What does the success of DARK in India convey?
The graph of users watching the Foreign Web Shows/TV series in India increased rapidly in recent years. Many Indians used to quote GOT, Prison Break, stranger things as their Favorite shows until the last two years. Platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime video were keen on producing their originals and were busy figuring out what content works in India. Gangster Dramas, Thrillers, Rom-Com were their go-to genres.., keeping aside producing, but even the thought of Indians watching a sci-fi Time travel drama was like distant thing at that point.
In 2018 when the German show ‘DARK’ got released on Netflix, it was not an instant hit in India but received accolades from the viewers. The word about the show had not got spread instantly but started to pick up the pace when season 2 was ready for release. Many were curious about the season and after the release of season 2, the show created its base audience among the Indians. Well, although the number of viewers for DARK in India was less when compared with other contemporary Foreign Language shows, but the viewers of this show started to increase day by day.
It was only movie lovers and audience from Metro cities who owned the show in the 1st two seasons, but when the 3rd season was announced, people from tier 2 & tier 3 cities also joined in the waiting list for the next season. There are very few movies about Time travel in India and this genre was least preferred and least explored by the makers and the potential of this Genre was unknown until a foreign show started to create an impact. Even on social media platforms, there are a lot of Fan theories, explanation videos about DARK from Indians which clearly shows that how Indians owned the show.
Well, then what does the success of DARK in India conveys to the makers and actors across the nation? Everyone knew that audience is now open for the new content and every genre has its audience, ‘Dark’ now gave a clear sign that Genre doesn’t matter when the content in it is Great. After the clean success of three seasons of ‘DARK’ in India, the leading content creating Platforms now has a Freehand in choosing the unique content confidently.
Although there is a doubt that “when a movie with this sort of complexity is made and released in theatres will the audience acknowledge it?”, and the answer would be a big Yes if it is made with the same sort of perfection. Now, at least the makers have confidence that they have an audience who acknowledge their work.
DARK Season 3 was trending on Netflix India continuously for weeks and is still being discussed. The cast and crew joined with Indian media for their promotion and it went out pretty well.
So, with Netflix and other streaming platforms understanding the potential of good content in India, let’s see what they have next in store for us, and also it will be very exciting to see the future of Sci-Fi and Time travel genre in India.
