Why Karan Anshuman’s Netflix show Glory focuses on failure, not fame in Indian sports

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Netflix India (@netflix_in)

“I’m fascinated with the idea of what happens in these cities where sports is the dominant societal event mover. If you want to become a boxer in India, you have to go to that city. No matter where you are coming from,” says Anshuman, adding that the aspirants who move to these cities with their ambition stay on because there is so much at stake for them even as they chase sporting glory for the nation.

Karan Anshuman with Suvinder Vicky (right)

This intersection — of the personal and the national — is also where the series finds its darker undercurrents. “It is dictated by patriarchy as well as political and emotional terrain. There’s an inherent violence in it also. There is a fine line between pushing your kids to become successful to service an ambition that you have, as opposed to letting them just live their lives and maybe not be as successful,” says the creator and director of the series Inside Edge (2017-), Mirzapur (2018-) and Rana Naidu (2023-).

To tell these stories, Anshuman builds fictional universes, where everyone is playing by the same rules. “The first thing to do for Glory was to ensure that everyone is obsessed with boxing in this town. They are willing to go after the gold medal at the Olympics, which is the ultimate form of human achievement. They are willing to go and dig a hole (for themselves). That’s the price they are willing to pay,” he says, adding that to create a sprawling world, “it is important to have the support of a good platform that allows us a budget to do that.”

His shows have an interesting cast and often their selection is based on their ability to fit the part. Choosing Divyendu was instinctive but for Pulkit Samrat’s role, he needed someone who would devote months to prepare for the role of a boxer. “The boxing that he had to do is complicated. It was not just about learning boxing. He had to learn how to box without touching the other person and still making it look realistic for the camera,” says Anshuman. When it came to Vicky, the director knew that the Kohrra actor had the required aura of authority for his character.

Having grown up in Mumbai’s Lokhandwala, Anshuman has no cultural connection with any place. That, however, works to his advantage. “I come with a blank slate. As a writer, you have to just go and research. You should be able to, say in five weeks, observe what is happening, take all the little bits, and piece them together in a way that becomes the world,” says the writer-director.

Having worked across formats, he finds himself drawn to the unpredictability of series. “With films, you kind of know what’s going to happen. With a series, it’s just about the journey, the characters can go anywhere. In series, you can be more exploratory compared to movies,” says Anshuman, who wants to work on a lighthearted narrative, like a rom-com, at some point.