Netflix has partnered with Indian filmmakers to come out with 10 new original films by the end of 2020, the streaming service announced in a press note on Monday. The line up includes the horror anthology film Ghost Stories, directed by the team of Lust Stories – Karan Johar, Zoya Akhtar, Dibakar Banerjee and Anurag Kashyap – Sooni Taraporevala’s feature adaptation of her documentary Yeh Ballet and Shirish Kunder’s murder mystery Mrs Serial Killer.
“We want to be a home for India’s finest filmmakers where their stories travel to more people than ever before,” Srishti Behl Arya, Director International Originals at Netflix India, said in the press note.
Kunder’s Mrs Serial Killer traces the journey of a woman who turns murderer to the prove her husband’s innocence. Taraporevala’s film follows two boys from poor families in Mumbai who discover ballet.
Atul Sabharwal’s Class of ‘83, produced by Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment, is the story of of “an upright policeman-turned-trainer”, said Netflix. Ruchi Narain’s Guilty, produced by Karan Johar, is about a girl from a small town who alleges that a popular student in her college has raped her. Dibakar Banerjee’s Freedom is “the story of an Indian family interwoven with the personal, ideological and sexual history of India”, said the press release.
Also on the anvil are Shashanka Ghosh’s House Arrest, about a man who holes himself up indoors, Terrie Samundra’s Kaali Khuhi, which examines female infanticide, Neeraj Udhwani’s romance Maska and Sudhir Mishra’s Serious Men, an adaptation of Manu Joseph’s book of the same name that explores caste and class in Mumbai through the experiences of a man who spins an elaborate lie.
“The Internet is an exciting place for telling stories that are multi genre and multi layered,” filmmaker Farah Khan, Kunder’s wife and the producer of Mrs Serial Killer, said in the press note. “We are thrilled that our film Mrs Serial Killer will launch first on Netflix.”
Netflix had earlier announced five Indian original films – Sarthak Dasgupta’s Music Teacher, Sachin Kundalkar’s Cobalt Blue, Sachin Yardi’s Chopsticks, Udai Singh Pawar’s Upstarts and Bulbul, produced by Anushka Sharma – which too will be out by 2020, the press note said.