Seventymm is India's largest online DVD rental service, and we believe clearly the best. Launched in March 2006, it already boasts an unbeaten inventory of 20,000+ film titles (with multiple copies of most of these) in 18 languages, and India's most advanced DVD rental website. The service currently serves Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, and surrounding areas, with customer service phone numbers for each. They even have an SMS text number to arrange movie deliveries by courier.
Seventymm boasts one of the most advanced movie search engines in India, allowing queries on movie, actor, director, language, customer rating, year range, and even genre. In fact, we believe no other country's DVD rental sites feature search function on customer rating--so you can list say, all five star rated films in a given genre, year, or by a specific actor--excellent. They have an impressive 24 genres, and each entry lists cast, director, producer, language, edition (VCD or DVD--if they have both you can choose which to rent), censor rating, and customer rating. This is impressive, though we do have a minor quibble, we'd prefer if these were hyperlinked, so that if you click on Pierce Brosnan on the actor field it went to a screen with all Pierce Brosnan films, for example.
To match the impressive browsing functionality and general quality of site design, Seventymm has additional features like a blog, and RSS newsfeeds which you can subscribe to and see all their latest releases as they come in--these newsfeeds cover their various languages: English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali, Marathu, Punjabi, Gujarati, Assasmese, Rajasthani, Bhojpuri, and Oriya. These are particularly useful if your film interest is in a niche language.
They require you have at least 10 titles in your queue to ensure they'll always have something in stock you'd like to see (in our experience, this is not a problem, you'll probably have dozens of titles in your queue within days of browsing the site.) Once you pick your titles, within one working day a Seventymm courier or logistic partner will bring the first two discs to your doorstep. Then just sign into your account when you've watched them to schedule another courier to come pick them up.
In 2009, Seventymm added a Get It Now button to arrange a film for delivery the next day, or you can order it via SMS.
Seventymm also wins points for being open some of the longest hours in the business, which can only help you get higher turnaround and greater value--shipping movies 8am to 10 pm Monday through Saturday. As with all other Indian DVD rental companies we've reviewed, they do not process returns or deliveries on Sundays or national holidays. We haven't heard many problems about damaged discs, but their Terms and Conditions do allow for charges of Rs300 for VCD or Rs 1000 per DVD for a damaged disc, a determination made at Seventymm's discretion.
In mid-2007, they launched a limited number of game rentals, but only about 40 titles for Xbox 360 when we reviewed the site in November. Hopefully, Seventymm will expand their game rental inventory in the coming months. In mid 2008 they also did a web site revamp, adding even more improvements like pop-up info on titles when you hover over them.
Founded in 2006, Seventymm has strong financial backing from several Indian and well as US venture capital firms. The firm continues to feature in Indian and international news as the market leader, and we expect the company to continue expansion. For instance, in mid-2007, they acquired rival Madhouse DVD Rental and in August 2008, they raised $12 million in venture capital funds. Reports on the internet and blogosphere are broadly positive. According to a June 2008 press release, Seventymm had 70,000 subscribers and was gaining some 5,000 new ones each month. Other press sources note they plan to expand operations to 40 cities by 2009, and aimed to expand to 4 million members in the next five years.
Prices: Seventymm has several subscription options: one unlimited plan which you can watch as many movies as you like, 2 discs out at a time for RS 999 for three months (so equal to Rs 333/month), and a 2 disc out, 8 discs/month plans for Rs 350/month and a 1 disc out, 5 max per month plan for Rs 250. The latter two require an Rs 349 refundable security deposit. Luckily, these security deposits are down from the Rs 999 previously required, and they've eliminated the registration fee as well, moves which we applaud. Another recent plus is if you renew online, you get 5% off.
If you cancel, you will have a generous seven days to return your outstanding DVDs or will be subject to charge.
India's largest DVD rental service and in our opinion, the best; excellent site design and expanding fast
