What’s it like being an established actor in 2024? What’s it like navigating and bouncing between shows and films, platforms and mediums, theatrical and streaming?
To shed light on just that, for the season finale of The Streaming Show podcast, I spoke to Jim Sarbh. It feels like the talented actor has been everywhere over the last few years. On streaming, we’ve seen him on popular shows like Four More Shots Please, the beloved Made In Heaven, and one of my favourites Rocket Boys for which he even bagged an international Emmy nomination.
He also recently started his own YouTube series Crew Cut, which I strongly recommend, in which popular actors interview the storytellers and artists behind the scene about the craft of filmmaking.
Jim spoke to me about the ongoing …often soul crushing conflict between an actor and artist wanting to do good work as against the constant calculations of playing the positioning and perception game. Along with the current slump and uncertainty within the film industry, flitting between Shakespeare and playing the villain in his first Telugu film, his thoughts on the talent management ecosystem and a whole lot more.
You cant really tell the Indian streaming story without talking to Sid Roy Kapur. One of the most respected producers in the business, he’s backed more than 80 films according to his IMDB, including gems like Dangal, Barfi, Udaan, Paan Singh Tomar, and Haider. Previously the Managing Director of The Walt Disney Company India and CEO of UTV Motion Pictures, Sid also served as president of the Producers’ Guild of India for multiple terms. He now runs Roy Kapur Films which has made numerous shows and movies for streaming including Aranyak for Netflix and the excellent Rocket Boys for SonyLIV. Sid spoke to me about the state of the streaming and theatrical landscapes, the continued struggles of smaller films and whether the golden age of streaming is well and truly over.
It’s a pretty bleak time for the Indian streaming landscape, to put it lightly. I’ve spoken to writers who’ve said they’ve never seen the industry in such bad shape. You hear constant horror stories these days. Everything from platforms no longer commissioning shows, to shows in development or even about to start production which are either shelved or facing drastically reduced budgets. And these are big, well-known filmmakers and writers. So how bad is it and is there any hope in sight?
To break it down, I spoke to one of the most significant storytelling voices we have. Sudip Sharma is the creator of Paatal Lok and Kohrra. He’s one of the few true blue showrunners we have - a writer who’s stepped up and become captain of the ship of his shows. Sudip spoke to me about the crippling uncertainty of the current streaming landscape for writers, the calibre of stories on streaming, his experiences of working with Netflix vs Amazon Prime Video, his advice for young writers trying to weather the current storm, and what the future of long-form storytelling looks like in India.
What exactly does an effective writers' room look like, and have we adopted the concept well within the Indian streaming ecosystem? Or is it still a free-for-all with everyone just doing their own thing? To break it down I spoke to two of the most exciting screenwriters in town, both of whom bring new meaning to the term multihyphenate talent.
Varun Grover was head writer in one of the first writers rooms for a major streamer with Sacred Games. Aside from creating and starring in Prime Video’s Pushpavalli, one of the finest shows we’ve made, Sumukhi Suresh recently founded MotorMouth - a company solely dedicated to writing and developing shows and movies. At MotorMouth, Sumukhi is currently juggling 8 separate writers rooms at once.
In a hilarious, insightful chat, the two sparking screenwriters spoke to me about the do’s and don'ts of running a writers' room, bringing together the right group of personalities, why writers fighting can actually be a good thing, what the job of a head writer is, how young writers can deal with asshole bosses and toxic power structures, the insanity of writers being banned on sets and the surprising significance of Bengali food.
This season of The Streaming Show podcast was only ever supposed to be ten episodes. But in a happy turn of events, this 11th episode materialized in which I spoke to one of my favorite artists Vir Das - about a topic I feel very strongly about - the lack of comedies on streaming and why there seems to be a fear of funny among platforms. Shows like Amazon's glorious Pushpavalli and Humble Politician Nograj on Voot remain the rare exceptions.
Vir spoke to me about the severe lack of laughs, the multiple shows he’s currently show running,
the need for more platform executives who understand comedy, what went wrong with his Netflix series Hasmukh and what streaming has done for stand-up and vice versa.
