Amazon and Netflix team up with Anushka Sharma's production company for a whopping deal

As the fight for content heats up in one of the world's major entertainment markets, Amazon.com Inc. and Netflix Inc. are among the platforms teaming up with Indian production business Clean Slate Filmz Pvt. to push out movies and web series worth approximately Rs 4 billion, which is around $54 million.

As per reports in Bloomberg, in the next 18 months, Clean Slate Filmz will distribute eight films and series on these over-the-top streaming platforms, as well as some others, according to Karnesh Ssharma, the studio's 37-year-old co-founder. 

Netflix confirmed that three planned productions by Clean Slate Filmz will be released. The release schedule is the latest indicator that film production is recovering after being ravaged by the COVID-19 outbreak, which shut down cinemas and film shoots across the country and caused financial and logistical havoc. In recent months, movement restrictions have been loosened and movie theaters have reopened, boosting the chances of India's studios even further.

This has sparked a competition among streaming behemoths to get content, helping smaller but edgier studios like Clean Slate Filmz, which produced the 2015 film NH10, starring Ssharma's actor-sister Anushka Sharma and tackling the practice of so-called honour killings in India.

According to Ssharma, whose studio is behind the critically acclaimed crime series Paatal Lok on Amazon Prime Video, the competition between OTT giants has increased budgets and the willingness to experiment.

Clean Slate Filmz is currently preparing to premiere Chakda Xpress, a biopic in which Anushka plays Indian cricketer Jhulan Goswami, who is regarded as one of the world's greatest female fast bowlers, as well as the thriller series Mai and the drama film Qala on Netflix.

Ssharma explained that what has happened over time is that ambition has increased within the studio structures, which has worked fantastically for them.