What’s it like being an established actor in 2024? What’s it like navigating and bouncing between shows and films, platforms and mediums, theatrical and streaming?  To shed light on just that, for the season finale of The Streaming Show podcast, I spoke to Jim Sarbh. It feels like the talented actor has been everywhere over the last few years. On streaming, we’ve seen him on popular shows like Four More Shots Please, the beloved Made In Heaven, and one of my favourites Rocket Boys for which...

Is 2024 an exciting time to be a film editor? Going by the sheer volume of theatrical streaming releases, you'd think so. To break it down, I spoke to two of the busiest editors in town. In 2023 alone, prolific editor Nitin Baid had Sam Bahadur, Rocky Rani Ki Prem Kahaani, The Archies and Kho Gaye Hum Kahaan. Not to mention shows like Dahaad and Made In Heaven Season 2. Antara Lahiri is known for projects like Tooth Pari, Delhi Crime Season 2, Shakuntala Devi, Four More Shots Please and...

You cant really tell the Indian streaming story without talking to Sid Roy Kapur. One of the most respected producers in the business, he’s backed more than 80 films according to his IMDB, including gems like Dangal, Barfi, Udaan, Paan Singh Tomar, and Haider. Previously the Managing Director of The Walt Disney Company India and CEO of UTV Motion Pictures, Sid also served as president of the Producers’ Guild of India for multiple terms. He now runs Roy Kapur Films which has made numerous...

If you’re a writer or filmmaker who’s always thought in terms of feature films and wants to embark on your first series - where do you start? How do you start thinking in terms of episodes, cold opens, cliff-hangers and seasons? To break down the art of approaching the beast of a series I spoke to who else but the maximum guys of streaming - Raj and DK. The dynamic duo have churned out one blockbuster show after another. Two seasons of one of our finest shows, The Family Man, Farzi (which is...

It’s a pretty bleak time for the Indian streaming landscape, to put it lightly. I’ve spoken to writers who’ve said they’ve never seen the industry in such bad shape. You hear constant horror stories these days. Everything from platforms no longer commissioning shows, to shows in development or even about to start production which are either shelved or facing drastically reduced budgets. And these are big, well-known filmmakers and writers. So how bad is it and is there any hope in...

What exactly does an effective writers' room look like, and have we adopted the concept well within the Indian streaming ecosystem? Or is it still a free-for-all with everyone just doing their own thing? To break it down I spoke to two of the most exciting screenwriters in town, both of whom bring new meaning to the term multihyphenate talent.  Varun Grover was head writer in one of the first writers rooms for a major streamer with Sacred Games. Aside from creating and starring in Prime...

Writer-director Richie Mehta doesn't quite follow the rules. The way Richie operates and creates stand-out streaming shows is far from conventional. Rather than pitching to a streamer and having a series commissioned, he finds independent producers to fund the entire series and only Then finds a home for it. That's how the clutter-breaking benchmark-setting Emmy-winning first season of Delhi Crime ended up on Netflix, and it's the same story with Richie's new series Poacher which is releasing...

Filmmaker, writer, producer and showrunner Lisa Joy knows a thing or two about making great TV. The co-creator of Westworld, Lisa started her career as a writer on Pushing Daisies and has worked on several shows since. She’s also a producer on multiple shows such as last year’s The Peripheral on Amazon along with the highly anticipated upcoming Fallout series, an adaption of one of the most popular games out there. At the recently conducted Jio MAMI Mumbai film festival, I moderated a...

This season of The Streaming Show podcast was only ever supposed to be ten episodes. But in a happy turn of events, this 11th episode materialized in which I spoke to one of my favorite artists Vir Das - about a topic I feel very strongly about - the lack of comedies on streaming and why there seems to be a fear of funny among platforms. Shows like Amazon's glorious Pushpavalli and Humble Politician Nograj on Voot remain the rare exceptions. Vir spoke to me about the severe lack of laughs,...

Through this entire season of The Streaming Show podcast, we've had some really insightful conversations with filmmakers, writers, and platform executives about how streaming has changed the game. But what about the shows themselves? The game changers, clutter breakers, and gold standards of storytelling on streaming. So Suchin sat down with his fellow Film Companion critic Prathyush Parasuraman and YouTuber and reviewer Anmol Jamwal who runs the popular YouTube channel Tried and Refused...

