Netflix India’s Next Frontier Is Live Streaming, Content Chief Monika Shergill Says Slate Is Becoming Broader: ‘It’s Big, Bold and Diverse’

A Netflix docuseries featuring the youngest No.1 player in tennis history Carlos Alcaraz will premiere in 2025.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Paramount Global has sold its 13% ownership stake in TV and streaming company Viacom18 to Reliance Industries for $517 million. Reliance was already the majority owner of Viacom18. The pact comes two weeks after Disney and Reliance Industries announced a blockbuster $8.5 billion deal merging their massive Indian TV and streaming businesses.

Paramount Global has sold its 13% equity interest in Viacom18 Media to Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries for the equivalent $517 million.

Welcome to ElectionLine’s A View From Abroad series, in which we speak with media figures who don’t live in America but keep a close eye on its politics. Every few weeks, these smart observers will provide a unique perspective on what promises to be a fraught and unpredictable campaign for the White House. This week, our interview is with Kéthévane Gorjestani, the foreign affairs correspondent for France 24, the international news network.

Naman Ramachandran India’s B62 Studios has an early 2024 hit with February release “Article 370,” and also has an ambitious slate lined up with plans for expanding into eastern Asia. B62 was launched by the brothers Dhar — Lokesh and Aditya — and is named after their address in Delhi’s Lajpat Nagar neighborhood, where they grew up watching the best of Bollywood alongside arthouse cinema. Lokesh Dhar went on to a flourishing career in film marketing, distribution and syndication before turning to producing, while Aditya Dhar directed military action film “Uri: The Surgical Strike,” one of the biggest Indian box office hits of 2019.

Naman Ramachandran India premieres of France’s “The Taste of Things” and Korea’s “Exhuma” will open and close respectively the first edition of India’s Cinevesture International Film Festival. Tran Anh Hung won best director at Cannes 2023 for “The Taste of Things,” which was subsequently submitted as France’s official entry to the Oscars’ international feature category.

Tonight’s the night: it’s Oscars night!

UPDATED with news that Ranjit will attend the Oscars as director Nisha Pahuja‘s guest. It’s a momentous weekend for To Kill a Tiger, the award-winning documentary directed by Nisha Pahuja.

Netflix’s move into live sports continues. The streamer is weighing in to the boxing arena with a fight between heavyweight legend Mike Tyson and upstart Jake Paul.

Naman Ramachandran Bollywood star Sonakshi Sinha is all praise for her director Sanjay Leela Bhansali, whose anticipated magnum opus series “Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar” is due on Netflix this year. Netflix describes the series as “an epic saga of love, power, revenge and freedom.” With a cast that also includes Manisha Koirala, Aditi Rao Hydari, Sharmin Segal, Richa Chadha, and Sanjeeda Sheikh, the series is set in the midst of multiple power struggles in Heeramandi, Lahore (now part of Pakistan) and more generally in undivided, pre-independence India, where anti-colonial freedom movements were emerging.

As we all know by now, “Deadpool & Wolverine,” set for July 26, is Marvel Studios only film for 2024. Speaking at a Morgan Stanley event yesterday, Disney Chief Bob Iger predicted the film will be “one of the most successful Marvel movies we’ve had in a long time.” Clearly, the hype for the film is rising.

Netflix’s has unveiled a slate of female-led African projects to coincide with International Women’s Month.

Naman Ramachandran Production will commence in 2024 on leading Indian studio Yash Raj Films‘ spy universe film headlined by Alia Bhatt, the studio CEO Akshaye Widhani has confirmed. Widhani was speaking at Mumbai’s FICCI Frames media industry conference, where he was in conversation with Monika Shergill, VP, content, Netflix India. Created by producer Aditya Chopra, the spy universe kicked off with the Tiger franchise, starring Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif, beginning with “Ek Tha Tiger” (2012) and “Tiger Zinda Hai” (2017), and continued with “War” (2019), starring Hrithik Roshan and Tiger Shroff.

$10 billion Sony-ZEE merger plans and late February’s confirmation that Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries (which incorporates Viacom18 and streamer JioCinema) is to tie up most of Disney’s streaming and pay-TV businesses in an $8.5 billion deal, Indian media is set to gain a new market leader. For local and international operators in the world’s most populous nation, the consequences of those tectonic shifts extend across streaming, pay-TV, channels, advertising, sports and content.

Netflix’s Indian slate for this year includes a feature film about a group of drunk young men who crash a wedding, and a series about a plane hijacking.

Naman Ramachandran Netflix has unveiled an eclectic, star-studded India slate for 2024. New films on the slate include comedy “Wild Wild Punjab” from producers Luv Ranjan and Ankur Garg and director Simarpreet Singh, where a group of drunk boys decide to avenge a friend’s breakup by crashing his ex’s wedding and achieve closure. Varun Sharma, Sunny Singh, Manjot Singh, Jassie Gill Patralekhaa and Ishita Raj star.

Walt Disney Company and billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries have merged their massive Indian TV and streaming businesses, ending months of speculation. As per the agreement, Reliance’s Viacom18 is merging with Disney’s Star India. The deal is estimated to be worth $8.5 billion on a ‘post-money basis,’ the companies said.

Reliance Industries and Disney India are set to sign a binding agreement to merge their assets, according to local reports.

Major news today for Oscar-nominee To Kill a Tiger. Actress Priyanka Chopra Jonas is joining the award-winning feature documentary as an executive producer, alongside Dev Patel, Mindy Kaling, and other bold-faced names. The news comes as Netflix inks a deal to launch the film globally on its platform soon.

Addie Morfoot Contributor Netflix has acquired the Oscar-nominated documentary feature “To Kill a Tiger.” The film, about a father’s pursuit of justice in rural India, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2022 and was awarded best documentary at the 2023 Palm Springs International Film Festival. “To Kill a Tiger” was, up until now, the only film this year to be nominated for the best feature doc Oscar without distribution.