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Why Netflix is late to the direct film release party: Wanted to be best, not the first, says company
MUMBAI: Netflix arrives late to the release-announcement party but they've come up with 17 titles slotted to release in the coming six months. The roster has 12 films, which include Janhvi Kapoor-starrer Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl, Anurag Basu’s Ludo featuring Abhishek Bachchan, Rajkummar Rao, Pankaj Tripathi, Aditya Roy Kapur, Sanya Malhotra and Fatima Sana Shaikh, and shows beginning with Mira Nair’s A Suitable Boy that stars Ishaan Khatter, Tabu, and Tanya Maniktala, among others.
When asked what took Netflix so long, Monika Shergill, vice-president, content, Netflix India, said, "It was never a consideration for us to be the first one to announce because we wanted to come out with a comprehensive, entertaining slate that we are confident will delight the consumers."
And entertaining it is, compared to its competitors, with original series such as Alankrita Shrivastava’s Bombay Begums, a contemporary drama featuring Pooja Bhatt, Amruta Subhash, Shahana Goswami; Masaba Masaba with Masaba Gupta and Neena Gupta along with Neil Bhoopalam; Mismatched, starring popular YouTuber Prajakta Koli and the dramedy Bhaag Beanie Bhaag led by Swara Bhasker.
The last four months have seen OTT platforms go into overdrive to cater to Indians during the lockdown. Netflix released two series, Hasmukh and Betaal, and four films namely Maska, Mrs Serial Killer, Choked and Bulbbul during the period. When asked what have been the biggest lessons from the period, Shergill said, “One fundamental learning is that stories are a very essential part of human experience. When the world is going through a tough period and people are emotionally distraught, need some comfort, connection, and have a lot of time on their hands and don’t know what to do, it’s the stories that kept them going. The hard business part is that people are watching more, while the emotional side is that one is there for both comfort and escape."
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Shergill noted that the top 10 series and films in the India section of the streaming platform were an indicator of the varied tastes of the Indian audience. "The choices are wildly different and when given the option, people are willing to experiment," she said citing how shows like German sci-fi drama Dark and Spanish drama Money Heist have been popular, as have the "extremely addictive" Korean dramas. "Many of our new consumers are watching the Hindi dubbed versions," she added.
The first half of 2020 has been a particularly busy one for OTT platforms with the launch of Disney+Hotstar, and Voot Select and SonyLIV reshuffling their original programming. Netflix original content, however, hasn't received as much buzz and acclaim as those of its competitors, such as Amazon Prime Video's Paatal Lok, Panchayat and Pushpavalli and Disney+Hotstar's Aarya, Hundred and Special Ops. “What tends to happen is that Sacred Games was such an important moment in Indian entertainment and it was so zeitgeist-y that everything on the service is compared to it,” added Shergill.
Shergill said that just because Netflix originals were not as "heavily talked-about" vis-a-vis others on social media, doesn’t mean they weren’t "highly watched". She added, "All content pieces don’t drive as much conversation but that doesn’t mean they don’t drive consumption."
But that’s not to say Shergill doesn’t see room for improvement. "Streaming industry is new and the storytellers are also getting better. We are constantly learning and doing better," she concluded.
SOURCE – INDIA TODAY
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