Why 'sonyliv' Trended in India: Habibi OTT Release Explained

Why 'sonyliv' trended in India

Search interest in sonyliv rose sharply in India in late September 2026, and the trigger was a single Tamil film: Habibi, also written Habeebi. Google Trends' India "Trending Now" list recorded roughly 2,000 approximate searches and a 400% growth for the term in the 24 hours before its snapshot on 23 September 2026 at 05:15 UTC Google Trends India. That signal measures search interest only — it does not confirm that any news claim is true, and it is not a measure of website traffic.

Announcement date versus streaming date

The dates matter here, because two different events are often mixed up. Habibi reached cinemas on 12 June 2026, according to Lokmat, which also reports that the film earned a 9.2 rating on IMDb Lokmat. The Sony LIV premiere was announced for 25 September 2026 Lokmat. Because the Google Trends snapshot is from 23 September, the spike it captures is best read as anticipation around the announced OTT date, not as evidence of viewing numbers after the premiere.

ABP Live's Telugu report, updated on 21 September 2026, states the same streaming date: the film would stream on SonyLIV from 25 September, a Friday, in Tamil as well as Telugu ABP Live. Lokmat adds that a Hindi-language version would also be available on the platform.

What Habibi is about

• Genre and setting: a period romantic drama set in a traditional Muslim weaving village near Tirunelveli in south Tamil Nadu.
• Span: the story runs across four decades, following a love that grows between two young people in the village and the social friction it causes.
• Lead role: Kasthuri Raja — father of actor Dhanush — plays Yusuf, a weaving artisan and family elder.
• Supporting cast: Malavika Manoj, Dhanashree Sudhakaran, Arul Kumar and Anushreya Rajan, as listed by ABP Live.
• Crew: directed by Meera Kathiravan, with the story by V. S. Mohammad.

How to verify the details yourself

1. Open Sony LIV and search for Habibi to confirm whether the title is live in your language and region.
2. Check the film's IMDb page for the current rating. Ratings shift as more users vote, so 9.2 is a figure reported in September 2026, not a fixed number.
3. Keep the theatrical date (12 June 2026) separate from the streaming date (25 September 2026) before treating either as new.

In short, the search spike around sonyliv is explained by a low-budget regional drama with an unusually high reported IMDb score arriving on the platform — a reminder that OTT search trends in India are often driven by regional-language titles rather than big-budget releases.