Rajinikanth launches social media app 'Hoote'

Megastar Rajinikanth on Monday launched a voice-based social media app named 'Hoote', which his daughter Soundarya Rajinikanth has co-founded with businessman Sunny Pokala.

The app, which is the first voice-based social networking platform to be launched from India, will be made available in 15 native Indian languages and 10 international languages.

"Hoote - Voice based social media platform, from India for the world," Rajinikanth shared on his Twitter handle, along with a link to his profile on Hoote.

In his first post on Hoote, Rajinikanth, who was in Delhi to receive his Dadasaheb Phalke Award, wished Soundarya for the success of the new venture. He also shared another post in which he could be heard dedicating his Dadasaheb Phalke Award to his mentor K Balachander sir, elder brother Satyanarayana Gaikwad and his friend and bus driver, Raj Bahadur.

At the launch event, Soundarya said that the idea came to her when her father began delivering critical communications by audio rather than text, and she saw what a difference it made to get the exact message he wanted to communicate.

Soundarya told ANI, "I work very closely with my father and we were whatsapping each other a particular statement and suddenly I received a voice note, that was the moment Hoote was born in my mind, as I thought the power of voice should be shared and we wanted to create a social media platform that focuses on voice".

Her belief is that Hoote can be used as a platform to broadcast and link the world's most renowned voices, and also the voices of the common people both on important issues as well as to create powerful human relationships.

Explaining the difference between existing voice-based platforms like Clubhouse and Spaces, Soundarya added, "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."

"Currently, we are working to include Sanskrit. Also, we are working on audio teasers on Hoote besides translation of the messages," she continued.

Pokala, who is the co-founder of Hoote, has helped develop the app into a robust platform of international standards.

He believes that Hoote will not only help address this fatigue by making it easier for users to express themselves but will also become the preferred medium for celebrities, eminent professionals and common people, to make their voices heard and express their views and opinions due to its advanced privacy, security features and its ability to cut across the language barriers.

"The entire voice message should be conveyed in 60 seconds and it is human to human interaction. The hooters can be anywhere in the world and could connect with private or public groups," Pokala said and added that the app is AI-enabled.

The aim of Hoote is to allow people all around the world to use their voices and interact with others. The team behind it hopes to build a genuine social community where users are encouraged to be themselves without the fear of being judged.