Kashyap slams Netflix co-CEO for questioning 'Sacred Games' launch timing
What's the story
Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap has slammed Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos for his recent comments on Sacred Games. In a podcast interview with Nikhil Kamath, Sarandos suggested that the show wasn't the best choice for Netflix's entry into India. He added that a more "populist" approach could have worked better. Sacred Games was Netflix India's first original series and starred Saif Ali Khan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui.
Filmmaker's reaction
'You are the definition of dumb,' says Kashyap
Kashyap didn't hold back his criticism of Sarandos's remarks. He shared a screenshot of an article about Sarandos's comments on Instagram and wrote, "He should have started with Saas-Bahu... he would have done well. Which he is doing now." "I always knew the tech guys are dumb when it comes to storytelling, but @tedsarandos is the definition of dumb — that I didn't know. Good to discover that. This explains everything now."
Market entry
Podcast interview with Nikhil Kamath
During the podcast, Sarandos spoke about Netflix's struggle to penetrate the Indian market due to consumer skepticism toward subscriptions. He said, "It took us a couple of years to get the product-market fit right. Our very first Indian original show was Sacred Games." "And I thought, 'This is going to be great. People in India love movies. This is a TV show that feels as big as a movie — it has movie stars."
Show's impact
Sarandos on Netflix's struggle to penetrate Indian market
Sarandos admitted that Sacred Games was a novel concept for India, but he underestimated the challenge of introducing a new form of entertainment in such a large country. He said, "For me, if I did it all over again, would I have done Sacred Games a couple of years later and did things that were more populist instead? Maybe." "But we knew that India was going to be a slower journey to get to where we wanted to be."
Filmmaker's discontent
Kashyap's previous post about Netflix
Kashyap has been openly critical of Netflix India in the past. After the success of the miniseries Adolescence, he took to social media to criticize the platform for not greenlighting similar projects in India. He wrote, "Netflix India is a totally opposite sh**show. If they were pitched this, most probably they would have rejected it or turned it into a 90-minute film."