The Streaming Show Suchin Mehrotra

Writer-director Richie Mehta doesn't quite follow the rules. The way Richie operates and creates stand-out streaming shows is far from conventional. Rather than pitching to a streamer and having a series commissioned, he finds independent producers to fund the entire series and only Then finds a home for it. That's how the clutter-breaking benchmark-setting Emmy-winning first season of Delhi Crime ended up on Netflix, and it's the same story with Richie's new series Poacher which is releasing on Amazon Prime Video. Poacher is also the first series produced by Hollywood-based production company QC Entertainment, which is behind films like Jordan Peele’s “Get Out” and Spike Lee’s “BlacKkKlansman.”

At the recent press junket of Poacher, Richie spoke to me about his unconventional way of getting shows made, why he prefers to engage with platforms only when the shows are shot and ready, the bleak state of the streaming ecosystem at present, and his thoughts on Delhi Crime being turned into a franchise when it was only ever meant to be a one-season story.

Filmmaker, writer, producer and showrunner Lisa Joy knows a thing or two about making great TV.


The co-creator of Westworld, Lisa started her career as a writer on Pushing Daisies and has worked on several shows since. She’s also a producer on multiple shows such as last year’s The Peripheral on Amazon along with the highly anticipated upcoming Fallout series, an adaption of one of the most popular games out there.

At the recently conducted Jio MAMI Mumbai film festival, I moderated a session with Lisa on the art of longform storytelling. In front of a live audience, we spoke about the Hollywood model for creating series and what we can learn from it here, what the heck a showrunner is considering we still seem to have different definitions of it, how to navigate a writers room as a young writer and a whole lot more.

This season of The Streaming Show podcast was only ever supposed to be ten episodes. But in a happy turn of events, this 11th episode materialized in which I spoke to one of my favorite artists Vir Das - about a topic I feel very strongly about - the lack of comedies on streaming and why there seems to be a fear of funny among platforms. Shows like Amazon's glorious Pushpavalli and Humble Politician Nograj on Voot remain the rare exceptions.



Vir spoke to me about the severe lack of laughs, the multiple shows he’s currently show running,

the need for more platform executives who understand comedy, what went wrong with his Netflix series Hasmukh and what streaming has done for stand-up and vice versa.

Through this entire season of The Streaming Show podcast, we've had some really insightful conversations with filmmakers, writers, and platform executives about how streaming has changed the game. But what about the shows themselves? The game changers, clutter breakers, and gold standards of storytelling on streaming. So Suchin sat down with his fellow Film Companion critic Prathyush Parasuraman and YouTuber and reviewer Anmol Jamwal who runs the popular YouTube channel Tried and Refused productions to discuss our picks of the best of the best. From underrated gems to obvious juggernauts the three of us discussed the finest shows Indian steamers have made so far and why they demand your attention

When it comes to Indian Streaming, in terms of consistently great storytelling, there's little doubt that Amazon Prime Video rules the roost. Put simply,the streamer is home to most of our best shows.



From gloriously entertaining smash hits like Mirzapur to prestige shows like

Pushpavalli, Paatal Lok, Panchayat, The Family Man, Guilty Minds, Jubilee, Made In Heaven, Laakhon Mein Ek Season 2, Suzhal and I could literally go on.



But what is it specifically about how Amazon operates that allows it to be home to many of the best? What are they doing or not doing as compared to enable their impressive track record?



To break it down, Suchin spoke to Head of India Originals, Aparna Purohit.



We spoke about the Amazon secret sauce, why she's tired of being pitched different versions of Mirzapur, the challenges of nailing a second season, the need for more rockstar streaming executives, and the changes she'd like to see within the streaming landscape

Applause Entertainment is as big as any Indian studio making movies and shows for streaming, gets. In just over five years they've made 44 shows for almost every platform around. They're behind shows and remakes like Criminal Justice, The Indian Office, Rudra, City Of Dreams, and Tanaav. Not to mention one of my favorite comedies Humble Politician Nograj and their one prestige show Scam 1992.



The reason Suchin wanted to speak to Applause Entertainment CEO Sameer Nair was to discuss their unique business model. Applause doesn't just pitch the ideas of shows to platforms, they go off and shoot the entire season and pitch the ready series and license it to streamers for x number of years. The platform gets a ready show, but Applause owns the IP.



At a time when streamers in the US are dropping beloved shows from their platforms to save costs, the Applause model feels more intriguing. Especially for filmmakers who want to hold onto the IP of their ideas.



Sameer spoke to Suchin about the onslaught of remakes and Call my agent Bollywood, in particular, which he passionately defended. We also spoke about the pros and cons of licensing and why he isn't put off by the formula