Showing posts with label Aparna Purohit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Aparna Purohit. Show all posts
Varun Dhawan-Janhvi Kapoor's Bawaal trailer to be unveiled at grand fan event in Dubai on July 8
8:18 AM
Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; July 1, 2023)
Last week, mid-day reported that Varun Dhawan and Janhvi Kapoor-starrer 'Bawaal' will have its première in Paris (Global première in Paris for 'Bawaal', June 23). Now, it looks like Nitesh Tiwari’s directorial venture has a few more destinations on its itinerary before it drops on Amazon Prime Video on July 21. It has been learnt that the makers have decided to launch its trailer in a grand event in Dubai.
July 8 will see the lead actors headline the fan event in the desert emirate. “The makers are expecting a turnout of about 150-200 fans. It is supposed to be an experiential event that will give the fans a feel of the film. The do will be attended by Varun, Janhvi, Nitesh, producer Sajid Nadiadwala, and Aparna Purohit, Head of Originals at Amazon Prime Video,” says a source.
The idea of having global promotional events is said to be in keeping with 'Bawaal’s' narrative that sees Dhawan’s character travel around the globe. The source adds, “The makers zeroed in on Dubai for the trailer launch as it is a melting pot of cultures and has a large Indian population.”
The Paris première will be held closer to the movie’s direct-to-web release.
The OTT business is really the IPL of content-Sameer Nair
8:25 AM
(Clockwise from top) Sameer Nair, CEO, Applause Entertainment; Nimisha Pandey, Chief Content Officer, Hindi Originals — Zee5; Madhu Bhojwani, partner, Emmay Entertainment; Pratiksha Rao, Director — films and licensing, India, Netflix; Aparna Purohit, Head, India originals, Amazon Prime Video; Arunabh Kumar, Founder TVF; Mayank Shekhar, Entertainment Editor, mid-day; Apoorva Mehta, CEO, Dharma Productions and Dharmatic
In the OTT head honchos’ huddle, ahead of Hitlist Awards, India’s top content bosses delve on the changing scene
Mayank Shekhar (MID-DAY; February 25, 2022)
Not that you can time this—a day before the Hitlist Awards’ OTT head honchos’ huddle took place over a zoom call, with India’s top content bosses, Netflix founder Reed Hastings dropped a truth bomb elsewhere.
Of all major markets, Reeds reckoned, Netflix was yet to convincingly crack India. Social media handles took off thereafter, throwing up suggestions on what Netflix must do, where it had gone wrong — a swarm of SWOT analyses, if you may.
Sameer Nair (Applause Entertainment) feels this is like offering boxing lessons to Mike Tyson, going through a purple patch: “Netflix are the leaders of how streaming business is done. And India has always been a complicated, hungry, but value-conscious market, that’s also tasted blood during the pandemic. Even cable TV is pathetically cheap at $3 a month here. Everywhere else, it’s $20-30. Satellite TV has 200 million viewers, OTT platforms are at 30-40 million. We talk of ‘cutting the (cable) cord’ — why bother; it’s just there!”
Pratiksha Rao (Netflix India), on the other hand, takes this barrage of unsolicited, social-media advice rather sportingly, terming it a “huge privilege that people think of brand Netflix as passionately. We see ourselves as creative enablers, partners for as diverse stories as we can, to also make them travel globally,” besides offering global (original) content on the platform itself.
To be fair, as per estimates, Netflix holds about 5 per cent of the Indian OTT market; its revenue-share stands close to 30 per cent. There are, currently, about 75 OTT platforms in India. And of the 225 fresh shows streamed in 2021, 170 of them were in Hindi alone. A certain level of segmentation has obviously taken place in an industry that’s at best about five years old.
Nimisha Pandey (Zee5) reveals her platform delivered 40 pieces of original content (series/films) in 2021: “We plan to focus more on quality.”
Aparna Purohit (Amazon Prime Video) agrees her mandate isn’t quantity either. Given that the streaming service is part of an overall shopping mall. “The pressure is to put out something that constantly raises the bar—becomes part of cultural zeitgeist, water-cooler conversations; whether that’s Paatal Lok or Mirzapur. That’s not easy pressure; even as we placed 18 shows and 50 films across languages (in 2021).”
With its own captive subscriber/audience base, the OTT can be deemed as the new star-system for Indian entertainment. They unilaterally green-light scripts—for films, and shows that are shot like cinema. And, in return, receive both immense love and instant criticism for the choices they make.
Speaking of the star-system, which is directly related to theatrical entertainment—whatever happened to Bollywood, as it were, that took a beating from both Hollywood (Spider-Man), and down South (Pushpa, which collected Rs 80 crore among Hindi audiences alone)?
