Netflix to offer an affordable Rs 250 a month, mobile-only plan in India

Netflix currently offers three monthly plans in India, priced between Rs 500 and Rs 800.

Netflix Inc said on Wednesday it would roll out a lower-priced mobile-only plan in India, tapping into a price-sensitive market where data consumption on smartphones is surging.

The video streaming pioneer said in March that it was testing a Rs 250 ($3.63) monthly subscription for mobile devices in India, where data plans are among the cheapest in the world.

"We believe this plan ... will be an effective way to introduce a larger number of people in India to Netflix and to further expand our business in a market where Pay TV ARPU is low," the company said.

Netflix's new plan is aimed at battling cheaper offerings from rivals such as Amazon.com Inc's Prime Video and Hotstar, a video streaming platform owned by Walt Disney Co's India unit.

Netflix currently offers three monthly plans in India, priced between Rs 500 and Rs 800.

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In contrast, Hotstar, which also offers content from AT&T Inc's HBO and streams live sports, charges Rs 299 per month. Amazon bundles its video and music streaming services with its Prime membership.

Netflix's announcement was part of its quarterly results, in which it reported lower-than-expected subscriber additions.

India figures prominently in Netflix Chief Executive Officer Reed Hastings' global expansion plans. The company is investing heavily in creating blockbuster shows such as crime thriller "Sacred Games" and "Delhi Crime" with A-list Bollywood actors.

The second season of "Sacred Games" is set to release in August.

"We've been seeing nice steady increases in engagement with our Indian viewers that we think we can keep building on. Growth in that country is a marathon, so we're in it for the long haul," Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos said.

Netflix adds10 new original films across various genres in India

With these additions, a total of 15 new original Indian films will be available to Netflix users around the world by the end of 2020.

Business Standard : Continuing its investment in Indian content, global streaming giant Netflix on Monday announced a slate of 10 new original films, across a range of genres and subjects.

With these additions, a total of 15 new original Indian films -- including previously announced titles "Music Teacher", "Cobalt Blue", "Chopsticks", "Upstarts" and "Bulbul" -- will be available to Netflix users around the world by the end of 2020.

"When Netflix launched in India, we changed the way Indian audiences enjoy their films," Srishti Behl Arya, Director - International Original Film, India, Netflix, said in a statement.

"Given our diversity, history and culture, India is home to powerful stories waiting to be told to audiences around the world. The depth of talent and vision of our creators is enabling us to create films our members will love. We want to be a home for India's finest filmmakers where their stories travel to more people than ever before," Arya added.

As part of the new slate, viewers can expect "Ghost Stories", which will reunite directors Karan Johar, Zoya Akhtar, Dibakar Banerjee and Anurag Kashyap after "Lust Stories" to tell spine-chilling tales. This will be produced by Ronnie Screwvala's RSVP and Ashi Dua.

Dibaker has also directed and produced "Freedom", the story of an Indian family interwoven with the personal, ideological and sexual history of India and how desire plays a common role in each.

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Shah Rukh Khan's Red Chillies Entertainment is producing "Class of 83". Directed by Atul Sabharwal, it explores the story of an upright policeman-turned-trainer whose students grapple with the complexities of honour, morals and devotion to the nation.

There will be thrills and chills with "Mrs. Serial Killer", directed by Shirish Kunder and produced by his filmmaker wife Farah Khan.

"The Internet is an exciting place for telling stories that are multi genre and multi layered," said Farah.

"Guilty", produced by Dharmatic and directed by Ruchi Narain, explores the versions of truth that emerge when a small town girl accuses the college heartthrob of rape.

Kayakalp: Why Sacred Games could be Indian television's Lagaan moment

The first Netflix original India series, Sacred Games, represents a brave new direction that Indian television could take.

“Ja ke dekh record mein, kaun hai! Insaan hai ke bhagwan?”

Ganesh Eknath Gaitonde calls Sartaj Singh one night, like a god, and thus begins a story that would eventually take hold of both on-screen characters and audiences off it.

“Aham Brahmasmi,” he tells Sartaj later on; underlining the god complex that Gaitonde is suffering from in the story. Sartaj is the confused soul and Gaitonde pretends to show him the way. Sacred Games is a story of these two voices, their story arcs intersecting somewhere in different time periods.

Gaitonde is played by the absolutely brilliant Nawazuddin Siddiqui, while the Sikh cop, Sartaj Singh, is played by Saif Ali Khan, who also does a good job. Netflix’s first original India series is based on a book by the same name, written by Vikram Chandra. The voluminous novel has been adapted for the screen by Varun Grover, Smita Singh and Vasant Nath. The adaptation stays true to the atmospherics of the book and manages to recreate a compelling, dark, dingy underbelly of the metropolis called Mumbai.

The series is a carefully choreographed dance of Mumbai underworld, and the city’s police and political forces, both local and national. Two of India’s top film directors, Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane, come together to direct this breakthrough series. This isn’t a first for an Indian television series; Ramesh Sippy (Buniyaad), Shyam Benegal (Discovery of India) and Basu Chatterjee (Byomkesh Bakshi) have done it earlier too.

In Kashyap’s first feature film, Black Friday, the chief investigator of Bombay blasts (played by KK) interrogates Asghar Muqadam. A scared, breathless, slightly incoherent Muqadam was performed by Nawazuddin Siddiqui; his first famous movie scene. In Sacred Games, Kashyap directs underworld don Gaitonde’s story. Nawazuddin performs the role as if Chandra wrote it in the book with only him in mind.

Unlike Muqadam, Gaitonde is not scared or incoherent. He, after all, thinks he is god. And he draws the queasy Sartaj Singh in. The story then keeps shuttling between the past and the present as layer after layer is carefully revealed to the viewer and an engrossing puzzle slowly falls into place. Saif Ali Khan does a good job as Sartaj, portraying his doubts, his helplessness and his curiosity well on the screen. Director Vikramaditya Motwane helms Sartaj’s story in the series and brings out those layers well as Sartaj battles with his past and present.

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