Netflix on Thursday announced its upcoming slate of Indian programming. The streamer will kick off a new phase of web series and films with Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s big-budget period drama Heeramandi. Audiences will also get to watch a new film from Luv Ranjan, a drama starring Kajol and Kriti Sanon, and director Anubhav Sinha’s thriller about the hijacking of Indian Airlines flight IC-814.
Heeramandi is described as an “epic saga of love, power, betrayal, struggle and, ultimately, freedom,” featuring arch rival courtesans Mallikajaan and Fareedan vying for power. The show will be set during the backdrop of the freedom movement. Netflix also unveiled a first look at the drama-thriller film Do Patti, starring Kajol and Kriti Sanon. Directed by Shashanka Chaturvedi, the film is set in ‘the mesmerising and mysterious hills of North India’. The streamer also announced the cast for Anubhav Sinha’s IC814: The Kandahar Attack, and unveiled a logline for director Homi Adajania’s murder mystery Murder Mubarak. The film is set in New Delhi, “where a death at a posh recreational club opens an investigation that gets complex by the minute as secrets and lies come to the surface and everyone is a suspect.”
Five ordinary women will head down a rabbit hole of adventure that sees them distributing drugs through the ‘dabba system’ in Dabba Cartel, a new series starring Shabana Azmi, Lillete Dubey, Jisshu Sengupta, and Gajraj Rao. Additionally, Netflix also announced that it has secured the streaming rights to upcoming theatrical films such as Devara, Pushpa: The Rule, Indian 2, and Baby John.
Netflix began operations in India in 2018, with the critically acclaimed hit series Sacred Games. Starring Saif Ali Khan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui, and co-directed by Vikramaditya Motwane and Anurag Kashyap, the show set the template for a new wave of bolder, more ambitious Indian storytelling. The pandemic brought with it a surge in viewership, but also a dilution in quality. Netflix has been struggling to show growth in India, a market that co-founder Reed Hastings was bullish about in his visit in 2018.
In December 2023, the streamer published a comprehensive list of most-watched titles across the platform. The report tabulated viewership data of titles watched between January to June of 2023. The list, which comprised 18,000 titles, was topped by the American action thriller The Night Agent, which had 812.1 million hours of viewing, followed by Ginny & Georgia: Season 2 at 665.1 million hours and The Glory: Season 1 at 622.8 million hours comprising the top three. The most-viewed Indian title was Rana Naidu, which took the 336th spot, with 46 million hours viewed. Only 10 Indian titles found spots in the top 1500. With its new slate, the streamer would hope for Indian programming to make bigger breakthroughs in the global market, especially after the crossover success of films such as RRR and Jawan.
Click for more updates and latest Bollywood news along with Entertainment updates. Also get latest news and top headlines from India and around the world at The Indian Express.
Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.
