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NEW DELHI: American streaming platform Netflix has announced its next film Kathal, starring Sanya Malhotra and Anant Joshi, a woman-led dramedy, set in a small town, which will mark the directorial debut of Yashowardhan Mishra, who has also written the film along with Ashok Mishra. The film has been co-produced by Sikhya Entertainment and Balaji Telefilms Ltd.
Producer Guneet Monga, chief executive officer, Sikhya Entertainment called the film a combination of satire and comedy, besides an unconventional story.
Netflix has 15 titles on female-centric themes coming up in 2022, and since 2021, 18 of its originals have featured women in central roles. Shows and films in the coming months include Mai, Chakda Xpress, Heeramandi, Monica, O My Darling and the second season of Masaba Masaba, among others, and will feature actors such as Tabu, Masaba, Neena Gupta, Anushka Sharma, and Sanya Malhotra, across age groups and backgrounds.
The platform said it was actively looking to hire women and women of colour to direct, write and produce originals besides headline casts and work in technical crews.
According to its latest inclusion report released in February, Netflix grew from about 8,000 to 10,000 full-time employees globally in 2021. Women now make up 51.7% of its global workforce, up from 48.7% in 2020. In the past year alone, it brought out many female-centric tales such as Pagglait about a young widow coming to terms with her husband’s death only to discover truths she didn’t know when he was alive.
Or film actor Kajol-starrer Tribhanga on three generations of women in a family. Aranyak, meanwhile, saw Raveena Tandon play a feisty cop tracking a murder and Bombay Begums was created around the struggles of women in the corporate world.
Since 2018, over 50 women actors have made their streaming debuts on the platform, including Tandon (Aranyak), Surveen Chawla (Decoupled), Parineeti Chopra and Aditi Rao Hydari (The Girl on the Train).
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