Netflix's New Weapon To Fight Amazon Prime Video, Hotstar in India: Dangal

As Amazon Prime Video continues its push to secure local titles to win India's on-demand streaming market, its global rival may have hit the jackpot: Dangal.

The Aamir Khan-starrer film is now streaming on Netflix in India, less than a month since the movie's premiere on television.

The arrival of Dangal on Netflix marks the beginning of a major deal that Aamir Khan Productions and the California-based on-demand streaming service have been exploring for months. More on this later.

Dangal was expected to arrive on Netflix last month, but the movie's unforeseen grand success in China pushed the airing schedule on the streaming service, according to two sources familiar with the matter who requested anonymity as they are not authorised to share information with media.

To many's surprise, Dangal took China by storm, raking in over $185 million (roughly Rs. 1,194 crores) gross in the seven weeks since its debut in the nation. It's an impressive feat for the film, considering the neighbouring country has shown little interest in Bollywood movies in the past.

"The Chinese critics and film makers who have expressed surprise at the success of Dangal should update their outdated views of Bollywood movies, and reflect on Chinese audiences' aloofness to Chinese movies, which are more like a speculative game nowadays since they are focused on celebrities for quick returns," state-run news agency Xinhua wrote last month.

The Hindi-language film, which is based on a true story about a former wrestler who coaches his daughters to follow in his footsteps, managed to please crowds in other international markets as well, including the likes of the United States, Australia, and New Zealand.

And of course, Dangal was a hit in India as well, taking just three days to hit Rs. 100 crores, and less than a month to collect Rs. 375 crores. According to estimates, the movie did north of Rs. 542.34 crores of business in the country.

Netflix, which has been extremely picky about the kind of local titles it wants on its catalogue, will cherish the arrival of Dangal, the first of several Aamir Khan Productions' titles it is eyeing. The two have agreed to close a deal, however they are waiting for the licence rights of some of Aamir Khan's titles to expire, said two sources.

"We'll be taking some more time to put out Aamir Khan's movies. The licence is yet to expire on some other streaming platforms where he has released some of his films," one of them said.

The streaming service competes with Amazon Prime Video, and local player Hotstar in India. Amazon Prime Video has been aggressively inking deals with local production houses and distributors including Mukesh Bhatt-owned Vishesh Films, Dharma Productions, and T-Series. And more such deals are incoming.

Amazon is in talks with Bollywood star Akshay Kumar to secure streaming rights of titles from Hari Om Entertainment, a person familiar with the matter said.

Hari Om Entertainment, which Kumar founded with his wife Twinkle Khanna and mother Aruna Bhatia in 2008, includes several hit titles such as Singh is Kinng, OMG - Oh My God, Airlift, Rustom, and Khatta Meetha.

During his recent visit to India, Roy Price, the head of Amazon's media development division also met with actor John Abraham. It's unclear if the two were able to close a deal.

On the sidelines of the Amazon Fire TV Stick launch in India last month, Nitesh Kripalani, the director and head of Amazon Video India, declined to comment on the matter.

As for what to expect next from Netflix, which last year secured exclusive digital streaming rights for titles of Shah Rukh Khan's Red Chillies Entertainment, sources say the company is contemplating whether it can get the third Khan of Bollywood, Salman Khan on-board.

But it's not holding its breath. "Salman Khan is a very non-exclusive online release kind of guy, but we've been wondering if it's worth asking him for exclusive rights. Probably not going to happen," the person said.