Indian films and series can cater to a global audience: Sunder Aaron

Sunder Aaron is currently a principal with Locomotive Global Inc (LGI), the holding company he founded with its investors in 2012. LGI’s primary focus is to incubate and launch new India-oriented businesses. LGI’s activities in India include involvement and investment into companies active in film and television development and production, programming sales and distribution, Quick Service Restaurants, and social media apps. LGI works in close association with Anderson Media Group, based in Los Angeles, on all media and entertainment-oriented activities.

In conversation with Adgully, Sunder Aaron, Co-founder, and Principal – Locomotive Global Inc, speaks about the trends dominating the film and OTT sector in India, the content consumption trends, collaboration with Applause Entertainment and Bend It Films, and more.

How has Locomotive Global Inc’s journey been since its launch? What was the vision with which the production house was launched?

We launched Locomotive Global Inc in 2013 with an aim to become a blue chip content creator in India. We wanted to aggressively build a slate of premium scripted films firmly rooted in Indian storytelling, but with the potential to become globally appreciated properties. Back then, our ambition leaned towards theatrical films, however as things erupted with OTT and streaming, our focus shifted towards creating and acquiring premium scripted drama series. With the recent addition of Kanupriya Iyer, who joined the LGM team from Colour Yellow, we are now able to make a serious push into films as well as web series.

At LGM, we believe in keeping our content authentic to India, and we make that our primary objective with every project. We believe that with the quality of the written word as our starting point, exceptional stories will naturally blossom and can even find an audience all around the world. For instance, stories like ‘Lunch Box’ or ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ are narrated in India, but cater to a global audience. The same can be especially said of films and series that are being produced in Israel, Korea, Spain or even Iran. We believe that Indian films and series are primed to have a similar impact around the world.

A number of our shows are currently in various stages of production and development. This fiscal the big-ticket item for us is ‘Rana Naidu’, which is an adaptation of CBS’ ‘Ray Donovan’. The series will release on Netflix in the first quarter of 2023 and stars Rana Daggubati and Venkatesh.

How has your collaboration experience with Applause Entertainment, Bend It Films and TV been? Are there any further collaboration planned in the year ahead?

Applause Entertainment is a terrific example of a company doing great things with scripted formats. Sameer Nair is a visionary and a pioneer in the industry and his forward-thinking approach has significantly contributed to Applause Entertainment’s success up to this point. The team at Applause was determined on creating content at a global level and that is one of the reasons for this collaboration that brings together Applause, Gurinder Chadha and Locomotive.

Very few studios like them are financing their own projects at their volume and budget levels. And therefore, we decided to associate with them for their forward-thinking approach. We are working with Applause Entertainment on a series called ‘Seeker’, created by Gurinder Chadha and myself. The project is still in the scripting stage and we hope to start production early next year.

We recently signed up with Applause on another project, which will be announced in the near future and will be ground-breaking for India in a few different ways. More on that soon!

In 2020, we acquired the screen adaptation rights to the book ‘The Making of Star India’ by Vanita Kohli-Khandekar. The ‘Making of Star India’ is a terrific book and we’re setting that project up. I expect to talk more about it in the coming months. From an acquisition point of view, we continue to acquire formats that we think will work for the Indian audience. For instance, we have a project with Hansal Mehta in the pipeline. We are also looking to acquire the rights to remake a French show, a British show, and a couple of US shows.

In addition to that, our other upcoming titles include a horror series in development with Amazon Prime Video, and have also partnered with Endemol Shine India for another series that is currently under wraps.

What are the challenges that you faced during the pandemic period?

The pandemic was a challenge for everyone because of the great uncertainty it created. While the downside for us was that it delayed the production of our Netflix series and added to the production costs, the upside was that it allowed the company to focus on development. During this period, we were able to get a number off the ground, thanks to the quality of the development cycle for them.

What are the trends that are dominating in the industry?

Right out of the gates, with OTT, everyone was doing thrillers and crime. While some have been successful, some did not work well. Trend-wise, in India, we are going to see more half-hour comedies. Globally, drama-comedies or dramedies are flourishing and soon this might become a trend in India. Netflix saw great success with ‘Decoupled’ and so did Amazon Prime with ‘Four More Shots Please!’ Also, according to me, the horror genre in India has been neglected.

Also in Hollywood, there has been a general lament that mid-budget films are released straight on OTT. In India, we have only recently started getting non-commercial mainstream films. Edgy films look at more of a mainstream or commercial audience in the urban areas. This trend was pushed forward because of the pandemic. Instead of sitting on films, people were still making movies, not worrying about the theatrical release, and they were able to find the market with the streaming platforms.

Other trends for the time being will be related to cost cutting and rationalisation of slates and budgets. Over the next 6-12 months, we will see a pullback on the number of projects that are commissioned for development or financed for production. This may also drive down talent and technical production costs, which have been steadily rising for the past few years.

What content consumption trends are you noticing from the audiences?

Audiences and viewers are interested in authentic storytelling, no matter where it comes from. The pandemic has accelerated content consumption on OTT and filmmakers are looking at how best to tap these opportunities, including cross-border talent, which is already finding a larger affinity than it did earlier, making it more binge-worthy.

The younger generations in India have been a bit neglected when it comes to content offerings on premium OTT platforms. We don’t see a lot of young adult original series from India, whereas this is an important audience to cater to in the rest of the world. We are actively developing projects that will address that need. The younger generation has been online, consuming diverse content, and prefers to watch content at their convenience, making it extremely easy and comfortable for them to consume content.

Unscripted series are also seeing popularity on OTT platforms. We may see more non-fiction and unscripted series in the coming year. The fiction format that we are most interested in is the half-hour dramedy. The half-hour format is underexploited in India, with platforms veering towards 40 minutes-plus episodes. I believe platforms and viewers would like the frothiness and quickness of a half-hour episode format and a lot of stories can be told in that half-hour format. We would like to do a sketch comedy show and it is something we are working on with a leading director in India.

What would be LGI’s focus in 2023?

Locomotive Global Media is growing rapidly with an ambitious roster of projects in active development. We have three shows lined up; one is already in production while the other two will go into production before the end of this year. Our focus is to scale up rapidly and produce content that has an impact both in India and around the globe. We are also looking at collaborating with other companies with strong slates. We are especially interested in looking at projects that are aligned with the interests and entertainment needs of the younger audiences. Our intent is to make Locomotive Global Inc a blue-chip content producer in India and to be known for producing global quality content that is in a way rooted in India. In the coming years, apart from making content in Hindi and English, we will look at expanding our footprint towards creating multilingual content reflecting culture and stories from South India as well.

Further, our focus in 2023 is to apply our LGM 5 Point Code to all creative projects which we consider. These are the elements that we prioritize in creative projects, whether film or television:

1. Written Word – Emphasis must be given to the written word above and beyond all.
2. Technical Quality of Production – Insure the high technical quality of production (regardless of budget). This usually boils down to having the right HODs on board a project.
3. Performances – On-screen talent and performances are essential to convey the story.
4. Budget – Money, of course!
5. Relatability – Our audience is primarily Indian, and we need to present them with content that is accessible to them.
6. Profit Sharing – We want to share the risk and profits with our partners.

And with recent key appointments at Locomotive Global Media, we are certain of being able to accomplish these goals with each and every project. If we can do that, then we will be taking the company to greater heights, consolidating a leading position in the Indian media and entertainment sector.