A contention behind this threat to Bollywood being that most of Mumbai’s top, traditional producers have turned into vendors for OTT platforms in the process.
Apoorva Mehta (Dharma Productions, which pretty much equals Bollywood) reasons, “Theatrical is the cornerstone, that’s where the heart lies. The South is filling a gap. Very few Hindi filmmakers, like Rohit Shetty, are great with delivering scale plus entertainment.”
The other unsung aspect of the nascent, theatrical dominance of the South in Hindi markets, as Arunabh Kumar (TVF) points out, is serious upgrade in the quality of Hindi dubbing, subtitling and translation—something that wasn’t adequately appreciated for Allu Arjun’s Pushpa.
Of course television, more so OTT platforms, and Internet access in general, have had a role to play with audiences sampling cinema/content/stardom from all over, other Indian languages included.
As for his own Hindi films, Mehta says he had to make do with the war-tentpole Shershaah (2021) on Amazon Prime Video (APV), because they had held on to it for over a year since the pandemic: “We couldn’t miss out on August 15.” Also, one’s not sure anymore what the response to a mid-range production like Gehraiyaan (also on APV) would be in a theatre: “There’s a skew towards larger than life, experiential entertainment.”
What’s the unlearning, when film studios enter the streaming fray? How are the OTT and film industries different? Bollywood producer Madhu Bhojwani (Emmay Entertainment), who delivered 10 OTT titles in 2021 (including Empire and Mumbai Diaries 26/11) likens the two financial worlds to farming and hunting. Wherein the OTT industry promises a predictable return on an input cost: “There is a cap on how much you can make.”
“The up-side, even once you dilute stakes on the intellectual property of a film,” depends on performance in theatres: “Films are like the races.”
The other changing dynamic between the two industries is again, of course, the star-system itself. Lead actors in Bollywood are notorious for cornering as paycheck a bulk of the film’s budget. Do they matter on OTTs anymore?
TVF’s Kumar says streaming platforms are democratic, in the sense that they don’t grade content on your device, based on who’s in it. The library is near infinite (for a lifetime anyway). Unlike network television, where you can only watch a show at a time; and theatres, that can only play a certain number of films.
Can’t deny the initial buzz, though, that a show/film on an OTT is likely to generate, given a legacy star in it. Rao from Netflix is clear, “The script and the creator’s vision are most important in assessing a project, yes. There is still a commercial value attached to the power of big talents, who have built a filmography and fan base, over years. While they have to deliver that value, they also have to be used the right way, as we’ve done in the US. [Conversely], you can have a [Malayalam super-hero film] Minnal Murali that generates its own fandom. The film didn’t have a big star. But [Tavino Thomas] became a national heartthrob after.”
The equivalent of the box-office, the barometer for cinema stardom, isn’t clicks on OTT platforms, as Pandey from Zee5 points out: “The click is just a vanity metric. Sampling does no good. Once you have clicked—how long you have stuck with the content matters more in the long run.”
And this is why, according to APV’s Purohit, “There is no rush. You don’t have to prove a success of a film or series over a weekend [unlike box-office]. The audience surprises us eventually.”
The reason OTT platforms are seen as parallel to the film industry, rather than television—despite the disproportionate size of screen—is clearly for the budgets involved. And indeed the cross-pollination of talents that have taken place over the past half a decade.
Unlike the US, that moved towards limited edition, quality series back in the late 1990s, Indian network TV continued to appeal to mass markets, chiefly with long-running soap operas, with little incentive to do much else. “This is India’s HBO moment,” Nair from Applause, reckons.
Having been part of all three worlds, how does Nair perceive these industries separately? He says, “There are various ways to describe it. One that I find useful is to take the movie business as playing for the national cricket team—11 players from a billion plus. Fiction on TV is domestic cricket. Those in it hope to make it from thereon. The OTT business is really the IPL of content—involves both domestic and international players, with quality on display; everybody gets their moment under the sun.”
In the food-chain on the Internet, there is in fact another competitive level, below the IPL of content. Which is where TVF’s Kumar progressed from, on a free-for-all YouTube, making spoofs and branded content—starting out with a sketch called Rowdies in 2012, peaking with Kota Factory, the second season of which made it to Netflix.
In 2022, Kumar asserts, “The lot on YouTube from a decade ago are presently subscribers of OTT platforms. That’s the cascading effect. Likewise, there’s a whole new world of 18-year-olds consuming short videos on YouTube now, that we also make content for—being the only collective from the old lot that continues to.”
This content economy is also a creator economy. Everyone is an aspirant, with an idea for a feature, short, or series; displaying talents all-day, online. Many of whom, we figure, might be interested in a conversation with these OTT bosses.
