Interview: Behind Sony LIV’s ‘less is more’ slate, a push for non-Hindi shows and period dramas
The streaming platform’s content head Saugata Mukherjee talks to ‘Scroll’ about ‘Manvat Murders’, ‘Freedom at Midnight’ and other upcoming series.
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After rolling out Bench Life, Tanaav 2, Brinda, 36 Days and Lampan over the last few months, Sony LIV has a few more series on offer before the end of the year. These include Manvat Murders, Raat Jawaan Hai, Jai Mahendran and Freedom at Midnight – shows in different languages and genres, in keeping with the streaming platform’s stated aim of pursuing a variegated viewership.
The content division of Sony Pictures Networks India isn’t as high-profile or prolific as its rivals. Yet, Sony LIV has scored hits in the past few years, among them Scam 1992 – The Harshad Mehta Story, Rocket Boys and Tabbar. Series such as Gullak, Tanaav and Maharani have gained follow-up seasons.
Sony LIV is also ramping up its non-Hindi slate. The police procedural Brinda was in Telugu. Manvat Murders, based on a series of ritual murders from the early 1970s, is in Marathi. Upcoming shows will be in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Bengali, Saugata Mukherjee, Head of Content at Sony LIV, told Scroll. Here are excerpts from an interview.
What is the broad vision behind commissioning series, and has this changed over the years?
We started late in the streaming journey. We looked at what we could do differently from the others.
The stories that we picked were slightly more cerebral, authentic and rooted. I don’t think we have dithered much from that. If anything, we are making sure that we do the same in the...
