‘Luther’ – which airs on BBC One and stars Idris Elba as DCI John Luther – is being remade into an Indian show by Asian content studio Applause Entertainment.
The hit BBC One show – which stars Idris Elba as the DCI John Luther – is now being remade into a local Asian version by Indian content studio Applause Entertainment.
The upcoming Indian edition of the show will have numerous seasons and the first series will consist of eight to 10 episodes.
Sameer Nair, Applause CEO, told Variety:
“I am solving the hard work of actually putting it together, from the idea to the writing, to assembling the team, casting, production design, funding, to making it into a product that is good enough to stream immediately.
“There’s a risk and there’s a reward. But we are operating at between $100,000-$200,000 an episode, which is reasonable.”
The company is backed by $45 billion Indian conglomerate Aditya Birla, and is said to have a production budget of around $45 million.
Applause Entertainment was set up in 2017 and according to Sameer, the company is ahead of schedule and is currently negotiating to provide content to Netflix and Amazon Prime Video in India.
Applause’s Indian remake of BBC series ‘Criminal Justice’ – which streams on Hotstar, Disney’s Indian OTT service – is now in production for second season.
And the BBC are pleased their show is going to be taken on by the Indian studio.
Myleeta Aga – SVP and GM of South and South East Asia at BBC Studios – said:
“Applause is known for its focus on creating premium drama, and we believe that they will be able to do the format justice. We look forward to its success.”
This upcoming show will be the second Asian version of ‘Luther’ following the South Korean remake ‘Less Than Evil.’