All of whom suggest their inboxes are open for new ideas. Kumar however warns the idea alone is hardly as important as the rigour and effort behind detailing a plan that ought to be 5,000 pages, minimum: “An idea means nothing. I’d value discipline over talent, any day.”
There’s also the ‘bible’, which Zee5’s Pandey defines as an elaborate presentation of sorts that captures the treatment of an idea/story, sometimes visuals included.
Whether it’s a bible or story synopsis, what’s essential, says Rao for Netflix, is “if you’re able get out, what’s in your head. Focus on explaining the story, and its emotions. Instead of saying, this is the ‘best’, or it’s India’s version of xyz!” In case you were searching for a favoured genre to sell, APV’s Purohit makes it public: she is actively on the lookout for young adult fiction.
A safe area, no doubt. Given OTT is no more quite the brave new world it used to be, only until a year back—what with the government putting in place an indisputably draconian censorship law, skewed towards accepting complaints from any viewer of an OTT platform, to be acted upon by a three-tier crime and punishment system.
Bhojwani is part of the government’s second-tier committee, that comprises industry folk and members of civil society—the first is the OTT platform itself; the third tier involves multiple Union ministries.
Bhojwani says, “Since this grievance-redress council was put in place, a lot of complaints have come in. But it’s been okay, working, so far.” So far, being the essential rider. Mehta at Dharma is taking no chances, getting scripts vetted by legal teams, desisting from anything that spells potential trouble.
Although Nair—who recently got away with Danish Sait’s smart political satire, Humble Politician Nograj—reasons, you gotta do, what you gotta do: “Creators both reflect and hold mirror to society—telling stories you’re not meant to; finding ways to. All great art progresses on these fundamentals. A danger bigger than censorship, is self censorship.”
There is a moment of silence at this point from the OTT platform bosses in this huddle. Well. Understandably so.
One pick of 2021
Sameer Nair: Jerry Seinfeld’s stand-up special, 23 Hours To Kill (Netflix)
Madhu Bhojwani: Mini-series, Dopesick (Disney+ Hotstar)
Apoorva Mehta: German multi-part series, Dark (Netflix)
Nimisha Pandey: TVF series Aspirants (YouTube)
Arunabh Kumar: English-Japanese thriller film, Kate (Netflix)
Aparna Purohit: Cop investigative series, Mare of Easttown (Disney+ Hotstar)
Pratiksha Rao: The Morning Show, Season 2 (Apple TV)
Cast your vote for the Hitlist OTT Awards
Log on to www.radiocity.in/hitlistawards to cast your vote.
You can also vote via SMS. Send HITLIST <space> category name <space> your choice (a/b/c as on the website) to 57575.
Voting lines close on March 18.
Modern Love to be adapted for India by Amazon Prime
8:22 AM
Vishal Bhardwaj, Hansal Mehta, Alankrita Shrivastava, Anjali Menon, Dhruv Sehgal and Shonali Bose
Popular American anthology Modern Love to be adapted for India; Amazon Prime ropes in noted directors Vishal, Hansal, Alankrita and more to helm the love stories
Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; January 19, 2022)
Developer John Carney hit the right notes as he explored love in all its shades with Modern Love, the popular romantic comedy anthology adapted from The New York Times’ weekly column. Now, Amazon Prime Video is ready to tell newer love stories, only this time, the streets and coffee shops of New York will be replaced by the gullies and beating heart of India.
mid-day has learnt that the OTT giant has been working on the Indian adaptation of Modern Love over the past two years. The content team, headed by Aparna Purohit, has roped in noteworthy directors — Vishal Bhardwaj, Hansal Mehta, Alankrita Shrivastava, Anjali Menon, Shonali Bose and Dhruv Sehgal — to bring the stories to life. So far, actors Pratik Gandhi, Fatima Sana Shaikh and Wamiqa Gabbi have shot for their segments.
A source reveals, “The anthology series, over its two seasons, has explored love in all its complicated and beautiful forms. The Indian adaptation will be in a similar vein, telling everyday stories about relationships, tugging at your heartstrings with their honesty and simplicity. The stories have been developed by the six directors with their team of writers, and then vetted by Amazon’s writers’ room. Much like the original format, each of the actors will be fronting a segment in the anthology. Pratik and Wamiqa are known faces in OTT entertainment, thanks to their strong performances in Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story and Grahan. Similarly, Fatima is no stranger to anthologies, having been part of Ajeeb Daastaans [2021].”
The series was shot in different parts of Mumbai in late 2021. The source adds, “The filmmakers began shooting their segments in November. The show will move into post-production by next month as the platform hopes to release it sometime later in the year.”
