Google Play movies launched in India: But the pricing sucks

Google Play movies, which allows users to buy and then stream popular films and tv shows has come to India - but be warned. They don’t come cheap. Buying a movie costs an average of Rs 500, while renting costs around Rs 120, unless you want it in HD which will cost a little more. The Play store had some popular films like The Amazing Spiderman and Premium Rush but the latest Oscar hits like Argo and Zero Dark Thirty were either only available for rent or not available at all. [caption id=“attachment_677340” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Screengrab of Google Play movies page for India[/caption] And yes - some Bollywood movies are available, but the collection is not too exciting. However given that it’s only been a few hours since they launched, we’re not judging them too harshly on that count yet. Ek Tha Tiger was available for Rs 390 (purchase) and Rs 100 (rent) while other movies on offer included Dostana and Hum Tum. There were around 38 Bollywood films in the store at the time of writing. So yes, Google Play is definitely more expensive than your friendly neighbourhood DVD sales store which will also give you HD quality films for around Rs 100 if you are not too concerned about where it came from. Instead, it’s about the same price as a true blue original DVD - so we guess it’s up to the user to decide which they would rather buy. And as for renting, we’re not too impressed with the pricing there either - even if you’re only willing to spend Rs 120 to watch a film, chances are you can still find a decent movie theatre which will screen the film for around the same price on a much bigger screen than any Android device you may own. With most Google Play movie rentals, you have 30 days from the time of purchase to start your movie and 24 hours from the time you begin playback to finish watching. According to Google’s terms and conditions, customers have the ability to return or cancel their purchase anytime within seven days of purchase if they have not begun playback. However if you have ordered content that is defective, unavailable or does not perform as stated, you may request a refund at any time. It will be interesting to see if movies take off - given the high pricing, and the unabashed culture of downloading and streaming movies that prevails in the country. Though the pricing may not be all that practical, the fact that the Google movies app has been introduced on the back of the official launch of the Nexus 7 tablet in India shows that Google definitely has an eye on India. This is very good news for those of us still waiting for devices like the Nexus phone to come to the country. Who knows? Next stop - Google glasses?