Netflix announces new film ‘Chamkila’

New Delhi: Netflix, the American streaming platform, has announced a new India original film Chamkila starring Diljit Dosanjh and Parineeti Chopra directed by Imtiaz Ali. The film is based on the life of Punjabi singer and musician Amar Singh Chamkila.

Earlier this year, Netflix said that lowering prices by 20-60% in December 2021 to deepen reach in India helped grow engagement in the country nearly 30% year-on-year while foreign exchange neutral revenue growth in 2022 accelerated to 24% versus 19% in 2021.

“India is a big prize, because it’s an enormous population of entertainment-loving people and we have got to have the product that they love. So we are doing the creative part and getting the pricing better and there’s always lots of promise to continue to grow in India. It is a very specific market in terms of (the fact that) they like local content, but also you are seeing their local content is travelling more than ever,” Ted Sarandos, co-chief executive officer had said during an earnings call.

Citing period drama RRR and Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Gangubai Kathiawadi, both of which streamed on the service post theatrical release, as hits, Sarandos said the content opportunity continues to scale along with the platform’s ability to access the market. “We can do quite well in India. We are long ways from that, we are still investing against it and I think that we will ultimately do great in India,” Sarandos had added.

In December 2021, Netflix, widely seen as a premium service in India, had slashed prices to reach more people. Netflix’s mobile-only plan, earlier priced at ₹199 per month, now costs ₹149. Similarly, the basic plan that allows access to all content on any one device is priced at ₹199 versus ₹499 earlier. The platform has announced period drama Heeramandi, Zoya Akhtar’s The Archies, returning seasons of Delhi Crime, Mismatched, The Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives, Kota Factory and She besides originals with Kareena Kapoor Khan and Anushka Sharma.