(From left) Gabbi, Gandhi and Shaikh are among the actors on board
We are thrilled that some of our bets are starting to pay off-Aparna Purohit
8:05 AM
Amazon Prime Video, which is a preferred home for creators and talent, focuses on local stories, diverse voices and authentic casting
BOMBAY TIMES (June 22, 2021)
The new season of The Family Man has been a huge hit. What do you attribute this success to?
Our key tenet is to back a good story when we see one — a story that is unique, inspiring and intensely local. When green-lighting a project, we bet on the authenticity of the story and the passion and vision of the creators. Good stories connect and have the potential to transcend all barriers of language and geography. The reason for The Family Man’s success is the fact that it is relatable, yet inspirational. Raj and DK (Raj Nidimoru, Krishna DK), the extraordinary creators of The Family Man, have reimagined the spy-thriller genre by chronicling the dual life of a middle-class family man who also happens to be an exceptional agent. Or, as Manoj Bajpayee aptly puts it, is the James Bond of Chembur! The creators’ quintessentially distinct, independent voice is what sets this story apart. In just two weeks, The Family Man’s new season has become one of the most watched on our streaming service in India.
Successful stories do not flourish in isolation — they come alive with collaboration. Our goal is to help create a community, a creative space for storytellers. My opening gambit to creators is to come to us with their passion projects, stories that might be locked in their closet, ideas that are keeping them up at night. The success of our Originals is the result of our commitment towards nurturing and championing the distinct vision of our creators.
Our strategy has always been to think from the customer-backwards. This is Amazon’s core philosophy across all businesses. We strongly believe that there’s never been a greater appetite for quality content. Audiences have become discerning and have high expectations from what they’re watching. We prioritise distinct storytelling styles and are bringing forth diverse multi-genre stories.
A show builds a community — a sense of belonging and loyalty. The audiences spend a lot of time with the characters and build a relationship with them. These characters start representing the common experiences of people, they become a part of everyday conversations — they truly become part of the pop culture.
For instance, the character of Chellam sir from The Family Man has become a cultural icon overnight and his fandom cuts across demographics. It is important to invest in development — give the creators all the support and tools to build an immersive universe the audiences can relate with.
We believe that our discerning customers expect every character to be crafted with depth and cast with authenticity, and we continuously support creators in their endeavour to meet this expectation.
We see collaborations with the same creators for multiple projects… will this trend continue?
Over the past four years, we have been able to nurture and support the birth of a robust creative ecosystem of storytellers, creators, and artistes who trust us and come back to work with us on multiple projects. Currently, we have over 70 projects in development with both established and emerging creative voices. We are working with over 60 different production houses across languages. Many of our partners have multiple projects in development and production. For instance, we are doing several shows with D2R, Abundantia, Excel Entertainment, Emmay Entertainment, Pritish Nandy Communications, OML and Still & Still. We encourage storytellers to bring to life their vision and shoulder the responsibility of helping them take their passion projects to audiences in 240+ countries and territories.
Amazon Prime Video is also bringing some exceptional talent to the fore, in front of the camera…
Our undeterred focus is authenticity. We encourage creators and producers to cast for characters — whether it is Mairembam Ronaldo Singh as Cheeni, Jaideep Ahlawat as Hathiram in Paatal Lok, Ritwik Bhowmik as Radhe and Shreya Chaudhary as Tamanna in Bandish Bandits and Samantha Akkineni as Raji. And wouldn’t you agree that there can be no better Srikant Tiwari than Manoj Bajpayee in The Family Man or Kaleen bhaiya than Pankaj Tripathi or Guddu bhaiya than Ali Fazal in Mirzapur? This is liberating and has led to a level playing field for emerging as well as established talent. We are thrilled that some of our bets are starting to pay off. We truly want to be enablers for a prolific creative community and a dynamic creative zeitgeist.
New OTT rules have no teeth, says Supreme Court
8:24 AM
This picture has been used for representational purpose
Court says rules have no provision of prosecution; grants protection from arrest to Amazon Prime Video’s India head in FIRs lodged against Tandav series
MID-DAY (March 6, 2021)
The Supreme Court on Friday said the Centre’s new guidelines on regulating over-the-top (OTT) platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime have “no teeth” as there is no provision for taking appropriate action against digital platforms showing inappropriate content.
“We have received the rules you (government) have filed. These rules don’t have any teeth. There is no provision for prosecution. They are just guidelines,” the court added. The apex court also granted protection from arrest to Amazon Prime Video’s India head Aparna Purohit in FIRs lodged over web series Tandav.
A bench comprising justices Ashok Bhushan and R S Reddy observed that a law has to be framed to put in place a mechanism to control OTT platforms instead of mere guidelines.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, said the government can come up with a better draft of the rules for the consideration of court within two weeks and the new rules were brought as a balance between “no-censorship and internal self-regulation”.