When it comes to Indian Streaming, in terms of consistently great storytelling, there's little doubt that Amazon Prime Video rules the roost. Put simply,the streamer is home to most of our best shows. From gloriously entertaining smash hits like Mirzapur to prestige shows like Pushpavalli, Paatal Lok, Panchayat, The Family Man, Guilty Minds, Jubilee, Made In Heaven, Laakhon Mein Ek Season 2, Suzhal and I could literally go on. But what is it specifically about how Amazon operates that...

Applause Entertainment is as big as any Indian studio making movies and shows for streaming, gets. In just over five years they've made 44 shows for almost every platform around. They're behind shows and remakes like Criminal Justice, The Indian Office, Rudra, City Of Dreams, and Tanaav. Not to mention one of my favorite comedies Humble Politician Nograj and their one prestige show Scam 1992. The reason Suchin wanted to speak to Applause Entertainment CEO Sameer Nair was to discuss their...

One of the most exciting things about the streaming age is the sheer amount of acting talent we're inundated with week after week. From exciting new actors that have exploded onto the scene to renowned actors finally getting their due in shows like Jamtara, Panchayat, Scam 1992, Paatal Lok, The Family Man, Delhi Crime, and Mirzapur to name but a few. To examine just how much streaming has done for casting and vice versa, I sat down with two leading casting directors. Kavish Sinha has...

There is no player within the Indian streaming landscape quite as prolific and distinctive as TVF (The Viral Fever). What started as a YouTube channel back in 2010 known for its skits and sketches, the company ventured into making shows on YouTube in 2016 with titles like Pitchers and Permanent Roommates. But, despite being the first movers in the digital space, they certainly didn't get left behind. By 2019 they'd quickly snowballed into a storytelling machine with winning shows across...

There’s arguably no better way to examine just how much the streaming era has disrupted the film industry than by talking to writers. So, Suchin spoke to two of the busiest ones around. Sumit Purohit was the lead writer on the the smash hit Scam 1992 on SonyLIV. He’s also worked on Netflix murdery mystery series Aranyak and Amazon Prime Video’s Inside Edge - the first original series from an international streamer. Nandini Gupta is one of the writers on Disney+Hotstar’s fever dream Saas...

What’s it like running an Indian streaming platform? SonyLIV’s Head Of Content Saugata Mukherjee knows a thing or two about that. The platform was relaunched back in 2020, and in the three years since, has made a name for itself as the home of some of the finest storytelling on streaming with shows like Scam 1992, Tabbar, and Gullak. Even their originals that don’t entirely land, like Dr. Arora, Good Bad Girl, and Faadu, show a sense of promise, originality, and specificity. Saugata sat...

It feels like actor Shriya Pilgaonkar is everywhere. A streaming star if ever there was one, she's ideally placed to discuss what it's like navigating the OTT arena today, as an actor. Shriya's made a name for herself in multiple projects across platforms including Mirzapur on Amazon Prime Video, Taaza Khabar on Disney+Hotstar, The Broken News on ZEE5, and her finest work yet - as unshakeably righteous lawyer Kashaf Qazi in one of last year's best shows - Guilty Minds on Amazon Prime Video....

How do streaming shows and the producers behind them, make money? What does the streaming business model look like? If there are writers or cinematographers working in the streaming age, are they earning more today than they were 5 or 7 years ago? Here to demystify the numbers and shed light on the business of streaming is the producer, director, showrunner, and co-founder of Emmay Entertainment Nikkhil Advani. Aside from making beloved films such as Kal Ho Naa Ho and D-Day, Nikkhil has gone...

What exactly is a showrunner? What is a writer's room and how do you set one up? Why are there so many power struggles and clashes on the sets of streaming shows between series creators and directors? Are series really a writer's medium? Filmmaker and the OG showrunner Vikramaditya Motwane is in many ways ideally placed to answer these questions. Back in 2018, his Sacred Games really kicked off this age of streamers, series and seasons with a bang as one of the first massive originals for a...