If one wants to have the ultimate Indian/desi experience through the world of entertainment, Hotstar is the best online streaming service available. Be it TV serials, reality shows, or Bollywood movies, Hotstar has it all.
With streamable content stretching up to 50 thousand hours, the platform can keep you hooked to your gadget’s screen for hours, be it a mobile phone, tablet, or laptop. Also, with partnerships such as the one with Disney, Hotstar keeps bringing in fresh and diverse content to cater to your demands.
Besides TV serials and movies, Hotstar also streams sports such as football, hockey, tennis, boxing, and, most importantly, cricket. Star India, the country’s most popular media company, owns Star Sports, the sports portfolio of Hotstar, allowing the application to stream the coverage of sports that is telecasted on Star Sports. Hence, international and premier league cricket matches are available for Hotstar users to enjoy live.
Due to the geo-restricting limitations on the streaming platform, the Indian content available on Hotstar cannot be accessed by individuals in the United States or the United Kingdom, although the application officially sells its services in those countries. Even though official gates to Indian content outside India are closed, it can be accessed and viewed from anywhere in the world with the help of some unofficial methods.
Officially, you can’t access Indian content on Hotstar from outside India due to geographical restrictions. Even if it was available, however, the monthly charges of Hotstar internationally are not that attractive.
In India, the annual subscription to the streaming platform is $19 with unlimited access to all available content, while in other regions of the world is nearly five times higher – around $99.99 and with restricted access. Hence, using other ways to access Bollywood movies and Indian TV series is the most pocket-friendly option.
Fortunately, we know how you can enjoy, without restrictions, all the available content on Hotstar, even from outside India. And all this at an annual subscription fee of $19. Getting this deal with unlimited access is simple – you need to use a VPN.
Among the wide variety of VPNs available, only a few of them are able to provide you with access to geo-restricted content without excessive loading time or other types of technical difficulties. We recommend using ExpressVPN because it delivers the best results in the least amount of time and in a cost-effective manner. With approximately 3000 servers globally, ExpressVPN works smoothly on iOS, Android, Windows, Firestick, and many other such platforms.
There are many other VPNs out there that you can choose from. We have compiled a few for you:
Whether you make the same choice as we did – ExpressVPN – or you choose another VPN like IPVanish or SurfShark VPN, the process of accessing geo-restricted content remains the same. For the purpose of explaining clearly, I will henceforth use the example of ExpressVPN to elaborate.
To access content on Hotstar that is not available outside India, you first need to connect your server to India using a VPN such as ExpressVPN. For this, download ExpressVPN on your device, either a mobile phone or a laptop, and make sure you have an active subscription to ExpressVPN. ExpressVPN allows you to get a refund of the first month’s subscription fee if you don’t find it compatible with your needs.
After downloading the app and subscribing to it, you need to connect to an Indian location. For this, select ‘Choose Location’ and then the ‘All’ tab within it. Once that is done, expand to choose ‘Africa, Middle East and India’ and then ‘India’ only. Within India, you can choose either of the three options ‘India – Mumbai’, ‘India (via the UK)’ or ‘India – Chennai’.
You will get connected to an Indian server in just a few seconds. Now you will be able to watch all the available content as an Indian user without paying extra. To access premium content, however, you need to sign up for Indian Hotstar. Keep reading to get a detailed guide on how to install ExpressVPN on a streaming device (we’ll be using Amazon Firestick for this tutorial).
Signing up and creating an account with ExpressVPN is very simple and quick. All you need is an email address and password to create an account. You will also need to give them your bank account information while subscribing.
However, you do not need to worry about losing money, as ExpressVPN offers its users a 30-day money-back guarantee. Thus, even if you do not like the service, you can always get your money back.
Most Indian TV serials and reality shows on Hotstar can be viewed without a subscription fee. However, if you wish to watch cricket tournaments or similar content only available to premium members, you must have a subscription to the streaming platform.
If you aim to subscribe to a premium membership as an Indian server from outside of India, follow the steps mentioned below:
To access the content available on Hotstar, you need to open the ExpressVPN application on your laptop and connect to an Indian server. Once that is done, use any browser to stream without hassle after signing into your account on Hotstar.