The top court had on Thursday observed that some OTT platforms at times show pornographic contents and there should be a mechanism to screen such programmes. It had asked the Centre to place its guidelines on regulating social media.
Mehta had said he would be placing on records the Information Technology (Guidelines for intermediaries and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.
The bench also issued notice to the Uttar Pradesh government on Purohit’s plea for anticipatory bail in FIRs on Tandav series. It said Purohit’s protection from arrest will be subject to her cooperating with the investigation and appearing before the police as and when summoned. The SC also directed Purohit to make Centre as a party to her plea.
Tandav is a nine-episode political thriller starring Bollywood A-listers Saif Ali Khan, Dimple Kapadia and Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub. Purohit has been accused of inappropriate depiction of Uttar Pradesh police personnel, Hindu deities and an adverse portrayal of a character playing the prime minister in the web series.
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TIMES VIEW:
The Supreme Court, while very wisely dismissing a petition some years ago to ban a film on grounds of nudity and vulgarity, said, “If you don’t like, then don’t watch it… These are matters of art and entertainment and let them remain so.” Instead of championing the cause of greater freedom — and that includes artistic and creative freedom — it now wants government to censor OTT platforms. That’s a dangerous road to take, especially in an environment that has turned increasingly intolerant on many fronts — political, socio-religious, cultural. Also, the court is missing a fundamental difference between OTT and publicly-screened cinema, even broadcast television. OTT, by its very technology, is narrow-cast, and to try and dictate what people can or cannot stream online amounts to invasion of privacy. There are laws governing certain forms of pornography — notably child pornography — and they must be stringently enforced. Beyond that, it’s moral policing. Worse, to give any government licence to arbitrate on such definitionally amorphous concepts as taste and morality is liberty-limiting.
Tandav case: People are entitled to make a satire, says senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi
8:30 AM
Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi says those accused in Tandav case should get the kind of judicial protection that Arnab Goswami got
Uma Ramasubramanian (MID-DAY; January 29, 2021)
The Tandav controversy continues over a week after Amazon Prime India and creator-showrunner Ali Abbas Zafar issued an apology and removed the contentious scenes from the political drama.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court refused to grant interim protection against arrest to Ali, Amazon India creative head Aparna Purohit, producer Himanshu Kishan Mehra, actor Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub and writer Gaurav Solanki. Talking to mid-day, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, legal counsel to Amazon India and Purohit, said, "I thought we should have got protection like Arnab Goswami did, but we had a positive [outcome] in the [possible] clubbing of the cases."
Since the Saif Ali Khan and Dimple Kapadia starrer dropped online on January 15, multiple FIRs were filed in six states, including Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Bihar, and at least three cases in Uttar Pradesh. The furore began over a scene that saw Ayyub playing Lord Shiva in a college play, with many accusing the makers of “hurting religious sentiments”. Two scenes referencing caste soon came under the scanner. The three sequences have since been omitted.
Rohatgi pointed out that the Supreme Court is considering the petitioners’ request of combining the different FIRs across states. “[Earlier], we would have to go to six different high courts to tackle the different cases. But if all the FIRs are clubbed in Bombay or any one state, we can challenge all of them in the [corresponding] high court. The Supreme Court intends to club all the cases.”
With the makers having taken immediate action by removing the objectionable scenes, the advocate noted that the cases are now only a way of “seeking publicity”. “People are entitled to make a political satire. If you don’t want to watch it, don’t; nobody is forcing people to watch the series. According to me, these cases are not about hurting people’s religious sentiments, but of people seeking publicity These are not genuine cases. It has happened in the past too, over [M F] Hussain’s painting. The objectionable scenes have been removed, so, it lends to the fact that [the transpiring events] are only sensational.”
Uttar Pradesh police in Mumbai as complaints filed against Tandav and Mirzapur
8:11 AM
Tandav Statements Recorded; Mirzapur Probe On
Nitasha Natu (THE TIMES OF INDIA; January 23, 2021)
Mumbai: An Uttar Pradesh police team, here to investigate a complaint against the web series ‘Tandav’, recorded statements of the director, writer and producer on Friday. UP police had registered FIRs against the show’s makers and OTT platform Amazon Prime Video’s content head for allegedly hurting religious sentiments and portraying police poorly. Later, Ghatkopar police also lodged a case. Portions from at least two controversial scenes of the series have been snipped off.
“We visited the residence of the show’s director, Ali Abbas Zafar, on Thursday. As he was unavailable, we left behind a notice for him to appear before the investigating officer in Lucknow by January 27 and record his statement,” said Anil Kumar Singh, an Uttar Pradesh police officer. Singh said their contact numbers were mentioned in the notice.
