Rana Naidu, the Hindi-Telugu crime series starring Rana Daggubati and Venkatesh, is the most viewed Indian title globally on Netflix, according to viewership figures disclosed for the first time by the streamer.
Released in March, 2023, Rana Naidu is an Indian adaptation of the popular American series Ray Donovan. The 10-episode series focuses on the dysfunctional relationship between Rana, a Bollywood fixer, and his out-of-jail father, Naga Naidu. The series, according to Netflix’s ‘What We Watched’ engagement report, clocked in 44.2 million hour views on the platform for the period of January to June. It is the only Indian original to feature in the top 400 titles. Its ranking is 336.
The Hindi heist comedy Chor Nikal Ke Bhaga is at No. 401 in a total of 18,000 titles, with 41.7 million hour views. The film stars Sunny Kaushal and Yami Gautam.
Sunny Kaushal and Yami Gautam in a still from ‘Chor Nikal Ke Bhaga’ | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Only a handful of other Indian offerings made it to the top 1000. These include the Sidharth Malhotra-led spy thriller Mission Majnu (31.2 million hour views), the third season of Indian Matchmaking (30.6 million hour views), the Rani Mukerji-fronted legal drama Mrs. Chatterjee vs Norway (29.6 million), the Hindi dub of SS Rajamouli’s blockbuster RRR (29.4 million), the first season of Class (27.7 million), the romantic comedy Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar (27.1 million) and the remake Shehzada (24.8 million).
In all, a total of six films and three shows from India made the top 1000.
Notably, the Hindi dub of RRR was not a global release. The same was true of Mrs. Chatterjee Vs Norway, Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar and Shehzada. All four films were licensed by Netflix post their theatrical runs. RRR, a massive success in both India and abroad, was a considerable draw with American audiences, eventually winning Best Original Song for ‘Naatu Naatu’ at the 95th Academy Awards. Another Oscar winner from India, Kartiki Gonsalves’ short documentary The Elephant Whisperers, clocked in 71,000 hour views.
A still from ‘RRR’
The mystery film Gumraah starring Aditya Roy Kapur in double role registered 14.17 million hour views. The crime series Khakee: The Bihar Chapter from 2022 clocked in 14.1 million. The series is created and written by Neeraj Pandey.
The first season of Scoop had 17.3 million hour views and stood at rank 1248. One of the most acclaimed Indian web shows of 2023, Trial by Fire — a limited series based on the Uphaar Cinema tragedy and starring Abhay Deol and Rajshri Deshpande — ranked at No. 1612 with 13. 1 million hour views. It was closely followed by the satirical comedy film Kathal - A Jackfruit Mystery featuring Sanya Malhotra.
Vaathi, a period Tamil action film starring Dhanush, is at 6.3 million hour views.
Netflix has promised to come out with its exhaustive viewership report twice a year, in a bid towards transparency after years of refusing to disclose numbers publicly. It had earlier introduced weekly top 10 rankings for a specific region.
The first Netflix engagement report consisted of 99% of all viewing on the streaming platform. Non-English titles made up 30% of the total viewership. The global ranks for the six month period between Jan-June were topped by the spy series The Night Agent, followed by season two of Ginny & Georgia and and the Korean drama The Glory.
On a recent trip to Hyderabad, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos called India one of the fastest growing markets for the streamer. He also sounded positive about hitting a 100 million subscription base in India in the near future (the region, as per reported estimates, has around 10 million subscribers).
