Sameer Nair is currently gearing up for the release of Rudra, which marks the digital debut of Ajay Devgn. As CEO of Applause Entertainment, he began negotiations for a remake of the international show, Luther in India in 2017. “A year later, we started the process of discussing the rights and in early 2019, we struck a deal for it. Luther. By the end of 2019, we contacted Ajay and things were on track,” he says.
Says Sameer, “Ajay was the first and only choice for the show. He is known to be an intense actor and I thought he would be the best fit for this dark world. He is the first big superstar to do a drama series on OTT. Long before the pandemic, we had it all. We were supposed to shoot in July 2020, but eventually, it went on floors by July 2021." What was the idea of bringing the big screen superstar to mobile phones and tablets as well?
“21 years ago, I found Amitabh Bachchan on KBC and now, Ajay Devgn on OTT. It's all about the big actors discovering new things in different formats. Right content will always attract big stars. OTT is a very powerful medium and these shows are made on a scale no less than a feature film,” he replies. Talking about the plans for Rudra 2, the makers say, “Luther had a total of 20 episodes and that is what we are planning as well. However the future goals depend on how the first season went for us.”
Applause Entertainment has an exciting array of series going ahead. Sameer signed on to inform about his upcoming films. “Undekhee 2, Bloody Brothers, Fauda, Badhaar 2 are in the pipeline. We are also working on City of Dreams 3 and Criminal Justice 3. We are also making some documentaries. There, we've got the rights to Amar Chitra Katha, so we're trying to make an animated series out of that. There's a lot of work in the pipeline and the streaming business is just about to grow. This is an opportunity to tell amazing stories to the audience,” he concluded.