The Union government and Netflix kicked off a partnership, with the release of two-minute videos on seven women changemakers, titled ‘Azadi ki Amrit Kahaniyan’, on Tuesday while announcing the production of more such videos and a serial on the Freedom struggle to celebrate 75 years of Independence.
At the launch event, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said Netflix would produce 25 short videos on various topics under the government’s ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’ celebration. With Netflix’ head of global television Bela Bajaria in presence, Mr. Thakur asked the streaming service to produce 75 such videos.
Protagonists of three of the videos - environmentalist Basanti Devi from Pithoragarh, first woman to summit Mount Everest twice in five days Anshu Jamsenpa and India’s first female firefighter Harshini Kanhekar - were also present during the event. The videos, narrated by actor Neena Gupta and produced by Netflix, would be shared on social media and broadcast on Doordarshan, Mr. Thakur said.
“This initiative aims to bring out inspiring stories of Indians and these stories shall motivate and empower more people to achieve their goals,” he stated.
I&B secretary Apurva Chandra said a long-running series on the Freedom struggle was in the works, as a part of the partnership with Netflix.
Training sessions
The government and Netflix were also partnering on training sessions for film-makers, post-production, animation and music production, Mr. Thakur said. He urged Netflix to make India a hub of content production for the world.
Ms. Bajaria observed that Netflix’ commitment to India “was strong and growing”. Speaking of the seven videos released on Tuesday, she said they told the stories of women who had fought against the odds to achieve their dreams.
Among the protagonists are Poonam Nautiyal, a health worker who worked to vaccinate everyone in her district in Uttarakhand; Dr. Tessy Thomas, India’s first woman scientist to lead a missile project; Tanvi Jagadish, the first competitive woman stand-up paddle-boarder; and Aarohi Pandit, who is the world’s youngest and the first woman pilot to solo cross the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean in a light-sport aircraft.
Later, Mr. Chandra told The Hindu that a serial on the Freedom struggle was a “suggestion”, when asked when it would be released.
