Arguably, there are hardly a few things that would beat the joy of binge watching shows, and the past few months of lockdown gave us plenty of time to do this. Srishti Arya, director of international original films at Netflix India, speaks about the content trends observed at Netflix during the lockdown and what the service holds for the viewers in the coming year, 2021.
In terms of the content dished out by Netflix India, what changes can we foresee in the year 2021?
The idea has always been to have a variety of content. One of the big things we try to go for at Netflix India specifically has been to opt for diversity in the set of content. The changes you see are going to come largely from the creator's perceptions with respect to the stories that they want to tell. We really want the viewer to have something that matches her mood at the time. So, there should be something that make you laugh, feel challenged, feel intrigued, feel like solving a mystery with the character, or binge watch an entire show, or simply a smaller feature film—we want to have something for everyone. Tribhanga, Cobalt Blue, Paava Kadhaigal, AK vs AK are the example of a bouquet of offerings.
Do you observe a changing society as we go into the next decade?
We have always been a 'creator first' kind of a service. It is not like we go out and tell creators what they should do for us. We would like to have creators tell the stories which they are compelled to say. So the influences will always be there, especially as we work with new creators.
During the pandemic/lockdown, a number of films got released directly onto OTTs. But what happens when films stop releasing on these platforms and move back to the big screen?
At Netflix, we have always been committed to having an Original Films slate. So, while we have been very fortunate with the potential opportunistic buys, out of the 15 films released this year, only four have been intended to be theatrical. The rest were always intended to be directly on the service. India is a land of storytellers and there will never be any shortage of stories. We know for sure that all Indians love our movies. Of all the Netflix regions around the world, in India we see 80 per cent of the viewers who choose to watch a film a week. The circumstance might now allowed us to pick up something like Anurag Basu's Ludo which increased our subscribers and has been really appreciated. 27 films have released so far in the last two years of 2019-2020.
How did Netflix India fare in 2020 and what are your expectations in the coming year?
We have been fortunate to see a very steady growth which encourages us to have a deeper commitment towards content in India. Over 2019 and 2020 we were committed to Rs. 3,000 crore towards content in India and we hope to keep growing from here.
How is the demand and consumption of content from down South?
We are very excited about the release of the original Paava Kadhaigal in Tamil and we have also announced the anthology in Tamil called Navarasa by Mani Ratnam which will have nine different directors doing nine different stories. So, once we put both of these out, (Paava Kadhaigal is out already) we will see how is the reception and what are the key takeaways for us from the response of the audience. We are building up a very robust licensing slate and that is what we are committed to doing in the coming year. We have several Telugu titles that have fared immensely well. In all, we have eleven languages on Netflix India and we are looking forward to really put up more stories out there for consumption.
Which big names are you personally looking forward to in the coming year?
My big guilty pleasure was Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives which just came out. You can judge me, but I enjoyed it thoroughly. I am really looking forward to Bombay Begum which will come out next year. Bhaag Beanie Bhaag and Mismatched are also two of my favourites.
Which foreign language content is most watched on Netflix India?
Korean. It has to be Korean films/shows which are getting a huge fan following in India. It is no longer just limited to English. We just did our first African Original film Queen Sono which was very interesting. Queen's Gambit and Emily in Paris, both have been very, very interesting.
What are you currently watching?
Roughcuts and Alien Worlds.
