Earlier today, Netflix unveiled its new slate of Original series, with Shah Rukh Khan and Anushka Sharma attached as producers on two different projects. According to Netflix, Shah Rukh's Red Chillies Entertainment will produce zombie horror, Betaal, while Anushka and Karnesh Sharma's Clean Slate Films will serve as executive producers on Mai.
"This is my second collaboration with Netflix after Bulbul and we are again looking to disrupt the kind of content audiences are consuming. We at Clean Slate Films have been dedicated to making clutter-breaking, powerful stories since our first production and we are looking forward to push the content envelope. The creative freedom to be able to translate these stories to screens that reach a global audience is exciting for us, which is why Netflix is such an important partner," Anushka said in a statement.
Mai revolves around 47-year-old wife-and-mother, Sheel, who finds herself accidentally sucked into a rabbit hole of violence and power, following a personal tragedy. The series is penned by Atul Mongia along with Tamal Sen, Amita Vyas, with Sudip Sharma as a creative producer.
Shah Rukh's Betaal, which also marks the actor's second collaboration with Netflix, is based in a remote village, visited by two-century-old Betaal, a British Indian Army officer, and his battalion of zombie.
"With Indian police pitted against the undead army, hapless villagers are trapped in a horrific, edge-of-your-seat conflict," the plotline read.
Patrick Graham is attached as writer/director and showrunner, along with Nikhil Mahajan as the director and Suhani Kanwar as the writer. The project will be executive produced by Blumhouse.
Mother-daughter duo Neena and Masaba Gupta will feature in Masaba Masaba, a scripted series based on moments from the latter’s life, where she straddles diverse worlds across fashion and family. The series is created and produced by Ashvini Yardi’s Viniyard Films and will be directed by Sonam Nair.
Bombay Begums features five women across different generations, who wrestle with desire, ethics, personal crises and vulnerabilities to own their ambition. It is created, written, and directed by Alankrita Shrivastava of Lipstick Under My Burkha fame with Chernin Entertainment and Endemolshine India as executive producers.
Messy is about a female stand-up comic in Mumbai, struggling to balance her unconventional career along with a mayhem-filled personal life. American actor and director Ravi Patel stars in the series that he has created and co-written with Neel Shah. The series is co-produced by The District’s David Bernad and Ruben Fleischer and Mutant Films’ Seher Aly Latif and Shivani Saran.