Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai) - Live
How many stars is too many?
As A-listers flood India’s streaming platforms, I worry that the promise of fresh voices, innovative tales could be eclipsed
On May 1, Sanjay Leela Bhansali will go small. Hindi cinema’s most visually opulent auteur will unveil his latest, Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar, on Netflix. The eight-episode series, about an elite house of courtesans in British India, is likely to be the streaming show of the year.
Teasers and songs (also composed by Sanjay) reveal that the size of the screen hasn’t impacted his storytelling. The director of landmark films such as Bajirao Mastani (2015), Padmaavat (2018) and Gangubai Kathiawadi (2022) is luxuriating, as he usually does, in sumptuous sets, costumes and production design, and beauteous faces.
There is nothing modest about Heeramandi. No evidence that Sanjay is thinking about the fact that it will unfold on laptops and phone screens.
The show exemplifies director Alfonso Cuarón’s sentiment from a 2020 interview with IndieWire: “I consider it a mistake… to say… adapt to smaller screens. I think it’s the opposite. Smaller screens have to adapt to cinematic visions.”
Heeramandi is a prime example of an emerging trend in Indian entertainment: the event series. This is typically a show that has stars, scale, a sizeable budget, and eclipses all others in the weeks after its release.
Sacred Games, the first Netflix show made in India, was an event series, toplined by Saif Ali Khan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui and co-directed by Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane.
There have been many since. Think of last year’s Amazon Original Farzi, which marked the streaming debut of Shahid Kapoor. Directed by Raj & DK, it was the mostwatched Hindi streaming show in India, according to Ormax Media’s annual report for 2023. The second spot on that list was occupied by The Night Manager, a Disney+ Hotstar event series featuring Anil Kapoor, Aditya Roy Kapur, Sobhita Dhulipala.
This year’s Amazon Original, Indian Police Force, marks the streaming debut of one of Hindi cinema’s most successful directors, Rohit Shetty, and of actor Sidharth Malhotra. Shows coming up this year include Citadel: Honey Bunny (Amazon Prime), also directed by Raj & DK, and starring Varun Dhawan and Samantha Ruth Prabhu.
It’s a bonanza for viewers. But my fear is that the heavyweights of Hindi cinema might eventually stunt streaming. When they first debuted, OTT platforms were entertainment’s brave new world. Some event series still reflect this. Think of this year’s Malayalam series Poacher, featuring Nimisha Sajayan, directed by Richie Mehta, executiveproduced by Alia Bhatt — with artful storytelling and a talent-first approach intact.
Will we still have inventive storytelling and brilliant new actors emerging if platforms increasingly rely on stars to break through the clutter? Vikram Malhotra, CEO of Abundantia Entertainment, which was among the earliest producers to bring stars to streaming with the series Breathe on Amazon (S1 starred R Madhavan and S2, Abhishek Bachchan) says that he endorsed this trend in the early days, to enable market penetration. But now, he adds, some amount of risk-taking could go a long way.
The truth is there is no downside to more hours of Sanjay Leela Bhansali. But I’m always rooting for new voices. May those also shine.