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Netflix on Thursday published the second edition of What We Watched: A Netflix Engagement Report. The report lists viewership figures for thousands of films and shows that streamed on the platform between July and December 2023. The first edition of the What We Watched report revealed the key Indian titles that found spots in the top 500 of the list, with Rana Naidu being the most watched Indian title at the 336th spot. For the second edition, Netflix has separated the series from the shows.
But only one Indian title in either category found a spot in the top 100. Director Sujoy Ghosh’s Jaane Jaan, starring Kareena Kapoor, Vijay Varma and Jaideep Ahlawat, ranked 83 on the list of the most-watched films in the second half of 2023. But even though it isn’t an Indian title, the espionage thriller Heart of Stone, featuring Alia Bhatt in a rare villainous role, was the second most-watched Netflix movie on the list, with 109 million views. The number one spot went to the the Julia Roberts-starrer paranoid thriller Leave the World Behind, which accumulated 121 million views.
The other major Indian films that found spots on the most-watched list were Jawan (number 120, with 16.2 million views), Khufiya (number 194, with 12 million views), OMG 2 (number 224, with 11.5 million views), Lust Stories 2 (number 312, with 9.2 million views), Dream Girl 2 (number 361, with 8.2 million views), and Curry & Cyanide: The Jolly Joseph Case (number 361, also with 8.2 million views).
The most-watched Indian shows were The Railway Men: The Untold Story of Bhopal 1984, which accumulated 11 million views and claimed the 139th position. Kohrra took the 267th position with 6.4 million views, with Raj & DK’s far more mainstream Guns & Gulaabs also raking in the same number of views, and finishing at number 267. Kaala Paani took the 307th spot with 5.8 million views. Series like Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar, Maamla Legal Hai, and The Great Indian Kapil Show weren’t a part of the list because they were released in 2024, as were the films Fighter, Animal, and Laapataa Ladies.
Indian programming on Netflix continues to struggle in comparison to global content. Netflix revealed that 9% of all viewing came from Korean-language films and shows, with Spanish-language films and shows contributing 7% of total viewing and Japanese content contributing 5% of total viewership. The most-watched non-English language show during this period raked in nearly seven times more views than The Railway Men, although the four-episode series from YRF matched the performance of Money Heist spin-off Berlin. Other stand-out non-English titles were Dear Child (53 million) from Germany, Forgotten Love (43 million) from Poland, Pact of Silence (21 million) from Mexico, Mask Girl (19 million) from Korea, Yu Yu Hakusho (17 million) from Japan. None of these countries has the sort of viewership potential that India does. Over on the movies list, Jaane Jaan can take pride in having out-performed Wes Anderson’s Oscar-winning The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, which finished at the 101st spot, and the Oscar-nominated film Nyad, which finished at number 124.
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