In a first, Moj, the largest Indian short video app, organised auditions to cast lead roles for the Tamil movie ‘Hyena’ produced by C.V Kumar of Thirukumaran Entertainment on its platform. The 40-day audition campaign, #HyenaAuditionsOnMoj, started on 29th August and garnered 175K videos from 15K Moj creators and a whopping 1.9 billion video plays. Riya Nehal, a 24-year-old Moj creator from Chennai, was chosen as the lead actress, and Aishwarya Kannan, a 23-year-old Bangalore-based content creator, will be seen as a supporting cast member. The winners were selected amongst over 175K entries.

Hyena will be produced by renowned producer C.V Kumar who, at the helm of Thirukumaran Entertainment, is known to bring innovation, new-age talent and novel technical advancements to the industry. He has won critical acclaim and achieved commercial success for his earlier movies, such as Attakathi, Pizza and Soodhu Kavvum. Prashanth Chander, a talented debutant, will direct the film.

Riya and Aishwarya were chosen as winners based on their excellent dialogue delivery in Tamil and their acting skills, and are now set to make their big Kollywood debut. This is the first time a movie audition was held in India on a short video app, Moj. Content creators were given the opportunity to showcase their talent and a chance to land a big movie debut/role. The final winners were chosen by the producer and director based on the screen presence, acting ability, range of expressions, and camera readiness displayed in the creators’ videos uploaded to the Moj app.

Speaking about the auditions on Moj and the winner, Producer C.V Kumar says, “India is brimming with acting talent and our unique auditions on the popular short video app, Moj, gave us a special opportunity to tap into this talent pool and look for fresh faces with a potential to become future superstars. In the thousands of entries, we received for the audition on Moj, we saw some really great talent but Riya and Aishwarya stood out as clear winners with exceptional acting abilities and dancing skills.”

For Riya and Aishwarya, this has been nothing short of a dream come true.

Who can deny the well-known proverb, “Practice makes a man perfect”? Hailing from Chennai with no connections to the film industry, this has been “a surreal experience to outperform the world of acting,” Riya says. Riya has 626+ followers on Moj. A fitness enthusiast and an aspiring actor, Riya adds, “I never imagined in my wildest dreams that my talent will be noticed by such big names; I am grateful to Moj for giving us creators this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I am thrilled that my talent stood out amongst so many entries.”

Bangalore’s Aishwarya is known to create content around make-up/fashion/ lifestyle and is loved by 845K. On garnering this opportunity, Aishwarya said, “I have always dreamt of starring in a big movie which gives me a chance to showcase my acting and dancing abilities, and I could not have asked for a better break. I have worked relentlessly as a content creator on Moj, and I am grateful to Moj for giving me the opportunity to showcase years of hard work to industry veterans, which has led me to bag my debut role.”

Talking about the first-of-its-kind movie auditions in India on Moj, Shashank Shekhar, Senior Director, Content Strategy & Operations, says, “We at Moj are thrilled to see the success and traction for the first movie auditions on a short video platform in India. Our creators from across different regions of India participated in the auditions and shared engaging and creative videos. Moj’s primary goal has always been to give young Indians a platform to showcase their talents and garner fame and success in the entertainment industry. We are happy to provide our creators with the opportunity to step on the path to stardom with a big-ticket movie role with #HyenaAuditionsOnMoj. We can’t wait to see our Moj stars Riya and Aishwarya shine in their big screen debut.”

“The overwhelming response and success of these auditions inspire us to bring more such innovative formats to provide unparalleled opportunities for success and stardom to our creators. This is only the beginning of the potential short videos hold for discovering talented creators in India,” he adds.

Moj is dedicated to providing novel and unique avenues for its creators who aspire to be popular entertainers and succeed in showbiz. Moj has helped its creators get big breaks in music videos, television, and movies by providing them with unique platforms for creative self-development, making recommendations, and assisting them in building connections and accessing auditions.