Sudhir Mishra is a well-known name in the Indian film industry. The National Award-winning filmmaker has directed some critically acclaimed movies such as ‘Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin’, ‘Dharavi’, ‘Chameli’, and ‘Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi’, to name a few. His last directorial feature film ‘Serious Men’ (2020) was even nominated for the International Emmy Awards in the ‘Best Actor’ category (Nawazuddin Siddiqui).
Recently, the gifted filmmaker took to Twitter to express his bewilderment about a limited series that he wants to make about the infamous takeover by the East India Company. And every time he has pitched the idea to potential networks (linear/OTT platforms not mentioned), it has been rejected. Even Sudhir Mishra is wondering why.
Some of you might be in the know that Indian producer Siddharth Roy Kapoor had bagged the rights of William Dalrymple’s bestselling book “The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company”. The book is based on the same historical subject matter and is set between the period 1599 and 1802. However, Sudhir Mishra has stated that his potential series has a totally different take on the subject.
The source material no doubt has massive potential for a web series and Sudhir Mishra has himself painstakingly written an original series and has done a lot of research on it. His take is ostensibly also based on the tales he had heard from his great grandfather and others while growing up in Lucknow. His version is apparently from the point of view of Indians.
The reason for rejection of Sudhir Mishra’s script is baffling but several film buffs and Twitterati have tried to point out the reasons for the same. One of them opined that the rejection reason is comparable as to why ‘Sardar Udham’ was not sent for the Oscars as it’s not fair to project hatred against the British in the modern era.
Interestingly, another one has said that in the small screen industry where remakes (of Israeli, Korean, shows etc.) are getting greenlit by the stakeholders faster than original Indian concepts, perhaps that’s why Sudhir Mishra’s script has got rejected multiple times.
While we are not certain of the real reason (could be budget issues, relevance for next-gen OTT audiences) for Sudhir Mishra’s pitch getting rejection every time, we know that a filmmaker of Sudhir Mishra’s calibre has the potential to do full justice to the massive and sensitive source material pertaining to East India Company takeover.
And a significant portion of streaming audiences and Sudhir Mishra’s diehard fans would be very interested to watch the potential limited series helmed by him. All the popular Indian OTT platforms out there who are interested in creating original and unadulterated content for Indian OTT viewers – Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ Hotstar, SonyLIV, Zee5, and others – this calls your attention! You may still reach out to Sudhir Mishra in case you aren’t aware of the show yet. Otherwise, it might prove to be a sad day in the history of Indian OTT.
I want to make a limited series on the East India Company take over . A series that takes the Brits and their cronies apart . Every time I pitch it it’s rejected. I wonder why ?
— Sudhir Mishra (@IAmSudhirMishra) September 28, 2022
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