Mikko
Dancing in the chorus
Jai Maahishmati!
Posts: 36 
Favorite actor: Rajinikanth
Favorite actress: Anushka Shetty
Upcoming release you're most excited about: 2.0, RRR
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Post by Mikko on Jul 24, 2015 1:27:10 GMT
I couldn't find a thread for sharing experiences about buying Indian movies online. I thought it would be helpful (especially for new fans of Indian cinema) to have a list of recommended online stores and what stores to avoid. There is already some discussion about myindiashopping.com in the thread of recent purchases but I think that's slightly off-topic there and I'm sure that also a dedicated thread for the various online stores would be useful.
So, what online stores have you used to purchase Indian movies? What kind of films do they have (old/new, what languages)? What is their price level compared to other stores? How fast the orders are shipped normally? How much do they charge for (international) shipping? Are there any problems with their website, such as out-of-stock items showing up as available? How is their customer service?
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Post by emily on Jul 24, 2015 2:26:43 GMT
Avoid myindiashopping at all costs. They take forever, and when you get your shipment, it often doesn't include some of the movies you ordered (and those movies will NEVER arrive, in my experience). I much prefer Induna. My only beef with Induna is things out of stock tend to stay that way, at least for a while. But they are reasonably priced, their shipments come in very fast (my movies always arrive within 3-4 business days), and you get all your films at the same time! Induna and myindiashopping both have a variety of languages, though I'm not the best resource when it comes to non-Hindi films (don't purchase many of those). Shipping is also roughly the same on both sites...reasonable. Amazon is also a good resource, especially for rarer/collector's editions of films. I haven't tried anywhere else besides the three sites I've listed. Warning for those purchasing DVDs if you live in the U.S....be sure to purchase the NTSC version, not PAL. This is usually specified on the item page. PALs will not play in U.S. DVD players. I learned this the hard way.  |
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Post by moviemavengal on Jul 24, 2015 2:59:30 GMT
Mikko, thank you for starting this thread! I heard about Induna.com through the latest purchases thread, but for a newbie having a dedicated thread is much better. I made a big order from Induna.com last month and was very, very pleased how fast the shipment came. Only three days to my suburb of Chicago. I also, like Emily, learned the hard way, though about a PAL DVD. I didn't look closely enough at the description on one movie. I also have used the ebay store of Shaanwood and had good luck with them. I am an Amazon prime member, so I use Amazon, too, but frequently the DVD's are from third party vendors so may not be eligible for Prime free shipping. More and more often, I am using my Netflix streaming subscription (about 100 Hindi movies), and Amazon Instant as well as Hulu Plus. Amazon Instant has Dil Se, for instance, included if you have Prime. One subscription that was very worth it for me is Erosnow.com. They have a great mix of new movies and classics, and the library changes often. I have a Chromecast and watch Erosnow movies on my big TV with it. I frequently watch a film first and then may decide I want my own copy of it. Another source of digital rentals and purchase of Indian language movies is Google Play. I'm about to go on a trip, and I've downloaded a couple movies that I bought for under $5 to watch on the flights on my iPad. Google Play also works with my Chromecast. They didn't have Eega in Telugu, but I've bought it in Malayalam (Eecha)!
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Mikko
Dancing in the chorus
Jai Maahishmati!
Posts: 36
Favorite actor: Rajinikanth
Favorite actress: Anushka Shetty
Upcoming release you're most excited about: 2.0, RRR
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Post by Mikko on Jul 24, 2015 21:28:11 GMT
The number one Telugu movie sellers are Boomboxindia (selling through eBay) and Bhavani DVD. They also have movies in some other languages but their Telugu selections are exceptionally large compared to other stores. Boomboxindia's shipping is $2.99 + $1.99 per additional item. Bhavani has a more complicated formula for calculating the shipping cost which makes ordering items one or two at a time a little too expensive. (These are shipping to Europe. I don't know about shipping to elsewhere in the world.) Sometimes Bhavani has some problems with availability of the items that are listed on their website. Around 20% of items I've ordered haven't been in stock and have to be replaced with other items. (And they don't even remove the out-of-stock items from their website afterwards.) Other than that, they are very good. For Kannada DVDs I have mostly used Kannada Store. They offer free worldwide shipping! The delivery from all of these stores takes usually 1–2 weeks in total. Induna might have a little faster delivery times but they use a courier that's not the most user-friendly in my country, especially for people with telephone phobia who live in apartment buildings that have the front door locked.  |
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Mikko
Dancing in the chorus
Jai Maahishmati!
