Anushka Sharma’s Clean Slate Filmz is set to emerge a key player in the streaming wars in India. According to reports, the production house has struck a $54 million deal with Netflix and Amazon Prime Video to produce movies and series.
Clean Slate Filmz will release eight films and series on these streaming platforms as well as some others in the next 18 months, Anushka’s brother and the studio's co-founder, Karnesh Sharma, told Bloomberg.
Clean Slate Filmz, was launched in 2013, and its debut production was the critically acclaimed Anushka-starrer NH10 which released in 2015. Since then, it has backed some strong projects including Amazon Prime Video’s original series Paatal Lok and Netflix’s Bulbbul.
Its upcoming project is Qala, which marks the acting debut of Irrfan Khan’s son, Babil Khan. Anushka is also set to make an acting comeback with Netflix film Chakda Xpress, based on the life of Indian pacer Jhulan Goswami.
As battle for content heats up in India, platforms are eyeing more regional content that can attract a wider section of the audience.
Recently, Netflix cofounder Reed Hastings said that the platform’s lack of success in India is ‘frustrating’. “In every single other major market, we have got the flywheel spinning. The thing that frustrates us is why haven’t we been as successful in India, but we are leaning in there,” he said.
India's video OTT market is expected to touch $12.5 billion by 2030 from about $1.5 billion in 2021 on the back of access to better networks, digital connectivity and smartphones, according to a report by RBSA Advisors.
The report noted that the next wave of growth in the OTT landscape will come from tier II, III and IV cities and the Indian language speaking population.