This year’s Emmy Awards, one of the biggest nights in global television, were especially historic for India. This was the second year in a series that several Indian television programs were announced, and the first time an Indian series won. Delhi Crime, Netflix ‘s eight – part drama investigates a violent rape case in 2012, which took home the award for best international series.
Of course, all Indian nominations were for shows created by Netflix or Amazon Prime. Over the past two years, streaming has dramatically shifted India’s domestic creative landscape – and created a new global audience for Indian series and films. According to Amazon Prime, 20% of viewers of their original Indian content are now from outside India.
“India is a country of storytellers but for a long time, due to the formula nature of cinema and television, there was no production of all kinds of stories,” said Aparna Purohit, head of original content at Amazon Prime India. “It simply came to our notice then. Stories that weren’t picked up earlier, topics that weren’t ignored or avoided, now there’s a place for them. “
The two largest streaming platforms, Netflix and Amazon Prime, arrived in India four years ago but it is only over the last two years that momentum has begun to build.
But as the platforms began to thrive, they have grown again from hardware groups in India, which have accused Netflix and Amazon of being creating content that “hurts the content of Indian society”. While the previous platforms were free of censorship that controls all film and television in India, enabling new, stronger programs, the government confirmed in November that all streaming platforms be brought under control.
In a country of more than 1.3 billion people, half of whom are under the age of 25, Amazon and Netflix have made huge investments in harnessing the potential for profit. According to senior officials, India is now seeing the largest growth in any global streaming market.
In 2019-20, Netflix invested $ 400m (£ 293m) in the creation of original programming and released over 30 pieces of original Indian content. Amazon Prime now has customers in over 4,300 cities and towns across India and has around 50 displays in various stages of development. In addition to presentations in Hindi and English, both platforms create original content in regional languages including Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam.
“This year has been an amazing one for us in India as we are one of the fastest growing markets in global Netflix,” said Monika Shergill, vice president of content at Netflix India. “We have a big new ball center in India and we’ve discovered that we’re hungry for a variety of stories and forms.”
A number of Indian-made shows were made into the Netflix Top 10 in countries around the world, with the reality show Elegant animals of Bollywood women and children’s animation Bheem Little Mighty has been hailed as a recent global success, Shergill said.
While India has a thriving Bollywood film industry and a culture of long-running television series, there was no industry tradition of the long-running immersive stories of well-known streaming services. Much of Netflix and Amazon’s early investment went into building a new collection of talent.
“We had to build it, brick by brick,” said Amazon Prime’s Purohit. “We’ve invested heavily in development, devoting a lot of time to light green projects. We started organizing writers’ workshops where we would introduce new writers and old runners and creators. Just trial and error, working and learning along the way. “At first, Bollywood big names weren’t willing to cooperate, but now they were knocking on Amazon Prime’s door.
There have also been logistical challenges: 96% of Indian households have one TV, and a smart TV with internet access is rare. But with the second highest mobile phone ownership in the world and wide access to cheap mobile data, most Indians are now watching video on a phone. Netflix says its subscribers in India look more mobile than anywhere else in the world.
Growth is aided by low subscriptions starting at 129 rupees (£ 1.30) per month for Amazon Prime and 199 rupees per month for Netflix, but with an average monthly household income at 32,800 rupees (£ 328 ), is still inaccessible to millions.
But the risk from future regulation depends heavily. As government censorship maintains a strong grip on the cultural arena, Amazon and Netflix have become a breeding ground for grittier, quieter shows like Leila, Holy games and Lok Paatal, which has dealt with gender, sexual violence, homophobia and caste inequality, criticizes right Hindu nationalism and reflects the persecution of Muslims.
“Such programs could not have been made before,” said Gaurav Gandhi, Director and Country GM of Amazon Prime Video India. “The world of streaming gives new freedom to the creators. ”
The backlash against some shows has been vivid, starting online hate campaigns against stars and creators. Holy games, the big series of Netflix breakups, threatens lawsuit for a line where former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi is called fattu, translated as pussy.
Netflix, Amazon and 16 other streaming platforms in India have compiled a code of autonomy that they hope will persuade the government to adopt, rather than be forced to adhere to the rules. -such censorship rules to Bollywood.
Shibasish Sarkar, chief executive of Reliance Entertainment, one of the largest production houses in India with credentials Holy games, he said: “In three years, India’s cultural side of streaming platforms has achieved what it would have achieved in 30 years in the traditional film and TV industries.
“Writers and producers have enjoyed them [being] free to communicate with the audience [without] restrictions or regulators or censors. It is a structure of autonomy and self-discipline that we should aim for. If we do not do that we will lose mojo. “