Netflix India focuses on scale and diversity in content push: VP Monika Shergill
The responsibility as an entertainment streaming service is to give the audiences everything and more, according to the Netflix India, vice president, content.
“Every time members tune in to watch Netflix, they should have something new, something exciting, something really special, something really classic, something from a deep part of India, something in a different language and from across the world. That has been the mission for us as a company — to entertain the world,” Shergill told PTI in an interview.
As she sees it, the streamer’s ambitious slate for 2026 launched on Tuesday evening exemplifies that mantra.
The offerings feature 30 new projects from India, led by stars such as Sunny Deol, Madhuri Dixit, Saif Ali Khan and Anil Kapoor. There are films like “Ikka”, “Hum Hindustani”, “Kartavya” and shows like “Family Business” and “Operation Safed Sagar” as well as the new seasons of well-loved programmes “Mamla Legal Hai 2”, “Kohrra 2” and the final season of “Mismatched”.
Programming for a diverse country like India, she said, is a “mix of art and science”.
“Intuition is very important and really understanding what speaks to a very wide range of audience, what speaks to certain specific sets of audience and then applying the lens…,” Shergill said in the video interview.”For us, it is about programming in a very diverse way… A streaming service allows for that plurality of programming. It is not a single screen where a push format of content is there or storytelling. It is a full format. You might like something else that exists for you. I might like something else that exists for me. And it’s our responsibility as an entertainment streaming service to give everything and more.”
What’s her view on the intensifying debate on streamers starting out as niche storytellers but becoming increasingly more populist in their programming?
“It’s a natural journey to keep widening the funnel for your audiences to become more and more relevant and closer to your audiences. But for Netflix, it’s really important to hold to its core and do the whole gamut of programming,” she said, citing the example of stories like “Delhi Crime”, “Raat Akeli Hai”, “Kohrra” and their upcoming Red Chillies film with Saif Ali Khan “Kartavya”.
According to Shergill, some audiences enjoy “The Great Indian Kapil Show”, which has been renewed for a fifth season this year, while others love a light-hearted story like “Chumbak” and then there are those who would like the new telenovela format being introduced with “Yeh Dil Sun Ra Hai”.
Some stories, Shergill said, are “high watch” while others are “high conversation”.
“It’s not necessary that a high conversation story is always a high watch story. Many times it is, but sometimes it may not be.
“The audiences are actually very smart. And eventually the agency has now come to the audiences. It doesn’t lie with a small pool of people judging what should come or not come… whether it is us, creators or the media. And when you see us do more of something, then you know that it’s working,” she added.
The 2026 slate of 19 shows and 11 movies evolved by keeping the audience at the centre of everything and by ensuring they have the “choice and the range” to match their mood, taste and cultural context.
“When we are looking at the slate, it’s very important that we are always providing huge variety and diversity, that we are focusing on quality… Our constant endeavour is that we look for fresher stories and that we find the best creative voices,” she said.
Also up this year is Hansal Mehta’s “Family Business”, starring Kapoor and Vijay Varma, Madhuri Dixit and Triptii Dimri’s movie “Ma Behen”, Sunny Deol-Akshaye Kumar-starrer legal thriller “Ikka” and Saif’s period film “Hum Hindustani”.
“I feel that this year’s slate captures the many moods and flavours and genres that our audience really expects from a service like Netflix. We want to be the most wholesome, loved entertainment service in the country. And I think this year’s slate will be one more step closer to that. We are very excited about all the partnerships across originals and our theatrical films,” she said.
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