MUMBAI: The Netflix original Delhi Crime is the latest example of Indian series which made a mark outside the country solely for its compelling storytelling. As over-the-top (OTT) platforms have liberalised the entertainment space for content creators, Delhi Crime producer Golden Karavan also sees its future here. The India-focused OTT television production company that wants to be aligned with all OTT platforms to create content has a couple of shows that will go on the floor this year.
Golden Karavan producing partner Pooja Kohli said Delhi Crime was one of the first projects that were given the green signal right after its launch in September 2017. She added that they wanted to go into production very quickly for the “unique piece” which was based on a very sensitive matter. She also shared how the screening at Sundance Film Festival piqued the interest of potential buyers.
Kohli spoke about the collaboration with Netflix stating that its experience was different than other regular shows. “The way these platforms work is they commission these shows to producers and then get it delivered on timeline. Our experience was slightly different as we engaged with them after we had completed the show and sold it to them as a finished edited show. That’s where we sort of joined hands in the marketing and distribution,” Kohli said.
Kohli is extremely satisfied with Netflix’s approach to marketing initiatives of Delhi Crime. Unlike other Netflix originals, the platform did not put up billboards or host premiers for so that it did not look like they were celebrating a heinous crime. As shared by Kohli, Netflix rather trusted the word of mouth form of marketing and hosted small industry and press screenings. According to her, it was done in a very graceful and respectful manner and everybody still got to hear about it but in the right way.
“OTT platforms are a fabulous thing that has happened for creators in India if you understand where we were till two years ago. Any writer, director or producer had to fit into a Friday model to make a film and release it or go into a festival model, making an independent film. The third option was traditional television. Outside of these three opportunities, you did not have any other option if you wanted to make something compelling. Sometimes, the most compelling films went unnoticed,” she pointed out.
“So these platforms whether it is an Indian network that has launched its OTT service, be it Hotstar or ZEE5, or the international ones, the idea is that there’s a large audience in this country that wants to see good content and many of them were sourcing it from outside but when you tell a local story you could relate to it. So platforms have realised that giving these creators opportunities to tell those stories convincingly in the right manner is important. And also reaching millions of people not only in India but also outside is a beautiful opportunity for us,” she added.
The evolution has touched everyone including producers, actors who crossed their prime in mainstream film, writers and directors not bound by 90-page scripts they have to fit into 3 hours. According to her, although the audience may have choices more than they need, they have an option in their favourite genre at the time and the place they want to watch it.
Kohli said they would not only stick to crime procedure drama like Delhi Crime. There’s a light show based on a millennial who comes back from New York after college as well as a period drama that is set around independence. Along with working in the fiction space, the company is also working on two documentaries like Wild Wild Country. The idea is to build carefully rather than flood the market.
However, Golden Karavan doesn’t have any plans for digital films any time soon but is focussed on the episodic format. Explaining the rationale behind this, Kohli said a series provides better opportunity to delve deep into more characters and go into details of parallel stories. She also added that all the platforms are also predominantly looking at series.
“I think episodic is something very new for this market here. Some of my partners like Aaron Kaplan have 15 shows live on network TV and as well as on OTT platforms. Our style comes from that authenticity of skills we bring to this market,” she said.
Right now, Golden Karavan wants to produce content for OTT platforms only. Because of the “beautiful mechanism” provided by OTTs to reach the audience, support for localisation of content, Kohli thinks OTT is the future for the kind of storytelling they want to do. Hence, they want to be aligned with all OTT platforms for creating content.