If you want to use the app, the easiest solution is to download it through the official website on your laptop. This way, you won’t need to deal with the region-changing process. You also DO NOT need to change your region if you are downloading the application in a country where the services of Hotstar are available officially. In the United States and the United Kingdom, for example, you can download Hotstar on Android, iOS, and Amazon AppStore without changing the region.
However, if you download it from an AppStore, you may face some technical problems if you are not in India. If you don’t find the app or you get the message “The app is not available in your region”, you need to change the region (that you have selected on your device).
In regions where Hotstar is not officially available, you will need to change your selected region to India (or to any other region where Hotstar is officially available) to download the application. This, again, is only required if you aim to have the application, as signing in to your Hotstar account through its website can quickly be done by using ExpressVPN.
Here is a guide on how to change the region to download Hotstar if you are in a country where the application is not officially available.
It is pretty easy to download or install Hotstar in the United States, as it is officially available on all popular app stores such as Google Play Store, App Store, or Amazon Store. Once you have downloaded the application, you need to make a new account on the streaming platform. The one used in India will not work in the United States because the content available and the subscription fee in the two countries are different.
Therefore, instead of signing in, you are required to sign up. There are two options: either sign up through your Facebook account or your email address. However, if you have an Indian account on Hotstar linked to your Facebook, we recommend you sign up through your email account and vice versa. This will help you keep the two subscriptions separate and in check.
Once you have provided all the personal information asked, you will need to enter the payment details, and voila, you can watch Hotstar in the United States without a VPN. However, we must reiterate that a US subscription’s cost is nearly 5 times that of an Indian subscription. And Hence, we recommend using a VPN.
It is important to note a few minor details. Hotstar is indeed officially available in some regions outside of India, including the United States and the United Kingdom. In these regions, you can access content available to individuals who do not subscribe to a premium plan.
Such content includes various TV series and movies. However, as Indian content on Hotstar is geo-restricted, you probably will have little entertainment variety if you aim to use Hotstar for free in regions where it is officially available. Hence, we recommend using a VPN and connecting to an Indian server even if you want to use Hotstar for free.
In regions where the application is not officially available, you will even need a VPN, such as ExpressVPN, to access free content on Hotstar. So, run your preferred VPN on your device, a mobile phone or a laptop, and connect to an Indian server. The process of connecting to an Indian server through ExpressVPN is described above. Once you have done that, you can easily enjoy all the free content.
Although its customers use Hotstar for various reasons, a significant proportion of the platform users use it to stream cricket matches live. India is a country of cricket fans, be it a World Cup, international matches, or IPL (Indian Premier League), and Hotstar streams it all.
Additionally, it is very easy to find out which matches the online application plans to streams by looking at the schedule for the ongoing and upcoming cricket tournaments. For example, at the time of writing, they are streaming the ICC Women’s World Cup, the matches between South Africa and Bangladesh, and the Ranji Trophy 2022. Hotstar also aims to stream the upcoming TATA IPL 2022 from 25th March to 28th May.
If you want to find out the cricket schedule, all you need to do is type ‘cricket’ on the search engine, and the streaming platform will lead you to the schedule. The process of accessing the schedule of all sports-related tournaments is the same.
Also, it does not change with the region. However, if you are not using a VPN, you may not be able to watch live streams of geo-restricted matches outside of India.
Accessing Hotstar in regions outside of India can be done in various ways. However, if one wants to access Indian content that is restricted and hence only available within India officially, one can only do that by using a VPN.
Another benefit of a VPN, such as ExpressVPN, is that it allows one to sign in as an Indian server, meaning that one can subscribe to the platform and pay 5 times less than what an international subscriber officially pays.
The process of downloading and using ExpressVPN is also very simple and efficient. Similarly, making an account on an Indian server and then using it in regions outside of India is also very simple.
However, if one aims to use Hotstar without a VPN internationally, you can do so by simply downloading the application and making an account. Also, it is not necessary to have a premium subscription in order to use Hotstar, there are several entertainment videos available for free on the platform.
If one wants to watch Disney serials, nevertheless, one needs to pay the subscription fee. Thus, we recommend using a VPN outside of India to make the most out of the streaming service.