When it comes to Indian Streaming, in terms of consistently great storytelling, there's little doubt that Amazon Prime Video rules the roost. Put simply,the streamer is home to most of our best shows.
From gloriously entertaining smash hits like Mirzapur to prestige shows like
Pushpavalli, Paatal Lok, Panchayat, The Family Man, Guilty Minds, Jubilee, Made In Heaven, Laakhon Mein Ek Season 2, Suzhal and I could literally go on.
But what is it specifically about how Amazon operates that allows it to be home to many of the best? What are they doing or not doing as compared to enable their impressive track record?
To break it down, Suchin spoke to Head of India Originals, Aparna Purohit.
We spoke about the Amazon secret sauce, why she's tired of being pitched different versions of Mirzapur, the challenges of nailing a second season, the need for more rockstar streaming executives, and the changes she'd like to see within the streaming landscape
Applause Entertainment is as big as any Indian studio making movies and shows for streaming, gets. In just over five years they've made 44 shows for almost every platform around. They're behind shows and remakes like Criminal Justice, The Indian Office, Rudra, City Of Dreams, and Tanaav. Not to mention one of my favorite comedies Humble Politician Nograj and their one prestige show Scam 1992.
The reason Suchin wanted to speak to Applause Entertainment CEO Sameer Nair was to discuss their unique business model. Applause doesn't just pitch the ideas of shows to platforms, they go off and shoot the entire season and pitch the ready series and license it to streamers for x number of years. The platform gets a ready show, but Applause owns the IP.
At a time when streamers in the US are dropping beloved shows from their platforms to save costs, the Applause model feels more intriguing. Especially for filmmakers who want to hold onto the IP of their ideas.
Sameer spoke to Suchin about the onslaught of remakes and Call my agent Bollywood, in particular, which he passionately defended. We also spoke about the pros and cons of licensing and why he isn't put off by the formula
One of the most exciting things about the streaming age is the sheer amount of acting talent we're inundated with week after week.
From exciting new actors that have exploded onto the scene to renowned actors finally getting their due in shows like Jamtara, Panchayat, Scam 1992, Paatal Lok, The Family Man, Delhi Crime, and Mirzapur to name but a few.
To examine just how much streaming has done for casting and vice versa, I sat down with two leading casting directors. Kavish Sinha has worked on shows such as Rocket Boys, Mumbai Diaries, Rudra, Avrodh and Undekhi, and Panchami Ghavri is behind the casting of series like Class, Mismatched and Masaba Masaba.
Together, the two spoke to Suchin about the importance of an actor's social media following, the scourge of influencers, how easy it is to sell a show of all newcomers, and the casting demands of platforms that annoy them the most.
There is no player within the Indian streaming landscape quite as prolific and distinctive as TVF (The Viral Fever). What started as a YouTube channel back in 2010 known for its skits and sketches, the company ventured into making shows on YouTube in 2016 with titles like Pitchers and Permanent Roommates. But, despite being the first movers in the digital space, they certainly didn't get left behind.
By 2019 they'd quickly snowballed into a storytelling machine with winning shows across platforms like Gullak, Kota Factory, Hostel Daze, and Panchayat.
To decode the TVF secret sauce, Suchin spoke to the Head of TVF Originals Shreyansh Pandey. They chatted about the mammoth success of Panchayat, how you maintain the level of intimacy in your stories when you're making so many at once, the curse of season 2, and the TVF template - the joke being that TVF will make a show for every academic syllabus out there. It's a formula they hope to soon break by stepping into the sci-fi space.
There’s arguably no better way to examine just how much the streaming era has disrupted the film industry than by talking to writers. So, Suchin spoke to two of the busiest ones around.
Sumit Purohit was the lead writer on the the smash hit Scam 1992 on SonyLIV. He’s also worked on Netflix murdery mystery series Aranyak and Amazon Prime Video’s Inside Edge - the first original series from an international streamer.