“Zafar got in touch with us and expressed willingness to get his statement recorded in Mumbai itself. It was agreed that statements of Zafar, writer Gaurav Solanki and producer Himanshu Mehra would be recorded at their office in Andheri (W) on Friday,” said Singh. Accordingly, their statements were recorded.
Fourth accused, Aparna Purohit from Amazon Prime Video, was not here, police said. Bombay High Court has granted three weeks’ transit anticipatory bail to all four accused.
Another UP police team, here to probe a complaint against the web series ‘Mirzapur’, began investigations on Friday after waiting for two days for a nod from Mumbai crime branch. A complaint was registered against the show’s makers in UP for outraging religious sentiments. “We verified addresses of the accused and visited the OTT platform’s office in BKC, but they were not available on Friday. We may return to UP and send them notices by post,” said inspector V K Chaurasia.
UP police had, on their own, gone to the residence of one of the show’s producers on Thursday, but Mumbai Police stepped in and asked them to first obtain permission. A nod was given on Friday. There have been demands from several right-wing groups demanding censorship of online content. In October 2020, Supreme Court had issued a notice to Centre and Internet and Mobile Association of India, in a petition to regulate OTT platforms by an autonomous body.
Bombay High Court grants pre-arrest bail to Tandav makers, but now FIR in Mumbai too
8:31 AM
Swati Deshpande & Ahmed Ali | TNN (THE TIMES OF INDIA; January 21, 2021)
Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Wednesday granted three weeks’ transit anticipatory bail to Ali Abbas Zafar and Gaurav Solanki, director and writer of the web series Tandav, and Amazon content head Aparna Purohit in the FIR registered against them for hurting religious sentiments and portraying police poorly.
The Uttar Pradesh police came to Mumbai to investigate the case based on an FIR registered there. Meanwhile in Mumbai too, an FIR was registered against the makers and actors of Tandav at Ghatkopar police station on Wednesday.
The HC order enables the Tandav team to apply for regular pre-arrest bail before the appropriate court in UP. Senior counsel Aabad Ponda and advocate Aniket Nikam appearing for both Zafar and Purohit argued that the duo feared arrest pursuant to the FIR. Their application stated, “They are innocent and have been wrongly implicated.” They submitted that the “allegations in the FIR do not make out any offence whatsoever as stated”. They also submitted that “no allegation whatsoever has been made against the applicants in their personal capacity in the FIR”. The counsel argued that the FIR did not ascribe any role and that it was “based on surmises and conjectures”.
Tandav is a political drama starring Saif Ali Khan and Dimple Kapadia. It has been in the midst of a controversy since its release last week, with certain politicians and Hindutva outfits speaking against the show for allegedly hurting religious sentiments. The scene that caused a stir appears in the first episode with two college students staging a play. One of them poses as Narada and the other as Bholenath, or Lord Shiva, dressed unconventionally in jacket and pants. Narada asks Bholenath to do something about his popularity since “Ramji’s followers are increasing by the day on social media”. When Bholenath wonders aloud if he should post a new picture, Narada recommends that he should tweet something “sensational” such as college students turning unpatriotic with chants of “azaadi, azaadi” every day.
Lucknow police registered an FIR on January 17. The makers of the series said, “The FIR does not specify, identify, or describe any specific instance in the web series which may be deemed as indecent depiction of any gods and goddesses for being hurtful to religious sentiments or amount to any offences as alleged.”
The petition by Zafar, Mehra and Solanki said, “The web series is a work of fiction and is a Indian Hindi language political drama showcasing coming together of different worlds under the gamut of politics. It is a dramatic take of the powerplay between people at the high level to secure their position. The web series and the characters thereof in no manner depict/portray/represent any gods and/or goddesses of any religion whatsoever.”
The Mumbai FIR names Zafar, Mehra, Solanki, Purohit, Saif Ali Khan, Amit Agarwal and a few other actors and others connected with the series. The makers of the series had on Tuesday in the wake of the controversy issued an “unconstitutional apology”.
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Twitter restricts Kangana’s account briefly for now-deleted post on series
Twitter took brief action on actor Kangana Ranaut’s account and restricted it for a few hours on Wednesday after the actor in a now-deleted tweet said that it was “time to take their heads off ”, referring to the makers of the web series Tandav. Her incendiary remark was in response to the Union information and broadcasting ministry asking the makers to explain allegations of insult to Hindu gods in some scenes.
Mid-Day Exclusive: Amazon's James Farrell greenlights crackling desi content for the streaming giant
8:59 AM
That's the man from LA, responsible for around 20 hours of fresh, quality entertainment, while we've been holed up at homes past few months!
