After inking deal with Shah Rukh Khan’s production company Red Chillies Entertainment, Netflix has now announced new original series – ‘Selection Day’ and ‘Again’ from India. While Selection Day will be based on Aravind Adiga’s novel, ‘Again’ will be a supernatural series written by Quantico famed scriptwriter – Marisha Mukerjee.
Selection Day will be produced in partnership with UK-based production company Seven Stories. Importantly, the video streaming platform hasn’t divulged any specific timeline on the series launch.
“We are excited to be expanding our slate of originals in India. These projects have specifically local subjects, but will be great for our global audience and are supported by world class talent,” said Erik Barmack, vice president of international original series at Netflix to ET Tech.
Last month, the company had announced its first original series – Sacred Games. The series will have Saif Ali Khan as a lead and will be produced in partnership with Phantom Films. The series, based on Indian author Vikram Chandra’s novel of the same name, will feature Khan as Sartaj Singh.
Netflix’s arch-rival Amazon Prime had announced the launch of its first India-focused original series Inside Edge last month. The 10-episode series will be available on its video platform starting from this month.
With original content and partnership with leading bollywood stars, the content war between Amazon Prime and Netflix in India has intensified. Earlier this year, Netflix had sealed a deal with Red Chillies Entertainment for both his existing and upcoming titles.
Following Netflix move, Amazon Prime Video signed worldwide exclusive content deal with Salman Khan Ventures to stream his past and future titles.
Meanwhile, home-grown production company – Balaji Telefilms is also planning to produce content exclusively for its digital subscription platform, ALT Balaji. The production house recently raised Rs 413.28 crore from Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL).
To fortify its reach, Alt Balaji had partnered with with smartphone manufacturers, mobile wallets, and Ola’s in-cab entertainment service Ola Play.
Besides Netflix, Amazon, Hotstar and ALT Balaji, Viacom 18 and Zee TV have also entered digital streaming space with Voot and OZee respectively.
