Mumbai, Amazon subsidiary Audible, a leading seller and producer of audio entertainment and audiobooks, on Thursday introduced a new service called “Audible Suno” created exclusively for the listeners in India.
Available for free download on Android devices, Audible Suno offers more than 60 original and exclusive series in both Hindi and English, the company said in a statement.
Each show comprises short, easy-to-digest episodes featuring stars like Amitabh Bachchan (Kaali Awaazein), Katrina Kaif, Karan Johar (Picture Ke Peechhe), Anil Kapoor, Farhan Akhtar, Mouni Roy, Anurag Kashyap, Tabu, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Diljit Dosanjh, Vir Das and Vicky Kaushal.
“Audible Suno is a world-first for Audible, and reflects our commitment to creating exceptional entertainment for our Indian customers,” said Audible founder and CEO Don Katz.
Bachchan (who’ll be part of Kaali Awaazein) said that audio is an incredibly powerful yet thus far under-utilised entertainment medium in India.
“It is exciting that Audible is poised to change that. It is breaking new grounds with spoken-word entertainment, showcasing a wide range of deeply Indian stories told by some of India’s most famous voices,” said Bachchan.
“The series featuring my voice, Kaali Awaazein, is a fictional psychological thriller inspired by ghost stories and supernatural sightings, designed with immersive 3D sound to make these stories come alive on Audible Suno,” said the superstar.
The Audible Suno app is now available for download for free on devices that run Android 4.4 onwards. iOS users in India can access Audible Suno content for free as well via the current iOS Audible app.
“With Audible Suno, I am thrilled by the opportunity to create cutting-edge audio entertainment in a completely new format. Audible Suno has inspired me to push the envelope when it comes to storytelling, harnessing the power of audio,” said Thriller Factory director and presenter Anurag Kashyap.
The range of fiction series includes horror (Kaali Awaazein), romance/relationships (Matrimonial Anonymous and Piya Milan Chowk), and suspense (Thriller Factory), while the comedy series on Audible Suno features India’s funniest comedian (The Unexperts by Abish Mathew).
Non-fiction series includes interviews with some of the country’s biggest stars (Kissa Khwabon Ka, Picture Ke Peechhe); socially relevant series that explore topics like mental health, sex education and the rights of the LGBTQI+ community (Azaad Awaaz, SentiMental).
Dale Carnegie (translated in Hindi), Om Swami, Radhakrishnan Pillai and Divya Prakash Dubey are among the top authors featured on Audible Suno.