Mayank Shekhar (MID-DAY; June 27, 2020)
James Farrell, sitting in his Los Angeles home, and on a screen before me in Mumbai, is one of India's biggest stars. Except that few in India, even in the movie industry, would've heard of him; let alone met him. And Farrell is not an actor. So, how is he a star in the showbiz sense? Let me explain.By movie-market definition, a star is someone who green-lights scripts, unlocks the budget potential of a project. And gets a big film on the floors. Why? Because the star, by virtue of a fan-base, or captive audience, ensures that people will give the product a shot, on Day One of its screening. So, some part of the financial risk is covered. What happens thereafter, of course, depends on the word-of-mouth that follows the early/weekend shows.
Match my analogy for a second. And you'll realise that popular streaming giants — like Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Zee5, or Disney+ Hotstar — perform precisely the same mainstreaming role for a script as a traditional star. Even more so in the current, Coronavirus scenario, where cinemas/multiplexes as an entertainment window no longer exist — although one hopes that's an extremely temporary situation.
Farrell heads International Originals at Amazon Prime Video. Working out of LA, he's the final green-lighting authority for Amazon's shows in India. Those creative decisions and mainstream movie budgets based on stories, and scripts alone — rather than the cast attached, or interested financiers thereby (or traditional Bollywood, so to say).
Unsure of what he makes of my 'OTT, the new star' analogy. Farrell should be glad that all his Amazon Original series in 2020 have been warmly received by captive audiences on his platform/fan-base.
And the shows couldn't have been more diverse from each other: Four More Shots Please was the Indian 'Sex And The City' womance, upping the ante as a sequel. Panchayat — a warm, coming-of-age drama, set in a village in Uttar Pradesh, without any guns/violence involved — something Bollywood would never touch with a box-office pole. And, Paatal Lok — perhaps the most delightful yet disturbing, deliriously dark, Indian crime-thriller ever!
All these showed up back-to-back, like precious gifts delivered home by Amazon. While India, like most of the world, was under lockdown — desperate for distraction from a 'Groundhog day'! These three shows equal over 15 hours of life. Plus, there was the first season of The Forgotten Army, that dropped earlier this year, raising the bar on scale for an Indian war-drama. In terms of quality, they pit Amazon Prime, arguably, if not convincingly ahead of all its competitors in India.
The fact that they've got it right across genres makes one wonder, seriously, what's the strategy? "Strategy is the same everywhere. India is the best example," says Farrell. "[As a service], we're lucky to be bundled as part of Amazon Prime. We're not a standalone video/music app. We don't have to create a large volume, or hours [of content]. Somebody's going to avail of other benefits on Prime as well. This gives us the time to focus on quality. So long as we can present one great show a month, we're super happy. You don't have that kind of luxury, if you're a broadcaster, or a stand-alone streaming service."
Of course the Indian market with its own multiple languages allows for greater depth, something Farrell says he's exploring, "ramping up teams for Tamil, Telugu [content]." Note that content in Amazon's case essentially means series. Unlike Netflix and others that also roll out a bunch of original films, as against acquired productions alone.
Farrell says, "The reason we haven't produced films in India in a real sense is because we have such good relations with [Bollywood's big production houses] Yash Raj, Excel, T-Series, Dharma and all these folks. We license their films, right after theatrical release. We're happy with that. Producers and theatre owners are happy with that too."
It's a win-win, yes. Just not sure about the relationship between theatre owners and Amazon for the time being. On June 12, the platform released Shoojit Sircar's Amitabh Bachchan, Ayushmann Khurana starrer Gulabo Sitabo, making it the first hardcore Bollywood film to drop directly on an OTT platform, indicating a commercial coup of sorts. This shook up the cinema/exhibition industry at once, with at least two multiplex chains, PVR and Inox, publicly shooting off angry letters, screaming blue murder.
"Well, COVID is a tough spot [for everyone]. The filmmakers were in a tough spot. And we tried to help out," Farrell reasons. What that move also momentarily upended, again, was the Bollywood star-system. Which is based on box-office figures of films. And OTT platforms principally do not reveal viewership numbers. So how do I know, in a conventional sense, if Gulabo Sitabo was a hit, given that there's been a parallel industry in place, tracking this data for decades?
"Good question. If it's a series, I guess you'll know soon as we announce Season 2," Farrell smiles. "But there are independent tracking systems like Nielsen for the US broadcasting industry. They didn't start the day TV started. Likewise, it will take some time for a system to develop [for OTTs]. There are already research agencies that make estimates of how many viewers we, or Hotstar, have. Can't say if the numbers are accurate. But they aren't that far off."
