Amazon Prime Video has had a good start to 2025, with the likes of Paatal Lok and The Mehta Boys doing well with both critics and audiences. In a candid chat with HT, Nikhil Madhok, Head of Original Content India at Prime Video & Amazon MGM Studios, explains why Paatal Lok season 2 made him nervous. (Also read: Jaideep Ahlawat laughs at reports of him charging ₹20 crore for Paatal Lok 2: 'Hai kahan ye paisa, gaya kahan')
On surprises, good and bad
When asked if a show or film surprised him upon release, Nikhil laughs, "Both kinds of surprises have actually happened." He adds, “We expected our show Call Me Bae to do well, but the way it broke into pop culture was a pleasant surprise. It did much better than we thought. We brought Paatal Lok back earlier this month after a fairly long gap, and there was nervousness that after 4-4.5 years, people will still be able to connect with it the way they connected with the first season. And that response has been wonderful and amazing.”
But there have been unpleasant surprises, too, he admits, when titles have fallen flat. "It would be unfair of me to name the shows that gave us shock, but of course, that also happens," says Nikhil. But he says that such failures do act as big learning opportunities. "The shows that don't work teach you more because you go back and tend to investigate where you could have done better. When it is successful, generally speaking, the euphoria takes you forward, and you only get to the learnings when you are sitting for the second season. Failure teaches you much more," he explains.
On anxiety of new releases never leaving
While most creators and directors only have 2 or 3 titles a year, the programming heads at any streaming platform oversee a new title or two every week. Nikhil says the anxiety stays the same with every release. "One would assume that it gets better because we launch so much, but it actually never does," he says, adding, "I was personally up till 5 am the day Paatal Lok released. That anxiety doesn't go. At one level, it's a sign of the organisation feeling for the title. But it's also tough when you have to do it every Friday for 52 weeks in a year. Maintaining your equilibrium is a skill you have to learn over time."
{{/usCountry}}While most creators and directors only have 2 or 3 titles a year, the programming heads at any streaming platform oversee a new title or two every week. Nikhil says the anxiety stays the same with every release. "One would assume that it gets better because we launch so much, but it actually never does," he says, adding, "I was personally up till 5 am the day Paatal Lok released. That anxiety doesn't go. At one level, it's a sign of the organisation feeling for the title. But it's also tough when you have to do it every Friday for 52 weeks in a year. Maintaining your equilibrium is a skill you have to learn over time."
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