Excerpts from the conversation:

Reed Hastings: Many of the shows that Monika is doing here are extraordinary. We have launched 70 Indian Netflix originals already. Some have won international Emmy. The White Tiger got a lot of positive accolades. Monika is expanding regional content from the South. Now we have got 90 shows in the pipeline already that are developed. 70 done, 90 commissioned and in the pipeline.

Monika Shergill: The way the Netflix model works beautifully as we have experienced across countries is that consumers come to Netflix for both quality and diversity. For us what actually works is diversity, because your Netflix is different from my Netflix. Which is why when we say we have done 70 titles in India — this is across doc series, this is across content like Indian matchmaking, content like the Emmy award-winning Delhi Crime, Jamtara which is on phishing, the crime dramas.

The new slate actually what we are coming out with will be a significant sort of step change in the market, also the way we have planned it, hoping very humbly that it lands like that, is the velocity of content, the kind of stories that we will bring at scale and at velocity which Netflix is globally known for. So that is what we are aiming to do from the end of this year.

Hastings: Titles yes, but production companies like that we are not competing with them. So if we start buying one or two — all the others are worried. So we think all the commissions that we are doing is with local production companies, which builds their capacity. And then they contract with us, they do something with us, they do something with Prime. So they get to build strong businesses, without being dependant on us and that’s how we build the industry, with independent production. So I think we are better commissioning content or acquiring titles, not companies.

Shergill: You can see that on the one hand, there is a Sacred Games which has done so well. And on the other extreme end, there’s a Haseen Dillruba which has actually exploded across 22 countries, and has been on the top 10 list and has worked in tier one, tier two cities and across. And then documentaries have gone up by 100%. Kids content on Netflix has gone up by 100% viewing. We have had K dramas, which have actually gone up nearly, I don’t know, 400%. Romance as a genre is very less serviced in India, it is in cinema. But the kind of romance people want to see which K dramas have been showing in a very small set of audience. But that audience base can expand is a taste. We are very, very big on crime.

Hastings: In every county we provide extensive parental controls. We really want each family to be able to set and enforce their standards. We give our families tremendous control. The Internet has changed the perceptions of control, broadcast television and movie theatres. In many countries, they are more controlled and the Internet is more open. So that’s a change societies are adjusting to. But the way we are reacting to it is to provide each family with the controls they want. If you and your wife are watching you don’t need any controls, if you got 14-year olds then you want a lot of controls. So we are very flexible that way.

Hastings: It’s a little of both. Because look, we self-regulate too like the industry, and try to be thoughtful about that. So we don’t have any pornography. I mean, we don’t, there’s lots of things we don’t have. Okay, so we essentially self-regulate in terms of the kind of content we have. But some of our content, you know, as Sex Education. It’s very funny but you know, it’s not good for a 14 year old. So we have both.

Hastings: I think as you said, the broadband, the mobile prices being so low in India, you know, Rs 200 or 300 a month, it is extraordinary and not like any other country.

Hastings: It’s about half and half on mobile and television in India.

Soumendra Padhi was inspired to make the show after reading newspaper reports about a village, Karma Tanr, in Jamtara
Shaheen Parkar (MID-DAY; January 10, 2020)

After his Manoj Bajpayee-starrer Budhia Singh – Born to Run (2016), based on Orissa's youngest marathon runner, Soumendra Padhi is set to bring forth the crime drama, Jamtara — Sabka Number Ayega.

The web series, which drops on Netflix today, is inspired by true events in a village in Jharkhand, considered to be India's phishing hub. mid-day had previously reported about the ongoings in Jamtara in a 2017 issue.

Padhi was inspired to make the show after reading newspaper reports about a village, Karma Tanr, in Jamtara. "I was astonished to know that most of these youngsters, despite dropping out of school, have the acumen to dupe unsuspecting people and siphon off lakhs, if not crores of rupees, from accounts. I was told that one of the guys used to work at a call centre in Bengaluru. He knew the advantages of phishing; now, it is considered a lucrative business in the region."

A visit to Karma Tanr proved to be an eye-opener for the director. "I was shocked to see their lifestyle. Easy money has afforded them an extravagant lifestyle. Most of them live in bungalows fancier than that of Amitabh Bachchan; they all have the latest state-of-the art gadgets too. Making fraudulent calls is as easy as making any other call, for them. The show focusses on a group of young men running a lucrative phishing operation till a corrupt politician and a cop make their life difficult. "

The cast includes Amit Sial, Dibyendu Bhattacharya and Aksha Pardhasany. "We shot in Jamtara and Nashik. There are several local actors from Jharkhand, and some from the National School of Drama, among the cast," says Padhi.