Posts: 36
Favorite actor: Rajinikanth
Favorite actress: Anushka Shetty
Upcoming release you're most excited about: 2.0, RRR
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Post by Mikko on Aug 3, 2015 22:49:56 GMT
One subscription that was very worth it for me is Erosnow.com. They have a great mix of new movies and classics, and the library changes often. How much does the subscription for Eros Now cost? Looks like they won't tell the prices before registering an account at their website... Do all their movies have English subtitles? |
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Post by moviemavengal on Aug 3, 2015 23:18:42 GMT
One subscription that was very worth it for me is Erosnow.com. They have a great mix of new movies and classics, and the library changes often. How much does the subscription for Eros Now cost? Looks like they won't tell the prices before registering an account at their website... Do all their movies have English subtitles? , I paid for the yearly subscription which worked out to a little less than $72. I think I did a free trial subscription, and saw that there were going to be tons of things to watch, and it was going to be cheaper than the monthly fee which may be like $10. It adds movies often, and pretty new movies come there first -- like Tanu Weds Manu Returns is already on it. Every movie has had English subtitles. I use a Chromecast to play the movies on my big TV. I even binge watched the Pakistani soap Humsafar on there (Fawad Khan!!! and the actress who will be in Raees). Eros just added a bunch more Indian/Pakistani TV soaps, and I'm mad that Zindagi Gulzar Hai (Life is a Rose Garden), also with Fawad does not have subs! There don't seem to be any Telugu films at all on Eros (I checked, recently looking for Prabhas films), but there are some Tamil. The majority are Hindi, however. They show some more obscure older films, too -- highlighting an actor for their birthday week, for instance. |
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Post by emily on Aug 3, 2015 23:31:39 GMT
I also rent a lot on YouTube, though I've only ever purchased one through that site (Fanaa).
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johndeeevans
Dancing in the chorus
Posts: 5
Favorite actor: SRK, Hrithik, Aamir
Favorite actress: Kajol, Aish, Jyothika, Rani, Preity
Upcoming release you're most excited about: Baahubali-The Conclusion
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Post by johndeeevans on Sept 2, 2015 22:39:12 GMT
Apple's iTunes is becoming a good place to shop for streaming movies.
They are having a sale on Tamil films: $5 for Enthiram/Robot, How Old Are You with Manju Warrior, etc.
Lots of old Hindi movies with Dilip Kumar and Rekha and Sridevi are only $3.
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Miss Braganza!
Junior artiste
Posts: 60 
Favorite actor: Rahul Bose, Irrfan, Ranveer Singh, Rajesh Khanna
Favorite actress: Konkona Sen Sharma, Vidya Balan, Sharmila Tagore
Upcoming release you're most excited about: Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, Dear Zindagi, Befikre
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Post by Miss Braganza! on Sept 9, 2015 11:01:47 GMT
I have an Eros subscription, but I also like my Spuul subscription. Spuul does have more movies without subtitles, and it designates some movies as "specials" which you have to pay extra for, but they give free tickets for those so often that I almost never pay for one except for something like Byomkesh Bakshi which I could not wait to see. They do get stuff that Eros doesn't, though, and the price is the same. The also have awesome customer service. Every time I've mailed customer service I've gotten an answer, from a human being, within two or three minutes.
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johndeeevans
Dancing in the chorus
Posts: 5
Favorite actor: SRK, Hrithik, Aamir
Favorite actress: Kajol, Aish, Jyothika, Rani, Preity
Upcoming release you're most excited about: Baahubali-The Conclusion
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Post by johndeeevans on Sept 13, 2015 17:53:51 GMT
There is a new iOS App called JustWatch that lists new and discounted streaming movies and TV shows. It tells you which service and how much for streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, iTunes, Amazon Prime and non-Prime, VUDU, Google Play, X-box, etc.
Mostly Hollywood stuff, but I did find out when "Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon" became available on iTunes last week. Too bad I already own the DVD.
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Post by ShantiSal on Oct 3, 2015 1:50:40 GMT
Cinemas of India has some free movies you can watch and also pay-to-view movies. Some of their movies are mainstream but they also have experimental/indie movies. So far I have only watched a couple of free films. You can rent a movie for 72 hours for US$0.99. They also have a monthly subscription of US$4.99 or annual US$49.99 which I presume gives you access to all the movies during the subscription period.
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Since Sept. 6, 2022, Chiloka has not been reachable. (