Indian studio Applause Entertainment is gearing up for an ambitious slate of projects as it enters its eighth year of operations.
The company, led by managing director Sameer Nair, a pioneer of Indian television with previous stints at Star TV, NDTV Imagine, Turner General Entertainment and Balaji Telefilms, has its sights set on expanding into new genres and formats while building on its established successes.
Leading the charge is “Nyaya,” a courtroom drama produced in association with Mangata Films. Directed by Nitya Mehra, Karan Kapadia and Heeraz Marfatia, the fictionalized series based on real events follows a 17-year-old girl seeking justice against a powerful ‘godman,’ or leader of a religious cult, who raped her. The project boasts a strong cast including Fatima Sana Sheikh, Aneet Padda, Arjun Mathur, Mohd. Zeeshan Ayyub and Raghubir Yadav.
“When this opportunity came up, we really pounced on it,” Nair told Variety. “They’ve shot it really well.” He emphasized the procedural nature of the show, focusing on the criminal justice system in action, and praised emerging actor Aneet Padda’s (Prime Video’s “Big Girls Don’t Cry”) performance as the victim.
Applause’s upcoming slate is diverse and ambitious. “Black Warrant,” based on a bestselling insider account about Delhi’s Tihar Jail, is directed by Vikramaditya Motwane. “Gandhi,” a series about the Mahatma based on Ramachandra Guha’s books, stars Pratik Gandhi and is directed by Hansal Mehta. The first episode of documentary series “Modern Masters” featuring “RRR” director S.S. Rajamouli is now streaming on Netflix, while “Assassins – The Hunt for Rajiv Gandhi’s Killers” is a crime procedural directed by Nagesh Kukunoor. An adaptation of A+E Networks’ Peabody-winning series “UnREAL,” about what goes on behind the scenes of a reality show, has just completed filming. Additionally, Applause is bringing back new seasons of popular shows including “Criminal Justice,” “Tanaav,” “City of Dreams” and “Undekhi.”
Applause, a division of the $65 billion Aditya Birla Group conglomerate, was set up on Aug. 16, 2017. It has built a strong reputation over the past seven years with critically acclaimed and popular series. Notable among these is the “Scam” franchise for streamer SonyLIV, which began with “Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story” and continued with “Scam 2003: The Telgi Story.” The success of these shows has paved the way for a new instalment, “Scam 2010: The Subrata Roy Saga.”
“We have and remain focused on contemporary history across business, nation building and crime,” Nair said. “Apart from ‘Gandhi,’ a genuine prestige and passion project, the other shows seek to show tales of recent contemporary history that makes us the country we are.” This focus is reflected in Applause’s deal with iconic Indian graphic novel label Amar Chitra Katha, which specializes in telling Indian history in comic-book form, to adapt their 400+ titles as animated content.
Other hits in the company’s portfolio include “Criminal Justice,” “Rudra: The Edge of Darkness,” starring Ajay Devgn, and “City of Dreams,” all for Disney+ Hotstar.
Looking back on Applause’s seven-year journey, Nair reflected on the company’s commissioning philosophy. “Our big primary driver is entertainment, and in that entertainment space to create a lot of variety,” he said.
As the streaming market evolves, Nair sees opportunities for expansion. “The first seven years, the streaming market was more of the upper, premium kind of audience. In the next seven years, this is going to go wider,” he predicts, noting that while mass-appeal content will grow, niche offerings will coexist. “We’ll see a lot more massy, soapier kind of content on streaming as well, which is a good thing, because the market has become wider, the audience has become much bigger.”
Applause is adapting its strategy accordingly, developing long-form content and exploring new genres. The company is venturing into young adult romantic sagas and even considering shorter versions of daily soaps, albeit with higher production values. The studio is also expanding into unscripted content, with plans for game shows and comedy setups. Nair expressed particular interest in food-related programming.
International collaborations are on the horizon as well. Applause recently wrapped shooting on “Apex,” a crime procedural developed with Simon Mirren, co-creator of “Criminal Minds,” and his production partner Benjamin Anderson. The company is also in development deals with U.S.-based firms. “Either it’s something that they might have in the form of a comic book or a series that they’ve done. We are working together, not just a format acquisition, we are co-developing,” Nair said.
In the film space, Applause’s “The Rapist,” directed by Aparna Sen and headlined by Konkona Sen Sharma, premiered at Busan and won the prestigious Kim Jiseok Award last year. “Zwigato,” directed by Nandita Das and starring Kapil Sharma and Shahana Goswami, premiered at Toronto and screened at Busan, while Tahira Kashyap Khurrana’s “Sharmajee Ki Beti” bowed on Prime Video in June.
“We really want to grow into the big movie studio which does theatrical movies with streaming in place,” Nair explained. Applause’s upcoming Tamil-language “Bison,” directed by Mari Selvaraj and starring Dhruv Vikram, is a step in this direction.
As for the company’s business model, Applause continues to license its content to platforms for multi-year periods. Nair sees this approach as mutually beneficial, allowing the studio to handle early development while giving platforms the option to provide input before production begins.
Looking ahead, Nair outlined Applause’s vision for the next seven years: “I think what we’ve done is we’ve built up a really good network of creators and producers and platforms that we work with. What we want to do is to use what we’ve built as a springboard to really bloom out now. We want to do those big movies, we want to do the shows, we want to do a lot more collaboration.”
“We want to do all of this in a manner which can be profitable,” Nair added. “I think profitability, while creating these wonderful entertainment brands, is a big focus area for us.”
