Netflix is betting big on India – whether by casting Indian actors in its prestige projects – Dhanush in The Russo Brothers’ The Gray Man; or by centring big ticket films such as Extraction in India – the movie was originally set in Latin America, but later shifted to the Indian subcontinent; or by creating shows revolving around India’s rich treasure of mythology and fantasy stories. Netflix has an eight-episode original series in the works called Heaven’s Forest, which is inspired by the venerated Indian epic, The Ramayana.
The show is titled Heaven’s Forest, and it is a high-octane animated version of the Ramayana. Netflix considers that the melange of twists, turns, action and drama that makes up the Ramayana automatically lend itself as raw material for a compelling web series.
The upcoming series has been created and written by Warren Ellis – the man behind the wildly popular show, Castlevania. He is also the co-producer of Heaven’s Forest, along with Adi Shankar and Kevin Kolde. The two are also co-producers with him on Castlevania.
The animation of the series is helmed by Powerhouse Animation, which is again the animation team that has worked with Ellis on Castlevania. The narrative is set in an Indo-futuristic world, as described by Netflix in its official announcement.
Ellis began writing the series a couple of years ago. Shooting has already begun on the show. Heaven’s Forest will feature a mostly-Indian cast. The series will be in English, and will be translated in Hindi and other languages, including Indian regional languages.
India is a highly lucrative market for streaming giant Netflix, given its burgeoning digital viewership. With that aim in mind, Netflix, in recent times, has left no stone unturned to capture maximum eyeballs in India.
Right from greenlighting scores of Netflix originals, homegrown in India, to creating more India-centric content, including commissioning Indian stand-up comedy acts, it has definitely gone the whole hog to lure Indian viewers into its fold.
Heaven’s Forest seems to be another step in that direction. Let’s see how that pans out in the future. The show should be ready for release soon.
Stay tuned to Binged.com for further updates on Netflix’s Heaven’s Forest.