- Ekta Kapoor criticised Anurag Kashyap for his remark on saas-bahu dramas as classist.
- Kashyap suggested Netflix India should have launched with saas-bahu shows instead of Sacred Games.
- Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos said launching with Sacred Games was a mistake, favouring more populist content.
Producer and television mogul Ekta Kapoor has criticised filmmaker Anurag Kashyap over his recent remark about "saas-bahu" dramas.
What
- Ekta Kapoor called his comment "classist" and said he was unfairly dismissing Indian family dramas and daily soaps.
- The exchange began after Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos shared that launching Netflix India with Sacred Games was a "mistake."
- Anurag Kashyap, who co-directed and produced the show, responded on Instagram by saying that Netflix should have started with "saas-bahu" shows instead.
- Ekta Kapoor, known for producing popular television soaps, reacted strongly on Instagram.
- In her story, she wrote, "Ur so dumb... saying this puts u at an advantage 'I'm smarter, cooler' but naaaaaaaa! Darling how about gracious!!! N self aware?????? An art that a lot of artists don't have! 'Saas bahu' and their impact on Indian masses (how women got a voice in mass India) is well documented by prestigious Chicago research! But artists who talk of an inclusive world are actually more classist. (sic)"
- Without directly naming anyone, she added, "We must do away with this 'U can't sit with us, we're better' attitude for democracy and fair play! Love and light to all."
Background
Anurag Kashyap, who co-directed the critically acclaimed Sacred Games for Netflix India in 2018, has expressed disappointment with the platform's current direction.
Kashyap shared a screenshot of a headline that read: "Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos unsure if launching in India with Sacred Games was ideal, says something 'more populist' might have worked better: 'If I did it all over again...'"
Responding to this, Kashyap 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 is what I didn't know. Good to discover that. This explains everything now."
Anurag Kashyap's "Saas Bahu" reference was aimed at the recently announced collaboration between Netflix India and Ekta Kapoor's Balaji Telefilms.
Sarandos had shared his thoughts on Netflix's India entry on Nikhil Kamath's podcast, saying, "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 get to. But it's a great prize, at the end of the day."
Back in March, Kashyap had also called Netflix India a "totally opposite stshow" in a post praising the British psychological crime drama Adolescence on Netflix. Referring to Sarandos' earlier comment about the show, Kashyap wrote, "Now coming to my envy and jealousy. Ted Sarandos (recently put a post where he says - 'Every once and a while one comes along that pushes into brand new territories, defies the limits of creativity and features career defining performances.' "And I hope he means it. Because his on(sic) Netflix.in is a totally opposite s*** show."