Netflix hosts a roundtable with the best filmmakers this year

To celebrate some of the best content that kept us entertained in 2021, Netflix hosted a roundtable with the best filmmakers this year. Keeping us constantly gripped to the screeners with the films and series these directors brought  to the table, they not only kept us entertained but also brought about a new category of content that elevated Indian cinema. The roundtable, hosted by Netflix and moderated by Rajeev Masand had their panelists as some of the most recognized directors today -  Basil Joseph, Vinay Waikul, Nandini Reddy, Chaitanya Tamhane, Neeraj Ghaywan, Leena Yadav & Raghav Subbu where they spoke about their respective projects and how the entertainment space is constantly evolving. Moreover, all of them had one common thing to say - how Netflix has provided global recognition with the length and breadth that the stories travel with its reach. Read on below to find out what they had to say!

Talking about how Netflix made it possible to deliver content to a large audience, Nandini Reddy, director - Pitta Kathalu, shared, "I think the audience is also surprised by how they react to the cinema because now they are discovering that there is another way to see a story. The construct in their head is changing and shifting and that is going to change the whole dynamics of mainstream cinema in the coming years. We can already see the shift and this is going to bring a change in how big-ticket films do at the box office. I think the story has come to centre stage finally, it’s been slightly different in Bombay but I’m the regional cinema and my films have to work all over. Now your story is your star, so you pick just the right actor for it and you run for it. It’s given us some breaking space. And for me to do Pitta Kathalu right after Oh! Baby was a relief, it was like I jumped off a cliff and was diving right into a different world. It was like being someone else and going to a masquerade party, being what you want to be with no labels - it was so freeing for me and I think that was the best part.”

Sharing an instance of audience experience from her docu-series - House of Secrets: The Burari Deaths, Leena Yadav said, “I was coming back from Moscow, a week after House Of Secrets: The Burari Deaths was released. I heard some staff of the airways talking about it and they discovered that I had made it - (laughingly) once they knew it,  I had VIP treatment, and not just that - the crew had questions which they asked me about. While I was almost asleep and had to wake up, it was a great moment to realize how far the content was travelling. With streaming services, now you’re directly in touch with the audience and that is so empowering because that is when you get a gauge of where you are actually going with your stories.”