers multiple ways to watch the channel's weekly premieres.

Key Facts

Pravah Picture is a Marathi-language movie pay television channel launched on May 15, 2022, by Disney Star (now JioStar, the Viacom18–Disney India joint venture formed in November 2024). Announced on April 4, 2022, with its logo unveiled by Sachin Pilgaonkar and Mahesh Kothare at the Star Pravah Pariwaar Puraskaar 2022, the channel launched with a library of more than 200 Marathi films and a promise of one new movie premiere every week — beginning with the blockbuster Pavankhind on June 12, 2022. It broadcasts in SD and HD as the movie sister channel of Star Pravah (whose HD feed launched May 1, 2016), competes primarily with Zee Talkies, and streams on JioHotstar. Online: https://www.jiohotstar.com.