Netflix to stream new film ‘Qala’ on 1 December

American streaming platform Netflix has announced that its new film Qala starring Tripti Dimri, Swastika Mukherjee and Babil Khan will premiere on 1 December. It has been directed by Anvita Dutt and produced by Clean Slate Filmz owned by Anushka Sharma’s brother Karnesh Ssharma.

To be sure, media experts have often pointed out that unlike rival Amazon Prime Video, Netflix is not looking at big acquisitions of mainstream Bollywood films as a key strategy. The Reed Hastings-owned platform is focusing on its original web shows, films and language content to widen reach and deepen consumer engagement.

Netflix has announced a new line-up of original films that it will release over the next few months. These include Anushka Sharma’s Chakda ‘Xpress, Sanya Malhotra’s Kathal, Vishal Bhardwaj’s Khufiya, starring Ali Fazal and Tabu, Zoya Akhtar’s The Archies and Kareena Kapoor Khan’s untitled OTT debut directed by Sujoy Ghosh.

Netflix added nearly 2.4 million global subscribers in the September quarter, far higher than its estimates of 1 million. However, it pales compared to the 4.4 million it had added in the year-ago quarter.

In the Asia-Pacific Region alone Netflix added 1.43 million new paying users.

Its revenue grew 19% (from $834 million to $889 million) in Q3, excluding foreign exchange, with average paid membership rising 23% (from 30.05 million to 36.23 million) year-on-year. Average revenue per member (ARM) was, however, was down 3%, partially driven by lower ARM in India, it said in a letter to shareholders. It clocked higher ARM in Australia and Korea.

Over the past few days, Netflix has rolled out an ad-supported subscription plan in Canada and Mexico, as well as across Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, Korea and the US.