Applause Entertainment partners yes Studios to adapt international formats

Aditya Birla-owned content studio Applause Entertainment has partnered with Israeli content sales, distribution, development and co-production company yes Studios to adapt the latter’s international formats for India. Other than Tanaav, the latest collaboration that will air on SonyLIV, the two have partnered on shows such as Your Honour and Mind the Malhotras in the past.

“We’ve always been looking to reach out to companies whose international formats we can reimagine for Indian audiences. The first criterion is for us to be intrigued by the concept and then see if it can be retold keeping in mind our social fabric and local settings,” Sameer Nair, chief executive officer, Applause Entertainment said. Sharon Levi, managing director of yes Studios said the company is open to collaborating with all streamers and broadcasters in India and isn’t signing any exclusive deals.

In an earlier interview, Nair had said Applause is looking to increase investments by five to 10 times over the next decade to produce 6-8 films and 12-15 web shows every year.

The content studio, which completed five years of operations in August, will diversify into regional language content and has bought the rights for Amar Chitra Katha comics and graphic novels to produce animated web series.

Upcoming web series from its stable include a biopic on the life of Mahatma Gandhi, to be headlined by Pratik Gandhi based on historian Ramachandra Guha’s books and the returning season of Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story. Nair said it is also looking at documentaries. Applause has announced a slate of feature films, including Jab Khuli Kitaab starring Pankaj Kapur and Dimple Kapadia, Zwigato directed by Nandita Das with Kapil Sharma in the lead, and another project featuring Vidya Balan, Pratik Gandhi, Sendhil Ramamurthy and Ileana D’cruz.