“I HAVE always telling LIKED STORIES”

Netflix’s vice president of content, Bela Bajaria, on revolutionising the entertainment landscape, one gritty tale at a time.

- MEENAKSHI IYER

Last month, Netflix launched its first original series in Africa; called Queen Sono, it’s the story of a spy who finds herself in a perverse web of business and politics as she hunts for the truth behind her mother’s death. Netflix India has seen its share of women-led stories—from the gut-wrenching tell-all Delhi Crime (2019)—the story of an honest cop uncovering the gruesome rape and murder of a young girl to the recently released Kiara Advani-starrer Guilty. There is a clear narrative here—women are telling their stories, adding their much-needed voices to cinema and changing the way we consume content, not just in front of the camera but also behind it.

One such force of change is Netflix’s vice president of content, Bela Bajaria. In her more than two-decade long career—first at CBS as a long-time network executive, then as president of Universal Television— she has greenlit popular series such as