With Homeland coming to a close, director Nikkhil Advani discusses why its Indian adaptation POW - Bandi Yuddh Ke is not available on any streaming service
Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; May 23, 2020)

With the multiple Emmy Award-winning drama Homeland winding to a close last month, there has been renewed interest in Nikkhil Advani’s P.O.W.: Bandi Yuddh Ke. It may be recalled that the 2016 offering was based on the popular Israeli series Hatufim, which, in turn, served as the source material for the Claire Danes-starrer.

While the Purab Kohli and Satyadeep Mishra starrer enjoyed a long run on Star Plus and its OTT counterpart Hotstar, it has been missing from the streaming giant's roster for the past three years.

Ask Advani about the show not being available on the Internet, and he says, "Its rights rest with the Israeli media house, Keshet Media Network. Hotstar had struck a deal with them to adapt Hatufim in Hindi, but it was restricted to only one round of airing. Now, Keshet has an India office too, so Hotstar or any other network that is interested in the show can buy the rights from them."

While the series had a 110-episode run on television, Advani had specially made a 40-episode cut for OTT viewers. The director hopes that the political thriller is acquired by a streaming service, giving ardent fans of the genre an opportunity to rediscover the show. "I always envisioned it as a close-ended miniseries. I knew how the story would end when I started working on it. Despite being a TV show, it had the tonality of a web series. Had it released now on a streaming service, the audience's response would have been different."