On the season finale of #TheStreamingShow Season 3, Suchin speaks to one of the most exciting actors and filmmakers in town, Konkona Sen Sharma, about how she straddles both worlds, whether A Death In The Gunj would get made today, why the streaming space seems to be contracting and playing it safe, why shows seems to be getting cancelled left, right and centre, her new JioHotstar murder mystery Search: The Naina Murder Case and the upcoming Amazon Prime Video comedy series she's directing.

2025 marks 10 years of Roshan Mathew at the movies. Roshan is an actor who's been constantly at it, building a varied body of work and proving that talent, rather than packaging and positioning, may just be enough to make your presence felt. On episode 7 of #TheStreamingShow podcast, Suchin speaks to the talented actor about his exciting body of work, the challenges of being on the cusp of stardom, what makes Malayalam cinema so consistently exciting and clutter-breaking, the enduring superstardom of Mohanlal and Mammootty, why strategizing and reverse-engineering success never works, his "turning point" roles in films like Aanandam, Koode, Moothon, Kapella, Darlings, Ronth and the upcoming Chatha Pacha.

On the sixth episode of The Streaming Show Season 3, Suchin speaks to filmmaker Hansal Mehta about entering his production house era, his upcoming magnum opus Gandhi, the great streaming contraction, the state of Hindi cinema, antagonism between filmmakers and OTT platforms,, whether Scam 1992 could get made today, how data is corrupting storytelling, why our marketing and promotion system is broken, the scourge of paid reviews, his keen eye for casting, and more.

On episode five of The Streaming Show Podcast Season 3, Suchin sits down with some of the most exciting stand-up comedians - Anirban Dasgupta, Shreeja Chaturvedi and Sapan Verma - to discuss the state of the Indian comedy scene, comedy in the controversy and fear, whether every comedian needs to have a podcast, why streaming platforms broke up with stand-up, the allure of screenwriting, the responsibility of "being edgy", and why Varun Grover has an irritating amount of talent.

On the fourth episode of The Streaming Show Season 3, Suchin speaks to filmmaker Kiran Rao about the plight of the mid-budget film, the state of Indian independent cinema, why the distribution model for mainstream cinema is broken, the urgent need to change our approach to film marketing and promotions, what we can learn from Malayalam cinema and the vibrant industries in the South, how to get audiences back into theatres, the black hole of OTT and more.

On episode three of The Streaming Show Podcast Season 3, Suchin sits down with some of the most exciting screenwriters from Hindi cinema - Khyati Anand Puthran (Raat Jawaan Hai), Ritesh Shah (Pink, Airlift, Sardar Udham, Dahaad), Atika Chohan (Ulajh, Guilty, Chhapaak) and Biswapati Sarkar (Kaala Paani, Pitchers, Permanent Roommates) - to talk about the state of the Hindi film industry in 2025, why mainstream cinema is out of touch with audiences, what writers should and shouldn't be pitching in 2025, Bollywood's struggles with mounting the big masala movie, the industry's efforts to discourage "star writers", the ongoing uphill battle of credits and payment and much more.

There aren't many brains, and talents, in the business quite like Pratik Gandhi. He's as comfortable having a thoughtful conversation about data, market forces and budgets as he is about the craft and artistry of acting and storytelling. On the second episode of The Streaming Show Season 3, the actor spoke to Suchin about his inspiring journey to making it at the movies, why Scam 1992 may not get made today, why storytelling has been side-lined in the age of fear, formula and algorithm, the box office trap, building stardom in 2025 and more.

On the first episode of The Streaming Show Podcast Season 3, Suchin sits down with Karan Johar to discuss the rapidly shifting state of the Hindi film industry, the box office triumph of Saiyaara, the contraction of the streaming landscape, his shelved action film, the plight of the mid-budget film, how to fix Koffee With Karan, the future of Bollywood and Indian cinema, and why Hindi cinema has a director crisis.

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