Sunder Aaron, Co-founder of Locomotive Global on their upcoming series ‘Rana Naidu’ for Netflix
BizAsia caught up with Sunder Aaron, Co-founder of Locomotive Global – a media production company developing, producing television and film content. Aaron discusses the Netflix series ‘Rana Naidu’, which streams from 10th March 2023.
Please tell us about how the concept for ‘Rana Naidu’ came about?
Rana Naidu is an official adaptation of the American family crime drama ‘Ray Donovan’, which was first released on Showtime in the US in 2012. Our show has two bona fide, major stars from the south industry – Venkatesh and Rana Daggubati (who are appearing together on screen for the first time!) along with a terrific ensemble cast. The story follows a professional problem solver for Bollywood and Mumbai’s elite. The lead character, Rana Naidu, is on the speed dial of Bollywood celebs who believe there is no problem he cannot solve for them. It’s a very daring show, but at the heart of it, it is all about family.
Look at how popular Korean and Turkish content has become, simply because Indian audiences are receptive to such things, which suggests that their tastes are evolving…
The show is bankrolled by your company, Locomotive Global Inc. How important is it for brands like yours to invest in innovative content like ‘Rana Naidu’?
We have invested heavily into the series along with Netflix India, our partner, making it a Netflix original series. And yes, it’s very important to be innovative with content when even in India, viewers have a myriad of content, television, and entertainment options before them. We would like to think that with our projects, we are pushing the envelope. We are seeing tastes and values changing over time. Maybe, five years from now, you will see more horror and science fiction. Look at how popular Korean and Turkish content has become, simply because Indian audiences are receptive to such things, which suggests that their tastes are evolving and therefore, we will have to evolve with them. We must have the courage to lead with shows and stories from unexpected genres and categories. In India, people enjoy romantic comedies as well as musicals, which are still popular in Bollywood. But even those kinds of movies and series are changing for the better because they have to remain relevant and current.
The quality of Indian adaptations of international films and shows has improved tremendously, what are your thoughts on Indian remakes of global content?
Yes, I agree that adaptations in India have improved, mostly because the quality of writing and overall technical production has improved. Also, producers are taking these adaptations more seriously and getting official rights, etc. Along with such rights come the support from the original rights owners, and this helps too.
A show must stand on its own merits, regardless of how many times it gets adapted. We have seen Applause successfully adapt numerous shows. A show, if well-written, can work in any market. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what you’re adapting; what matters is how well you tell or retell the story.
A show must stand on its own merits, regardless of how many times it gets adapted.
Besides the general premise of a story, what other important elements are there to retain in an Indian adaptation of an international series/film?
No matter how strong a story is or how well-received a film or a show has been overseas, it won’t work in India unless we develop it with the audience in mind. We have selected some outstanding talent to work with including Karan Anshuman, who is our showrunner. He was responsible for Inside Edge and Mirzapur. Karan is somebody who knows the Indian audience and what they like to watch. This is the first step to getting people to understand the audience here and what they want to see. Every day I am made aware of how well the writers, creators, and production team know how to create something that works for the Indian audience. But how do we adapt to it? It all starts on the page, as the writer’s room works very hard to adapt the storylines and characters from the original show while making them uniquely Indian.
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Clearly, crime thrillers are a dominant genre. There may be a little bit of a circular dynamic here though: because such shows are in demand…
‘Rana Naidu’ is a crime thriller. How much was it a conscious decision to remake a show of this particular genre for Indian audiences?
We decided to adapt Ray Donovan because we knew it was a great show already with great writing, and since it is in the crime genre, Indian viewers would immediately have a level of interest. Viewers have really flocked to the genre so, platforms and theatres are naturally even more interested in the crime thriller genre. The platforms want crime because viewers and audiences in India demand such shows. Clearly, crime thrillers are a dominant genre. There may be a little bit of a circular dynamic here though: because such shows are in demand, we producers develop and make such shows…then since we’ve made so many of these shows (and invested the resources to make them of excellent quality), the viewers continue to watch them.
I am thrilled that films like RRR, KGF, Pathaan, etc. are making waves around the world. This can only be good for our industry and all our talent that is emerging on a global stage.
With Ray Donovan, we had an edge because the show is a narrative about family, and in India, family comes first. You can tell that by watching the show that it would work when adapted for Indian viewers. I am sure it will translate well in certain other cultures and markets, particularly in India. You also have Bollywood as the counterpart for Hollywood. As a result, the problem solver in Hollywood is Ray Donovan whereas in Bollywood it is Rana Naidu. As we like to say, “Rana Sort Kiya!”
After the global success of films like ‘RRR’ and ‘Pathaan’, Indian content is very much in demand globally. What’s your take on this?
I am thrilled that films like RRR, KGF, Pathaan, etc. are making waves around the world. This can only be good for our industry and all our talent that is emerging on a global stage. However, we need to regularly break out of the diaspora audiences outside India and produce content (films and series) that are widely consumed by non-Indians. I believe that while RRR was also successful with non-Indians, it was viewed more as a fun, kitschy romp than anything else. Whatever is said about “Slumdog Millionaire”, we must admit that it is a British film. We need to produce our own “Squid Game”, “Money Heist”, “The Raid”, “A Separation” or “Parasite”, and that’s when we will see a real global impact being made with our content. We still have a long way to go, but I am certain it will happen. We are almost there…in fact, global players are already showing a great deal of interest in what is happening in the Indian market. We see that our talent (not just on-screen but other more technical talents like directors, DOPs, writers, etc.) are getting noticed and engaged for projects overseas, and that is rapidly spreading the influence of Indian content.
After ‘Rana Naidu’, what’s next? And what is the corporate strategy for Locomotive Global?
Besides Rana Naidu, we have got several other projects in development, one is a co-production with Endemol India, for which we have a terrific showrunner, Prashant Nair, who recently did an exceptional job on “Trial By Fire” which is on Netflix now. This will be a “True Detective” type of series, set in the foothills of the Himalayas. I believe it will have a global appeal and in addition to this, our showrunner is a terrific talent. We also have an exciting and unique Tamil language series that we are setting up now. It is in the writing stage now, but when done it will definitely blow people away. It has a very Guy Ritchie kind of feel set in Chennai. We try to associate with the top showrunning/writing/directing talent and are excited about an as-yet-untitled Hansal Mehta project (“Scam 1992”).
Are there any exciting collaborations with other brands in the offing?
Applause is a terrific partner with whom we have two projects. One is a show with Gurinder titled ‘Seeker’. That is something we are still working on. It has taken a couple of turns as sometimes shows take a little bit of time to find their right path, but we all remain committed to the story and material we have developed. We are really excited about that. We’ve got another show with a working title Case Closed. It is an episodic procedural crime series for which we partnered with both Simon Mirren and Benjamin Anderson. Simon was the showrunner for Criminal Minds. While we have partnered with Netflix India on Rana Naidu, we’re also expecting to land other shows with partners at Amazon Prime Video, Sony LIV, and Disney+ Hotstar in the next year.
