The Indian arm of Sony is planning to produce local content that has the potential to travel globally.
Speaking at Singapore’s Asia TV Forum and Market on Friday, Vivek Krishnani, MD at Sony Pictures Entertainment Films India, said: “We are strongly focusing on creating Indian IPs, which can crossover into the mainstream and therefore, to that extent, some of the content that we’re creating for certain OTT [streaming] platforms, does have the ability to appeal to audiences, not just Indian audiences, but audiences across geographies.”
“That’s where the next leap has to come from [for] Indian content creation, because you have to be able to be a player in the global platform, you have to create content like how, for example, you’ve seen Korean content now dominate the world,” Krishnani said. “Why can’t content from India do the same thing? Consciously as content creators, we need to be mindful of the fact that it’s our responsibility to take this opportunity to make Indian content relevant to audiences across – not only Indian audiences, but international audiences as well.”
As revealed by Variety, for the process of content creation, Sony is investing heavily in emerging Indian talent, including YouTuber Shirley Setia who is making her acting debut with the studio’s “Nikamma,” and “Toilet: A Love Story” writer duo Siddharth and Garima who are debuting as directors with “Saale Aashiq.”
“We have to grow the pool for talent and that’s something that we consciously are focusing on as a studio to do that, which is why you see that most of the films that we have, we brought either new actors in them, or new directors,” said Krishnani. “Because as a studio, our role, besides the creative support needs to also be to give opportunities to new talent, and you will see that across our entire slate right now.”
That slate is now 17 films over the next 12 months and includes “Looop Lapeta,” the Indian adaptation of “Run Lola Run,” starring Taapsee Pannu and Tahir Raj Bhasin, “Helmet,” starring Aparshakti Khurana and Pranutan Bahl and “Tera Kya Hoga Lovely,” starring Randeep Hooda and Ileana D’Cruz, directed by debutants Aakash Bhatia, Satram Ramani and Balwinder Singh Janjua respectively.
