"an important occasion for me with two special landmarks."
Rajinikanth has launched India’s first voice-based social media app, Hoote.
The Tamil superstar announced the app on Twitter.
Hoote was co-founded by his daughter, Soundarya Rajinikanth and Amtex CEO Sunny Pokala.
On Monday, October 25, 2021, he tweeted: “Hoote – Voice-based social media platform, from India for the world.”
He also included a link to the new social media platform.
Hoote – Voice based social media platform, from India ?? for the world ?? https://t.co/Fuout7w2Tr
— Rajinikanth (@rajinikanth) October 25, 2021
Hoote allows users to record a voice note for a maximum of 60 seconds before being able to add an image, background music and 120 character limit caption.
Various musical options are provided and divided across categories ranging from the environment to religion, with a preview function to check what fits best.
The platform also offers the user the option to turn comments off if necessary and easily delete any posts from their profiles.
Many Indian and international languages can be chosen from during the installation of the app which is currently available for free on the Google Play Store.
The announcement came on the same day Rajinikanth received a Dadasaheb Phalke award, which is widely considered to be India’s highest film honour.
The 70-year-old actor had said the day before:
“Tomorrow is an important occasion for me with two special landmarks.
“One, ‘Dadasaheb Phalke award’, being conferred upon me by the government of India because of the love and support of the people.”
He then added: “Second, my daughter Soundarya Rajinikanth, by her independent efforts has pioneered the making of a very useful app for people called Hoote and she is going to introduce it to the world from India.
“People can now express through their voice their thoughts, wishes and ideas just like they do in writing in any language of their choice.
“I am very happy to launch this innovative, useful and the first of its kind, the Hoote app in my voice.”
Soundarya told NDTV:
“Voice is the future of social media, I do strongly believe.”
“People can express their thoughts and feeling in any language at any time from anywhere.
“The attention span of people is really coming down and this will be a quick way that they can share whatever they want on the platform.”
Rajinikanth last appeared in the action thriller Darbar (2020) alongside Nivetha Thomas, Nayanthara and Suniel Shetty.
Rajinikanth will next star in Annaatthe (2021) which is set to be released on November 4, 2021.