Jio Mere Lal: Meet the secret superstar who outsmarted Reliance and secured JioHotstar.com

The JioCinema and Hotstar merger has been in the works for quite some time now. As the months progressed and things started falling into place for this mega-merger that could change the future of OTT in India, one tiny but important element stuck out like a sore thumb. The Ambanis realised that the most obvious choice for the website — JioHotstar.com — was not available to them.

Before they could figure out who secured this, a dramatic letter appeared on this website. It said Reliance would have to shell out a little more than Rs 1 crore to get this domain, which currently belongs to an anonymous app developer based in Delhi. Interestingly, this secret superstar claims he wants this money (£93,345 or Rs 1,01,72,598) to pursue an executive MBA course at Cambridge University in the UK.

India Today reached out to this much sought-after man, who outsmarted Reliance and asked him how he is planning his moves in a battle that’s anything but even. The conversation has been edited for brevity.

Before we come to the JioHotstar issue, tell us about yourself

For reasons you can understand, I don’t want to disclose my complete identity. What I can tell you is that I am a 28-year-old middle-class guy from Delhi. I was born and brought up here. My father is a government servant and my mother is a homemaker. I have a startup that deals with film recommendation algorithms. I am a regular EMI-paying guy who hopes to make it big someday.

No, that is not me. There are other smart guys out there too (laughs).

You said in the letter posted on JioHotstar.com that you want to pursue an executive MBA course at Cambridge University, UK and hope Reliance arranges for the fee. Are you a computer engineer?

I am an aspiring entrepreneur who is also into technology. I did my bachelor's in IT from a college in the Delhi-NCR and then did my master's in psychology.

Information technology with psychology? That’s an unusual combination.

Yes, it is. But it helped me do what I always wanted to do. I combined both skills to develop an algorithm to recommend movies based on your personality. The app I made did not go very far due to financial constraints, but it helped me get selected for a short program at Cambridge University in 2021.

So, you've already been to Cambridge University.

Yes and no. The course I was selected for, the Cambridge Startup Accelerator Program, was offline. But then the pandemic happened and it became an online course. Later, after the course was over, I visited the Cambridge campus just to get the “feel” of it.

How hopeful are you that Reliance will pay you Rs 1 crore and let you return to Cambridge for an executive MBA programme?

See, I am well aware that I am but a small fry in front of the corporate giant that is Reliance. They will probably snatch the domain I registered in 2023 without paying me a penny. I know they have the clout and legal might. But I hope they don't do that. I have not done anything wrong or illegal. Jio is a brand, Hotstar is a brand, but “JioHotsar” is not a legal entity as of today — let alone in 2023, when I registered this domain.

You registered this domain in September 2023, before the merger was announced. How did you anticipate this? Do you closely follow business news?

Yes, I follow the news very closely, including business news. Registering the domain was a combination of luck and some foresight. I discussed it with a few friends when I read about the buzz around a JioCinema and Hotstar merger. They scoffed at the idea. But I went ahead and registered it because it did not cost a lot. Less than Rs 5,000. Since then, I have waited for this domain to turn into my ticket to Cambridge.

Why didn’t you approach Reliance privately instead of publishing the letter on the website?

Oh, I contacted Reliance multiple times. I emailed many senior people. I never got a reply. In March, when the Reliance Group registered the domain JioHotstar.in, I thought they must be interested in securing JioHotstar.com because the “dot com” domain is much more popular. But when no one got back, I decided to go public.

And now people from the Reliance Group have spoken to you? What did they offer?

Yes, I spoke to a Reliance representative on a Zoom call, but he did not offer me anything apart from the few thousand rupees I spent registering the domain. They were curt and hung up abruptly when I refused to disclose my identity and declined their “offer”. They also warned me of legal consequences, which is sad. The amount I asked for my studies is half of what Aakash Ambani gifted as expensive watches during his wedding. For such a big company, this is peanuts.

advertisement

What if someone just hacked your website, and you lose control of it?

I am already being targeted. Some people figured out my email address and have been trying to reset the password to take over the domain. I’m constantly being bombarded with password reset notifications. Thankfully, so far they haven’t succeeded. But it’s a lot of stress to deal with this.

How are you coping with this stress? Have you taken your family into confidence?

I am more worried about my parents than myself. They are very worried because they think I am trying to take on Reliance and the Ambanis — which is definitely not the case.

It’s also kind of funny. Some people have figured out I am the guy who has the domain and are blackmailing me for money to not disclose my identity. I don’t know what to do (laughs). I haven’t got any money from Reliance yet, and other people already want some part of that.

You asked for legal help in your letter. Has anyone volunteered?

Oh, yes! Many have. I was moved by their kindness. Lawyers, some of them from the Supreme Court — one of them is even from Cambridge — have written to me saying they will fight my case pro bono. But I don’t want to enter a legal battle against Ambanis. I know my limits. At the end of the day, I am a common man, a film buff, and ironically, a JioCinema subscriber.