Nandini Gupta is one of the writers on Disney+Hotstar’s fever dream Saas Bahu Aur Flamingo. She’s also co-written Netflix’s Mismatched and Masaba Masaba. Together, the two spoke to Suchin about how much the life of a writer has changed in the last few years, why the system of crediting writers on shows is so frustrating and inconsistent, why screenwriters are often a soft target for critics, why earning a decent living sometimes means writing three shows at once and how they even have to fight to ensure they’re name appears on screen before Netflix’s infamous Skip Intro button.
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What’s it like running an Indian streaming platform? SonyLIV’s Head Of Content Saugata Mukherjee knows a thing or two about that. The platform was relaunched back in 2020, and in the three years since, has made a name for itself as the home of some of the finest storytelling on streaming with shows like Scam 1992, Tabbar, and Gullak. Even their originals that don’t entirely land, like Dr. Arora, Good Bad Girl, and Faadu, show a sense of promise, originality, and specificity.
Saugata sat down to speak to Suchin about the SonyLIV journey, why he’s tired of the factory line of gangster dramas, why the Hindi market for shows feels saturated, the platform’s shaky user interface, and what it is they’re doing differently that’s leading to shows that outshine many of their competitors.
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It feels like actor Shriya Pilgaonkar is everywhere. A streaming star if ever there was one, she's ideally placed to discuss what it's like navigating the OTT arena today, as an actor. Shriya's made a name for herself in multiple projects across platforms including Mirzapur on Amazon Prime Video, Taaza Khabar on Disney+Hotstar, The Broken News on ZEE5, and her finest work yet - as unshakeably righteous lawyer Kashaf Qazi in one of last year's best shows - Guilty Minds on Amazon Prime Video. Shriya sat down with film critic Suchin Mehrotra to discuss her journey, How much the platform matter when considering a role, pay disparity and the changes she'd like to see in the streaming space
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How do streaming shows and the producers behind them, make money? What does the streaming business model look like? If there are writers or cinematographers working in the streaming age, are they earning more today than they were 5 or 7 years ago? Here to demystify the numbers and shed light on the business of streaming is the producer, director, showrunner, and co-founder of Emmay Entertainment Nikkhil Advani. Aside from making beloved films such as Kal Ho Naa Ho and D-Day, Nikkhil has gone on to become one of the most prolific and significant voices in the world of streaming. In the last 3 years, Emmay Entertainment has made five shows for five different platforms including Hasmukh for Netflix, The Empire for Disnet+Hotstar, Mumbai Diaries for Amazon Prime Video and most notably two seasons of one of my favorites - Rocket Boys for SonyLIV. Nikkhil sat down with Suchin Mehrotra to break down the economics of streaming and talk stars, platforms, money, and why he wishes more streamers operated like Amazon.
What exactly is a showrunner? What is a writer's room and how do you set one up? Why are there so many power struggles and clashes on the sets of streaming shows between series creators and directors? Are series really a writer's medium? Filmmaker and the OG showrunner Vikramaditya Motwane is in many ways ideally placed to answer these questions. Back in 2018, his Sacred Games really kicked off this age of streamers, series and seasons with a bang as one of the first massive originals for a global streamer. Earlier this year his new show Jubilee was released on Amazon Prime Video. He’s currently already hard at work on his next series.
In today's episode, Vikram spoke to Suchin about how streaming has changed the game for filmmakers, why it's hard to nail the second season of a show, dealing with creative interference from platforms and why Jubilee wouldn't get greenlit today
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Mentions
Sacred Games - https://g.co/kgs/msMd9v
Jubilee - https://g.co/kgs/k4VRkR
Succession - https://g.co/kgs/VZxPdi
Shakun Batra - Indian Filmmaker, best known for Gehraiyaan
Navdeep Singh - Indian Filmmaker, best known for NH10
Pushpavalli - https://g.co/kgs/wLaA8e
Tabbar - https://g.co/kgs/7KsvKK
Decoupled - https://g.co/kgs/R4inRh
