The growing pains of south Indian web series

The web series landscape on OTT platforms—long-form storytelling that is not mainstream soap operas—is still at a nascent stage in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada. In Hindi, or Mumbai to use Prasanth’s nomenclature, it has burgeoned to now boast its own awards categories. It has also become cross-cultural: Amazon Prime’s Poacher (2024) has at least half the characters speaking in Malayalam, and The Family Man and Farzi have south stars Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Vijay Sethupathi, respectively. Hindi streaming is now its own ecosystem that shares top talent with Hindi cinema, creating avenues for lesser-known actors and writers. The pandemic aided its growth, and the stagnation of Hindi cinema pushed bolder stories towards streaming.

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But this growth has not trickled down to south India, whose filmic styles and big names have been co-opted by Bollywood—from Atlee to S.S. Rajamouli to Allu Arjun and Prabhas. An Ormax Media report published in May 2023 found that in 2022, there were 44 OTT originals released on streaming in the four south Indian languages (more than 90% in Tamil and Telugu), while in Hindi, it was more than double that number. But why, apart from a few meagre names, has long-form storytelling from the south not grown at a similar pace?

A few show have made an impact: Vilangu, Muthukumar’s Ayali (Zee5), the Sharath Jothi-directed docu-series Koose Munisamy Veerappan (Zee5) and Pushkar-Gayathri’s Suzhal: The Vortex (Amazon Prime). Ormax Media’s yearly report on streaming originals in India is yet to look at the numbers and viewership of non-Hindi shows. It’s simply not big enough.

One would think that at a time when mainstream cinema is unable to look beyond stars and action entertainers to attract audiences to theatres, there would be intervention to widen the slate through OTT. According to Pushkar, a significant stream of new shows, Hindi and otherwise, were being greenlit till about mid-2023, but the breaks have been applied all over due to a global churn. Yet, for streaming in the south, the issues are both creative and financial.

The biggest challenge is writing specifically for long form. Filmmaker Madhumita (K.D, Mouname Paarvayaai in Amazon Prime’s anthology Putham Pudhu Kaalai Vidiyaadhaa), says a lot of them are still trying to understand writing for a web series. “It’s not a three-act structure like film. In a series, we must write a five-act structure, the process is different, and the writing room is different." Suman Kumar, co-writer of The Family Man, Farzi and Guns & Gulaabs, and Pushkar-Gayathri agree. Suman Kumar says there aren’t enough writers to handle this kind of effort. “In the series space, the writer is the hero. Availability of writers and understanding the difference between a two-hour film and a web series is key."

Pushkar believes that filmic beats can still be followed in the series format but with some tweaks. “Narrative long-form storytelling is a new craft for most writers. We get a lot of pitches and show bibles and out of those there will be one or two that have the legs to go forward." Pushkar-Gayathri receive several elevator pitches, but they rarely get an episodic outline. “In a feature we can get away with some things. But in long form, plotting and character development are things people are still coming to terms with."

Another challenge is that popular culture in the south is film- and star-obsessed in a way that audiences up north are not. The Ormax Media report revealed that OTT content in south Indian markets is largely driven by film. Films always have priority over long-form streaming originals because the audience down south is drawn in by stars and cinema-going is habitual. Sharath Jothi talks about a vicious cycle. “It is not financially viable for someone to take a year or two and get into a world, research and write a proper screenplay. So, the solution then is to quickly do what we know for sure the audience will like. Filmmakers are stuck in this cycle."

Malayalam cinema today has a great ecosystem dedicated to writing, while Tamil and Telugu have more writer-directors. Sharath feels that the Malayalam industry has a respect for writers that is lacking in Tamil. “I feel we have to groom talent who could only write for screen." Insiders believe this transition will happen soon. The other transition is getting star actors to streaming. Most south series are small scale now—the networks bet on the story. But as their scale grows, even a great story will need a big name to push for production. Pushkar says film directors will gravitate towards this medium if they have a ready script in front of them. But we are a few years away from star actors warming up to the idea of web series (Sethupathi is an eternal outlier). It is also currently impossible to create a star culture around streaming: the fidelity of the theatrical fan doesn’t exist in the OTT space. “Even if an actor makes it big with one show, there’s no guarantee his next show will attract the same numbers," says Pushkar. “With films, you can at least expect the opening to be similar."

Networks too have their work cut out. Prasanth mentioned that Mumbai remains the decision-maker for all streaming. Economics dictates that more shows are made for a Hindi-speaking audience. It is still a new market, which is why we see more thrillers and procedurals. But the platforms are also limited by the decision-makers’ worldview. A former content executive from a popular OTT platform, on the condition of anonymity, talked about an idea that came up, a show set in an elite school in Chennai. An executive in Mumbai compared it to Ashim Ahluwalia’sHindi show Class (Netflix) and asked why they should do something similar. “It becomes difficult to demonstrate that an elite school in Chennai can be very different to an elite school in Mumbai or New Delhi. A kid can still come to this school on a bicycle. How do I explain that the behavioral patterns of the rich in Tamil Nadu are very different to those of the multimillionaires in Mumbai?"

Pushkar-Gayathri say that this is the time to go for small shows. OTT platforms, indeed, are looking for hyperlocal stories. A young writer had pitched the duo a show set in the IT industry in Bengaluru; they wanted to make the show bigger and set it in Singapore or Hong Kong. “When we took this to a very senior person at a platform, they said they have experimented with such an idea, like a trans-European show, and found that it doesn’t work. Unless you can identify who your primary audience is, it is not going to cross over."

Gayathri says the audience needs to take ownership of a show—either at a linguistic or cultural or state level. This ownership is especially important when looking at multiple seasons. Suman mentions how a little show on Hotstar like Save the Tigers found loyal fans in the Telugu audience with its relatable characters and humour. The second season recently dropped.

For Sharath, the challenge with Koose Munisamy was to contend with pre-conceived notions of Veerappan. It took a lot of back and forth to get through the idea that his series was about the people caught between the law enforcement and Veerappan. Madhumita believes the Mumbai heads help balance the business side of things, while the localised creative team is more attuned with a show’s cultural sensibilities. With a single producer, filmmakers often have more independence. But with the set systems of OTT platforms, they must adapt. Madhumita sees it as a marriage. “As filmmakers we must get used to the idea that someone is bringing business acumen, and we get feedback on our work even before going to floors. At the same time, the platforms will have to understand that this person knows best, it is their story, something they’ve created in a universe familiar to them." The challenge is to meet halfway—how open filmmakers are to feedback? And platforms to this collaboration? “It cannot be the filmmaker’s fault alone and it cannot be the platform’s fault alone."

What is now required, says Pushkar, is a larger investment from the networks in the south ecosystem. He feels the global churn happened too early in the journey of Tamil and Telugu shows. “We need to take the start of the Tamil and Telugu web series market as 2021-22. We are only two years into this OTT journey. We need five more years for it to stand on its own legs. As of now, it is an adjunct of the larger space that is the Hindi series industry."

Aditya Shrikrishna is a freelance writer and film critic.

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