As Ekta Kapoor gets onboard with this OTT platform, will the originals turn 'soapy'?

In an important move, Netflix and Ekta Kapoor’s Balaji Telefilms Ltd. have entered into a long term creative collaboration for a range of exciting projects across different formats of storytelling.

Ekta Kapoor's Balaji Telefilms comes onboard with Netflix

As one of India’s most influential creators, Padma Shri awardee and International Emmy award winner, Ekta Kapoor, has entertained generations of audiences with deep and culturally resonant storytelling, and her characters often became household names, with common people celebrating their wins, and mourning the losses.

Ekta’s understanding of stories that are audience first, characters who have iconic legacies, compelling narratives and relevant topics, has been loved across film, television and more recently streaming. But when we look back, most of the daily serials are overdramatic and pinches the Indian sentimentality, where the audiences get united with the heart and soul of the character they are watching onscreen.

Ekta Kapoor, joint managing director, Balaji Telefilms, said, “At Balaji Telefilms, storytelling has always been at the heart of everything we do — whether through cinema, television, or digital platforms. Partnering with Netflix, the world’s leading storytelling platform known for its premium content and constant innovation, is a big moment for us. It allows us to bring powerful, culturally rooted, and emotionally resonant stories to a global audience. The beginning of this new collaboration marks an exciting new chapter where we continue to push creative boundaries and deliver content that entertains, inspires, and connects people everywhere."

Now comes the main question...

Netflix India original = Television serials?

Honestly, we are yet to figure that out. Balaji and Netflix have previously collaborated on several projects - Kathal, Pagglait, Jaane Jaan and Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitare, but all were films, and incorporating the elements of melodrama, with a lot many ensemble casts and sentimentality becomes a difficult when it comes to films. Rather, building these in web series is easier, and these long form, episodic content is kind of Ekta's forte. The news of this collaboration, somehow, is constantly reminding us of a Bengali web series, Debaloy Bhattacharya's Boka Bakshote Bondi, where the life of an television actress reel and real lives meld, and she is unable to fathom, which one is the reality. Though it is kind of a surreal thought, the elements of a web show and tv serial were overlapping, and in this case, intentionally.

As reports say that with an exciting line-up, including an untitled series in advanced stages of development, this collaboration will deliver new stories in formats tailor-made for streaming audiences, we would soon find out if Ekta still will fall back upon the magic of the original "K-dramas" (K-serials).

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