More than a decade after shows streamed only on the Internet for niche audiences took off in the U.S., Web series in Kannada are finally coming into their own, and gathering loyal followers who are looking for entertainment beyond the regular offerings from on-demand television. In the past year, more and more young film-makers — inspired by the success of Web series offered by Bollywood and indie groups, and eager to experiment with new forms of storytelling — have been producing content for Internet viewing.
Sagar Puranik’s By2 Bengaluru on a group of friends navigating the changing urban landscape of Bengaluru; Pratap Kumar’s Joint Family , Anish Tejeswar’s Bengaluru Queens , and Ravindra Joshi’s Hingandra Hyaanga are some of the more popular series online. The lack of a big budget, and with users happy to consume their daily dose of entertainment on their cellphones have helped spur the trend locally.
Film-makers can risk experimenting with themes for niche audiences, and create a series that may be rejected by entertainment channels for which mass appeal is very important. It helps that unlike traditional cinema and TV series, Web content does not come under censorship. This, say film-makers, gives them a free hand.
“Web series can well be described as the future of Kannada entertainment sector,” said producer Ravindra Joshi. Episodes are usually short, and a series will have less than 10 episodes. “Usually, the number of episodes will be restricted so that people can watch them on their mobile phones and laptops,” he added.
After the success of Hingandra Hyaanga , Mr. Joshi is now working on his second venture Nakre Nagri Bitre Bidri .
Vinayak Joshi, who acted in the series Loose Connection directed jointly by Haseen Khan, Esham Khan and Raghu Shastry, is all set upload the first episode of the Web series Joshelay in November.
“Web-only series has evolved over the last two years,” said RJ Pradeep of Sakkath Studio — a platform for Kannada alternative shows and Web content. “We focus on creating good Kannada digital content. Our team is now busy on Joshelay , which revolves around sportspersons and their path to success,” said Mr. Pradeep. His Loose Connection is spread over 11 episodes of 20 minutes each.
Revenue models range from subtle (or sometimes even not so subtle) product placements to views generated on YouTube. However, like in the U.S. and other parts of the world, Web series remains niche and cannot compete with the video-on-demand behemoths such as Amazon Prime and Netflix.
Film-makers argue that the two very different streams of entertainment can coexist, and remain optimistic about their future. “Though Web series is taking baby steps in Karnataka, it will expand over the next few years. As bandwidth improves and smartphones gets cheaper, the audience base will grow,” said Mr. Vinayak Joshi, and added that it would do for Kannada content what TV and films failed to do — reach audiences across the world.
“If the audience doesn’t like it, RPM (revenue generated per thousand ads) will collapse and naturally the content will be forced to end.”
