Firefly producer Niveditha Shivarajkumar: There is no market for…
Niveditha Shivarajkumar has been dabbling with Kannada content creation for a few years now, and is now settling into the role of film producer. She’s had a major learning over the years…
Last Updated: 03.51 PM, Apr 23, 2025
When Niveditha Shivarajkumar, the younger daughter of Century Star Shivarajkumar took over the operations of their cine unit, Shri Mutthu Cine Services, and launched it as a production company, the vision she had was to be among the pioneers of Kannada web series creations. Having seen and liked a series called Loose Connection on YouTube, she decided to collaborate with the makers, RJ Pradeepa’s Sakath Studios and venture into this territory.
Niveditha Shivarajkumar: It took me 2-3 years to sell my web series and break even
She did three series with them – Honeymoon, By Mistake and Hate U Romeo – and naively believed that the next step of getting them across to audiences would happen just as easily. Niveditha found out the hard way that that was not to be. Despite her surname and family lineage, selling her products to streaming platforms was easier said than done and it took her a good 2-3 years to finally break even.
And while she has continued to scout for scripts that can potentially be developed into web series, Niveditha’s biggest learning over the years has been that there is no market for web series in Kannada. “I tried for 3-4 years and even if we approach OTT platforms, it’s an immediate no from them if it is Kannada. I don’t know if it is on us or on them, but maybe we also need to up our game and be consistent with our content. At the same time, I think we need to be given a chance, because there is good stuff out there,” she told The Hindu.
In a conversation with OTTplay, Niveditha had spoken about having pitched a few ideas for a Kannada web series to a major platform and after a couple of rounds of discussions, it was dropped, because it would involve working with newcomers. While she has transitioned to movie making now, collaborating with newcomers is still top priority for Niveditha and the hope is to also make inroads into the OTT space at some point.
Niveditha’s maiden feature film, Firefly, releases on April 24, 2025, which is her grandfather, Dr Rajkumar’s birth anniversary. Her father, Bhairathi Ranagal star Shivarajkumar has a minor cameo in the film, which has been written and directed by Vamshi.