How Khaenan, Lock Up and The Alliance Are Fueling the Boom in Indian Formats

Television producers in India are currently facing a push toward writer-less productions. Growing streaming consumption, combined with a desire to push boundaries, has transformed the country from a passive importer of formats into one that sets its own agenda on the global stage. Vivek Couto says: “Trust comes from the economy, […]”

There is currently an onslaught of unscripted TV producers in India. The rise of streaming, along with a desire to push boundaries, has seen the country transform from a more passive importer of formats to one that sets its own agenda on the world stage.

"Trust comes from the economy," says Vivek Couto, founder, managing director and chief executive officer of Singapore-based analyst Media Partners Asia. Every major platform in India is building scale and advertising sooner or later. "Netflix is now setting the stage for a potential ad rollout in India over the next 24-36 months, pushing this programming towards consistent, repeatable and mass audience formats." Related News 'World's Most Evil Prisoners' Turns Radical For Season 4 News Netflix's Bela Bajaria Has No Regrets About Failed Buy Notices: 'It Was Always Good To Have At A Price'

This has been revealed in three ways: a collection of original forms from the Indian manufacturing community; Local remakes of international works that have been given major updates. and streaming executives willing to take a risk on them. Watch on Deadline

JioHotstar has broken through with the popular Bhojpuri reality series Bawaal, similar to the legendary life of Bollywood wives, and has also given Bigg Boss, the Hindi version of Big Brother, a major revamp with six different language versions (Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Kannada, Malayalam) this September.

Netflix has steered the cultural conversation with reality series Lock Up and Desi Bling. Prime Video hits with Alliance, the first international remake of Talpa Studios' competitive format.

"It's competitive in India, but it's a very productive time for all creators," says Monica Shergill, chief content officer, Netflix India.

It all stems from a desire to push India's creativity to levels that can cater to the country's 1.4 billion people who speak multiple languages and are all part of vastly different cultures. This desire for cheap and uniform revisions of universal formats has been eliminated. There are more training programs, money is going towards new creative voices, and successful veterans are seeing their biggest and boldest ideas backed by capital to make a splash.

“As a market, we're a little late to premium storytelling,” admits Shergill. "What I've seen in the last few years is more young voices coming in. What excites me is the expansion of the talent pool, the kind of work that's being done and the kind of bets we can make on Netflix. Everyone's betting on their space."

For Netflix, Lock Up has been a hit of the summer. The show pits celebrities against each other in a prison-themed environment, where they compete in tasks and try to avoid elimination. Produced by Balaji's Telefilms, the show sold 50 million hours of viewing within three weeks of its launch, according to Shergill, "the equivalent of 5,700 years".

"Conceptually, we knew it would resonate," he says. India has been in love with captive reality - for years. We were looking at something that was really unique, that wasn't just random people getting together for no reason, and we called it a social experiment. "This conversation has become the most defining social conversation in India this year."

Lock Upp debuted in 2022 on MX Player, before Amazon bought the service, and on Balaji's own streamer, ALTBalaji. The show launched with little fanfare, but after a competitive situation last year, Netflix acquired the rights and the format was revived with higher ambitions. "For a creator, there is nothing bigger than support," says Ekta Kapoor, founder of Balaji Telefilms, which produced Lock Upp.

Kapoor is effusive in his praise of Netflix's approach to India. "They've catered to the whole spectrum of India, when India was really producing one-size-fits-all content," he says. "Ultimately, we have different content and different conversations."

For Netflix and Balaji, Lock Upp represents an opportunity for an Indian format to become an international entertainment property, similar to what the broadcaster has done with hits like Too Hot Handle and Love is Blind. Shergil won't confirm anything at this stage but says, "This format has received a lot of attention internally."

Elsewhere on Netflix's slate, there are projects like The Great Indian Kapil Show, a talk series that originally aired on linear TV, and India's Got Latent, a reality talent format from comedian Samay Raina with a twist that simulcasts on YouTube.

In Prime Video, streamer Amazon has become the Alliance's first international buyer. This marks a change from years past, when an Indian buyer was unlikely to acquire an untested format outside its territory. The deal points to growing confidence in the country's ability to build on its successes and become a testing ground for others.

According to Nikhil Madhok, Head of Indian Originals at Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios India, global platforms have changed gaming. “The streaming market in India is huge, vibrant and full of innovation,” he says. "It's created a moment where, increasingly, this is where new formats are introduced."

It's not limited to unscripted formats, he adds, noting how Indian streamers were the first to start pre-screening feature films. "Another example is One Mic Stand, which was a format created at Prime Video India and later adapted in Germany," says Madhok.

As for the effort behind Etihad — a competitive reality show where four teams have to work together to win each challenge with a secret character watching over them — Madhok points to his desire to create buzzy IPs along the lines of scripted originals like Paatal Lok, Mirzapur and The Family Man.

"We wanted to do the same thing in the over-the-counter space, which required an immediate reinvention," Madhok says. "That moment happened in 2025 with our show Traitors, which became an overnight sensation. It focused on gameplay, strategy and manipulation to create drama versus seemingly scripted conflicts that audiences were tired of. Alliance was born from that seed."

In the Hindi version of The Traitors, entertainment megastar Karan Johar plays host Alan Cumming at the center of the action. Hailing the response to the company's unscripted series, Madhok explains how the franchise will expand further with a Telugu adaptation hosted by actor Teja Saja. In the UK, the BBC has even acquired the show for its iPlayer platform.

Madhok expects India's current burst of creativity to continue with SVoDs at the forefront. "Long-form streaming opens up new ways for unscripted creators to experiment with formats, episode structures and storytelling styles that traditional media simply don't allow," he says.

This creative freedom is what has reinvented unscripted versions and will continue to do so for years to come."

Shergil also has a similar view. "For Netflix, it's very important to maintain that innovation because we're a pure entertainment service." "It's in our DNA," he says. We thrive by building fans and betting on new ideas and new spaces.

For MPA's Couto, the bigger picture of an unscripted boom driven by local and global content is still being painted.

"What has changed in the last 12 months is how we manage risk," he says. Instead of building expensive formats from scratch, streamers are buying established audiences: Kapil Sharma came to Netflix after years at Sony, Lock Upp arrived via MX Player, and Desi Bling is working off of a format that was already successful for Netflix globally.

"India is no longer just adapting formats, it is becoming a market where it is made and exported from."

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