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The novel by Vikram Chandra Sacred Games addresses all major themes: crime, friendship, betrayal, love. Above all, the 900-page book is a story about Mumbai. By expanding and concentrating, there is something cinematic in writing.
"From the beginning, even before the publication of the book, there was already interest in doing something cinematic.Before the release of the book (in 2006), he had been opted by a large feature film company in Hollywood They tried for a few years, but it became clear to them and me that it needed a much longer format, "said Chandra on the US phone.The production company in question is Focus Features, a subsidiary of Comcast, which produced movies like Phantom Thread, an American drama series, and romantic dramas Brokeback Mountain and Pride & Prejudice
Sacred Games, which took nearly ten years to write. episodes on the Netflix streaming platform on July 6. Chandra was attached to the Netflix project as a consultant working primarily with the writers' room set up by Phantom Films, the production company. nematographic who led Sacred Games. It will be India's first Netflix original to be distributed in over 190 countries.
In February, the company announced three new Indian original series – Leila, Ghoul and Crocodile – carrying the Netflix originals in India to seven, shows commissioned by the service outside the United States, the United Kingdom and the United States. Japan. The US streaming giant has booked a content budget for India in the near term, confirmed its managing director Reed Hastings during a previous visit to India. Netflix launched its services in India in January 2016.
It all started three and a half years ago when Chandra met for the first time with Netflix representatives in their Los Angeles office. "Unlike traditional American channels where the absence of American characters makes everyone nervous, Netflix is unique and brilliant in its global indie concept.The idea is to take local stories and make Calling on local teams to broadcast them to the local audience and then broadcast them to a global audience It did not bother us at all that we did not have a CIA agent at the beginning of this series, "says Chandra
.For Erik Barmack, vice president of Netflix's original international series, Chandra's book comes to him in mind, they were looking for" high-end and high-end content " for the public in India and around the world
"We had known that others had tried to develop the book as a film and other series. 39; is a crime story and the other one is thought to affect a lot of people. different elements of the history of Mumbai and Indian history, "said Barmack in a telephone interview in Los Angeles
. was looking for producers and directors with whom they wanted to work for Sacred Games. Phantom Films was at the top of this list. "We loved Gangs of Wbadeypur, it's almost the ideal place between a TV series and a movie, it was very complex and long." We also liked Vikram's films (Vikramaditya Motwane) We felt that they had a cold sensitivity that was pretty consistent with Netflix, "Barmack said.
Motwane was actually in Los Angeles on vacation when he got a call to meet Netflix. "Have you read Sacred Games?" Asked my friend and long-time agent. He said why would not you meet these guys next week? "It's a thousand-page book! I had to read over 130 pages a day," says Motwane.
Motwane was delighted that Netflix did his research and saw his work. "The Best thing for me was that they wanted to do it in Hindi and not in English. Because speaking in English can seem so wrong sometimes. An English speaking Maharashtrian Indian cop does not make sense. That was the decisive factor, "said Motwane, who refers to the character of the policeman Sartaj Singh played by the actor Saif Ali Khan
From a creator's point of view, Netflix acts as a facilitator with its ease of use of different languages. "They allow you to use any language and any number of languages you want.There are whole scenes for 2-3 minutes in Marathi, followed by Punjabi. the series is told so that we Indians really live in. We are multilingual, "said Chandra.
The reason, Barmack says, is because the base of English-speaking users as main language is down compared to the overall population of Netflix subscribers. "Which basically means that more and more people in Netflix are watching with duplicates or subtitles."
Barmack oversees the production of original English-language shows made for Netflix outside the United States, including Dark (Germany), Ingobernable (Mexico) and 3% (Brazil). A number of American-made Netflix originals are popular outside of the United States. "As a percentage of the total number of viewers, as many people watch 13 Reasons Why in India as watch them in the United States," according to an article published in the Vulture entertainment site on June 10.
Historically, books were turned into films and books were written specifically for the purpose of being converted into a film. In recent times, JK Rowling has made it to perfection, Mira Nair based Namesake on the book of the same name by Jhumpa Lahiri and Chetan Bhagat is listed for a series of films that revolve around his best on campus
. story from one medium to the other seems like you are translating poetry from one language to the other. They have it wonderfully suited and I think even for those who have read the book once or twice, there will be surprises along the way, "said Chandra who saw some of the early episodes of Sacred Games and found them convincing.
Writing the script and overlaying the story was the hardest part of this project and took more than a year. "Every time you adapt a book, it's quite complex, and for us, the shows we do in Latin America, Europe, the United States, it usually takes a couple of years to get up the first season, especially when you're trying to figure out what's the heart of the series, "said Barmack
Overall, Netflix put its weight behind the acquisition of first-rate talent, including Oscar-winning filmmakers like Damien Chazelle Guillermo Del Toro, high-level runners from ABC and Fox like Shonda Rhimes and Ryan Murphy, at a string of stand-up stars like Ellen DeGenres and Chris Rock, and interviews show hosts including David Letterman. May, Netlfix, announced a dela with Barack and Michelle Obama to do TV shows and movies.
In India, advances in content acquisition and new green lighting projects have evolved at a measured pace and conservative, Sacred Games was shot in Mumbai. He was filmed for 150 days in Mumbai.
Motwane, the show runner of the series, was co-founder of Phantom Films and popular filmmaker Anurag Kashyap aboard the project after Kashyap completed the Mukkabaaz sports drama in May 2017. Regarding the shooting, Since the book has two parallel stories, Motwane and Anurag Kashyap chose to lead individual parts: one with the compromised policeman, Sartaj Singh, and the other with the immensely powerful but insecure gangster, Ganesh Gaitonde. Nawazuddin Siddiqui plays Gaitonde
Barmack says it was a first that they had heard about this style of narration. "It was a moment of jaw dropping for us, when those two came on board and said we wanted to follow a visual vision through the flashbacks of a character and a director all in the long run, we had never seen this for any of the other series we had developed. "19659021] During filming, Barmack remembers what he describes as a" cool meta moment "[19659002] "In the first episode, there is this shelter where the character of Nawaz is hidden in the middle of a shopping center and neighborhood. Once Saif's character realizes that Nawaz's character is in the bunker, he tries to demolish him and sneak inside, and a huge crowd gathers to watch the shoot. "A few nights ago, I saw the show that took a few years to come together through the eyes of my wife and she was like that's amazing. It's as if Narcos was so alive, "said Barmack.
For a company that has said it wants to play long game in India, Sacred Games could be the beginning. "Our goal, as a company or brand, is not to ship a bunch of products and hope that it works. We really want to pay attention and attention to the work we do and do our best to make sure our shows and films are different and fresh, "he said.
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