Farrell is perhaps referring to research-agency Media Planner Asia, recently quoted in Forbes US, that pegged Prime Video paid subscribers to 17 million in India, by year-end. Second to Disney+ Hotstar at 18 million (thanks in part to live sports, and 'catch-up TV'). Netflix India, with a much higher subscription rate, is seen lagging for now, at 5 million.
While green-lit sequels are indeed indicators for surefire popularity of a series, Amazon Prime did, perhaps for the first time, officially announce in May that Four More Shots Please was the most watched Indian show on their platform, thus far, in 2020. Why make the exception?
Farrell admits, "It is not a common thing. But the [central] question nearly nailed on our [office] doors is: Is this good for the customer? Just bragging about certain numbers is not. This was just a good story to tell, and we can help the show. It's always about that."
Also, shows tend to organically grow in scale/budget as a franchise, with subsequent successes. Case in point: Money Heist on Netflix. Case Two? Four More Shots had Goa for its only outdoor location. The sequel travelled to Istanbul and Udaipur. The third one, I'm told, will travel to Europe.
"That's speculation," Aparna Purohit gently interrupts. Purohit heads Indian original content, based in Mumbai. She's been on shadow-mute, throughout this video-conference call with Farrell. Clarifying at another point, when asked why the original author Tarun Tejpal — on whose book (The Story of My Assassins), Paatal Lok was based — wasn't credited at all on-screen, Purohit says, "We've stated our position. The creators were inspired by the book. But the author had no role in the development of story, characters, or production of the show."
Paatal Lok is Farrell's favourite series from the Indian slate. And he's equally excited about Breathe - Into The Shadows: "People are going to be shocked by the twists and turns on that one." In another rare instance revealing numbers, Farrell points out that of the entire audience of Breathe—the first season, starring R Madhavan—around 40-50 per cent came from outside India. "With the second season coming back (on July 10), with Abhishek (Bachchan), think it'll go even bigger."
Given the platform is the same, and already paid for; and story, location, scale and casting top-notch: Does it matter so much if an established star Bachchan is the lead in a series (Breathe 2)? Or Jitendra Kumar (in Panchayat), or Jaideep Ahlawat (in Paatal Lok)? Akshay Kumar is slated for his OTT debut on Amazon. Their forthcoming show Bandish Bandits stars only new faces in main roles.
Farrell argues, "There are only three pieces of data we look at: One, how many people watched the show? Two, how many people signed up [to the platform] to watch it? Three, how many people finished it [watched it till the end]? Big stars will incentivise more people to click on the show, and/or sign up for the service. But after that, it's really up to the show, or film. Also, they aren't stars for no reason—they're actors, who've got charisma, and are uniquely suited to some roles." And Amazon's video section is doing well enough to afford them. Fair.
A still from Pataal Kok
A still from Four More Shots Please
We are in no hurry to put out content, says Amazon Prime content head Aparna Purohit
8:46 AM
Amazon Prime content head explains how the OTT giant will have to rejig its slate as Saif Ali Khan's Dilli, Abhishek Bachchan's Breathe 2 are shot but await post-production
Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; April 12, 2020)
From devouring new releases to catching up on old acclaimed shows, homebound citizens, over the past three weeks, have turned to OTT platforms for their daily dose of entertainment. But with the Coronavirus lockdown being extended, the key players rule out the possibility of churning out new shows. While Amazon Prime is winning praise for its latest release Panchayat and readying to launch the second season of Four More Shots Please, Aparna Purohit, content head, Amazon Originals India, tells mid-day that their slate will have to be reworked amid the current scenario."We are trying to put out shows as soon as we can. At this point of time, shoots have been stopped. Many of our projects have gone into hiatus. There's nothing we can do except work with our partners and find a way around it," says Purohit, who called off shoots 10 days before other cine bodies called for the shutdown. "It's the safety of people that comes first at a time like this."
Even though many of their eagerly awaited prestige dramas—including Saif Ali Khan's Dilli, Abhishek Bachchan's Breathe 2 and gangster drama Mirzapur 2—have been shot, the post-production work is pending. "Offline edits can happen from home, but for everything else, we require a dubbing studio. Most of these things require multiple people in the same vicinity. We are yet to assess the impact and negotiate how we will meet deadlines. We are in no hurry to put out content. We have Four More Shots Please 2 and Pataal Lok lined up. Mirzapur 2 and other shows will be out at some point this year."
It is evident that superlative content takes centrestage in their storytelling. The platform is using the time to develop robust new ideas. "At this point, we have opened up the kids' content, so they have some respite. We need more content for 16 to 24-year-olds. We need to find more themes that resonate with them. We are also focusing on horror stories and docu-series."
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