The case of Netflix handling Vijay 69, a film with the accomplished actor Anupam Kher, has been criticized. In excluding regional dubbing and having little or no marketing even for that, one can attack Netflix on being committed towards Indian content in this multilingual market.
Although Tamil and Telugu popular cinema have similar services dubbing their films, including Amazon Prime, in the homeland, the same was subtitled in English with Hindi audio for the movie Vijay 69. Netflix has not been much promoting it despite Kher being a known movie hero.
In India, 40% of which does not speak the language of Hindi, dubbing is a must. Vijay 69 received no such attempt that limits its potential reach to non-Hindi consumers in contrast to Netflix, where international hits are dubbed into several Indian languages, including a streaming version of Squid Game.
Since more than 50% of OTT viewers in India depend on regional content, Netflix’s strategy will switch off the local viewer. Where rivals will take an edge through better dubs and marketing, Netflix would lose subscribers due to no regional access.
If Netflix doesn’t take dubs and proper advertising for Vijay 69 into consideration, then the OTT giant might lose ground in India’s OTT industry. Regional accessibility would leave Netflix far behind those platforms that have tailored their offerings to meet India’s heterogeneous clientele better.
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