Anurag Kashyap, who praised the new Netflix limited series Adolescence, remarked that Netflix India wouldn't have made the same choice that Netflix UK did, because he believes the India branch of the streamer is "dishonest" and "morally corrupt". He called out Netflix head Ted Sarandos and its Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria for their ineptitude.
Referring to an Instagram post of Sarandos where he said, "In a sea of great films and series on Netflix, every once in a while one comes along that pushes into brand new territories, defies the limits of creativity and features career-defining performances," Kashyap said that he hopes Sarandos "means it" because Netflix India is "a totally opposite sh**show" while recalling his seemingly unpleasant experience with them in the past when making Sacred Games.
"If they were pitched this, most probably they would have rejected it or turned it into a 90-minute film (that too seems like an impossibility because it doesn’t have an ending that is black and white). Having gone through twice with them post-Sacred Games and dealing with a total lack of empathy, courage and dumbness mixed with immense insecurity of the series head and the team that keeps getting fired... it frustrates me. How do we ever create something so powerful and honest with a bunch of the most dishonest and morally corrupt Netflix India backed so strongly by the boss in LA? This hypocrisy of Ted and Bella vis-à-vis, the Indian market of 1.4 billion people, where their only interest is increasing subscriptions and nothing else. There was a time when Eric Barmack (ex-VP, Netflix) would reach out on Facebook to create something with Netflix to now where they send you a sh** show like “Saare Jahan Se Achcha" — which wasn’t even written properly and half-baked. Which, by the way, has already changed directors and been shot twice (inevitably)."
Kashyap concluded his statement by saying that this attitude makes him frustrated. "I hope they learn from the reception of it and realise that all the best things Indian Netflix does are mostly either acquired (Delhi Crime, Black Warrant) or the ones they least believed in (Kohrra, Trial By Fire). Fingers crossed for a better future."
