Netflixhas seen three Indian movies land on the chart at the same time. Indian cinema has a long history, with the best known subsection being Bollywood, the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai that has aided the rise of a number of global superstars including Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, and Priyanka Chopra Jonas. However, there are a number of other important film industries throughout the country creating blockbusters in various languages, including Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Bengali, Gujarati, Malayalam, Marathi, and Punjabi.
Modern Indian movieshave become increasingly reliable moneymakers in the wake of the success of the smash 2022 hitRRR, which won an Oscar for Best Original Song and became the third highest-grossing Indian movie in history at the time. It has since been surpassed by 2024’sPushpa 2: The Rule, with the wave of Indian blockbusters that it spurred also seeing 2023’sJawanandPathaanand 2024’sKalki 2898 ADall joining the chart of the Top 10 highest-grossing Indian movies in the span of just two years.
Retro, HIT: The Third Case, & Sikandar Are Thriving On Netflix
The Movies Have Charted At The Same Time
Sikandar,HIT: The Third Case, andRetrohave simultaneously landed on a major streaming chart.Sikandaris a Bollywood action drama starring Salman Khan(who is known for many major projects, including multipleYRF Spy Universe movies) as a man trying to find redemption. Meanwhile,HITis a Telugu-language action sequel featuring Nani returning as police superintendent Arjun Sarkaar after originating the role in the second installment andRetrois a Tamil-language action romance starring Suriya and Pooja Hegde as a star-crossed couple.
All three movies were released in theaters before streaming, withSikandarmaking its Netflix debut on May 25, followed byHITon May 29 andRetroon May 30.
Netflixhas tabulated their Top 10 list of the most-watched non-English movies for the week of May 26 through June 1.All three Indian movies landed on the chart, withSikandartaking No. 3 with 5.1 million viewers accumulating 11.4 million viewing hours, followed byHIT: The Third Caseat No. 4 with 4.2 million viewers and 10.8 million hours, andRetroat No.7 with 2.5 million viewers and 6.9 million hours.
Sikandarwas in the Top 10 in 27 countriesand No. 1 in 9 (including Nigeria, Bangladesh, and Pakistan),HITwas in the Top 10 in 14 countries and No. 1 in India (beatingSikandar), andRetrowas in the Top 10 in 13 countries and No. 1 in Sri Lanka.
What This Means For Netflix
India Is Becoming Increasingly Prominent
The fact that the movies' positions on the charts are proportional to how many days they were available onNetflixduring the week that was being measuredwould seem to indicate that all are performing at roughly the same level of success. This could be a great sign for the future ofNetflix’s Telugu movies, as well as their Tamil and Hindi features. Although the Netflix non-English chart has recently been dominated by Spanish and South Korean content, with this achievement, India continues to prove itself as a major player in the global marketplace.
