Netflix has unveiled a 40-strong India slate across genres featuring a galaxy of stars including Dhanush, Madhuri Dixit Nene, Taapsee Pannu, Manoj Bajpayee, R. Madhavan and Raveena Tandon.
Produced by media personality Karan Johar as part of his long-term partnership with the streamer are documentary film “Searching For Sheela,” which follows Ma Anand Sheela who shot to fame in Netflix’s “Wild Wild Country”; and feature films – relationships anthology “Ajeeb Daastaans,” starring Konkona Sen Sharma, Aditi Rao Hydari and Fatima Sana Sheikh, and long-distance relationship film “Meenakshi Sundareshwar,” featuring Sanya Malhotra. Johar-produced series include suspenseful family drama “Finding Anamika,” starring Madhuri Dixit Nene and Sanjay Kapoor, and the second season of bling reality show “Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives.”
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Feature films include Reliance Entertainment’s marital drama “Bulbul Tarang,” starring Sonakshi Sinha; Aanand L. Rai and T Series’ murder mystery “Haseen Dillruba,” featuring Taapsee Pannu; sports-based romcom “Jaadugar,” with Jitendra Kumar; and Karthik Subbaraj’s gangster film “Jagame Thandhiram,” starring Dhanush. There are a brace of Venice festival titles – “Milestone,” and the previously announced “The Disciple,” executive produced by Alfonso Cuaron.
“Pagglait,” from producers Ekta Kapoor and Guneet Monga, is a journey of self-discovery; whodunit “Penthouse” stars Bobby Deol and Arjun Rampal; while John Abraham and Emmay Entertainment’s “Sardar Ka Grandson” is a family entertainer starring Neena Gupta and Arjun Kapoor.
The previously announced “Navarasa,” and “Dhamaka” are also part of the film slate.
Scripted series include Roy Kapur Films and Ramesh Sippy Entertainment’s small-town procedural “Aranyak,” starring Raveena Tandon and Parambrata Chatterjee; marital comedy “Decoupled,” with R. Madhavan and Surveen Chawla; romance anthology “Feels Like Ishq”; and Endemol Shine India, Endeavor Content and Chernin Entertainment’s female-centric drama “Bombay Begums” by Alankrita Shrivastava, starring Pooja Bhatt, Shahana Goswami and Amruta Subhash.
The second seasons of SK Global Entertainment and Golden Karavan’s Emmy-winning police procedural “Delhi Crime,” Viacom18’s political drama “Jamtara: Sabka Number Aayega,” student drama “Kota Factory,” romantic drama “Mismatched,” Imtiaz Ali’s crime drama “She,” and fashion- and Bollywood-set “Masaba Masaba” are also coming up, as is the fourth season of young adult romance “Little Things.”
Other scripted series include “Ray,” directors Srijit Mukherji, Vasan Bala, Abhishek Chaubey’s interpretation of stories by Oscar-winning Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray, starring Manoj Bajpayee, Harshvardhan Kapoor and Ali Fazal; Anushka Sharma’s white-collar crime drama “Mai,” with Sakshi Tanwar; and the darkly comic “Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein,” with Tahir Raj Bhasin.
Upcoming documentary series include police investigation show “Crime Stories: India Detectives,” set in India’s Silicon Valley Bengaluru; Leena Yadav’s “House of Secrets: The Burari Deaths” that investigates the mass death of a Delhi family; and Vice Media’s look at the minds of Indian killers, “Indian Predator.”
Among reality series’ “Social Currency” explores if social media influencers can survive offline in the real world; and the second season of Indian wedding show “The Big Day.”
Comedy programming includes competition “Comedy Premium League,” and specials from comedians Kapil Sharma, Sumukhi Suresh, Aakash Gupta, Rahul Dua and Prashasti Singh.
“Our slate tells you that we are very bullish, we are betting big on India,” Monika Shergill, VP, content, Netflix India, told Variety. “We are continuing with the stories that we know will entertain people.”
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