‘We’ve adopted a blockbuster approach to film programming’

As Netflix turned 25 last week, its Indian wing chose to roll out a celebration of cinema showcasing a sneak peek into some of their much-anticipated original movies apart from setting the stage for the creators to share their process. “We have always been invested in the cinema of the country. We’ve programmed 51 original films so far. We started out with small films initially but gradually increased the scale,” says Monika Shergill, vice-president-content, Netflix India.
Basking in the recent success of Darlings, starring Alia Bhatt and Shefali Shah, Netflix showcased its slate of 10 new movies. Leading the pack is Jogi, which releases on September 16. Directed Ali Abbas Zafar and featuring Diljit Dosanjh as its protagon, this movie is about “brotherhood and courage”. “Jogi is a story of love, hope and friendship. It’s very cinematic too. Every project that we have chosen is unique in its own way,” Shergill says.
Prominent among the upcoming Netflix movies are Jhulan Goswami’s biography Chakda ‘Xpress with Anushka Sharma essaying the role of the fast bowler; Vishal Bharadwaj-directed spy thriller Khufiya with Tabu as the lead; and Sujoy Ghosh’s adaptation of The Devotion of Suspect X with Kareena Kapoor Khan in the cast. After making her powerful directorial debut with Bulbul, Anvita Dutt returns with Qala, a story of a complex mother-daughter relationship.
Vishal Bharadwaj and Tabu at Netflix Films Day event.

Qala team at Netflix Films Day event.
The streamer will also be home for the first-ever feature film based on popular Archie Comics — Zoya Akhtar-directed The Archies. Other new titles include gripping whodunnit Monica O My Darling (directed Vasan Bala), rom-com Plan A Plan B (directed Shashanka Ghosh), Ajay Singh-directed he thriller Chor Nikal Ke Bhaga, and satirical comedy Kathal (directed Yashowardhan Mishra).
The model of Netflix is such that it picks licensed movies, such as this year’s hits RRR, Gangubai Kathiawadi and Bhool Bhulaiya 2, as well as originals. “Streaming allows us to cater to different sensibilities. It is a medium where every title doesn’t have to appeal to everyone,” says Shergill. “If you look at all the films we have launched and are going to launch, you can see a blockbuster approach to cinema programming through old movies and new releases. The idea is to bring in the broad mass audiences,” Shergill adds.
While there were reports of Netflix losing a chunk of its subscribers in India earlier this year, Shergill says that it doesn’t bother the company since it has a large service base worldwide. “We are a behemoth with 220 million subscribers. India is a top-performing country. Our growth curve is robust,” she says. Citing the App Annie data, the Netflix India head says that after recalibrating its basic plan in December – the mobile plan is now at Rs 149, any device plan at Rs 199 – Netflix has witnessed a 150 per cent increase in app installation in India. Apart from that, there is a host of partnerships in place with Jio, Airtel, Vodafone Idea, and Tata Sky to pull in the audience.

In the world of streaming, “novelty” plays a crucial role in attracting viewers. “The formula is to not have a formula. If you do any copycat story, it will fail. It’s important to innovate and tell a new story in a new way, says Shergill. The mantra for successful content, according to her, is to opt for “authentic storytelling”, find stories that “reflect many realities” and “stay ahead of the audience taste curve”.
Five years since Netflix entered the Indian market, it has noticed a major shift in the audience’s taste. “They have grown language agnostic. While Hollywood movies have always been popular, people now appreciate Korean, Spanish, Japanese anime, and other language content. Today, they are exposed to different kinds of narratives and global themes,” says Shergill and adds that the audience is “open to experimentation”.