iWorld
Ted Sarandos spills the Netflix masala to Indian billionaire Nikhil Kamath
MUMBAI: What happenswhen a video store clerk-turned-media mogul sits down with a new-gen Indian billionaire?
Streaming gold.
In a riveting episode of People by WTF, Netflix co-ceo Ted Sarandos spilt the tea, dropped truth bombs, and dished out storytelling wisdom in an electric tête-à-tête with Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath.
From his Phoenix roots to Hollywood power tables—and yes, dinners with Shah Rukh Khan—Ted held nothing back.
Sarandos shared his origin story: a would-be journalist whose real education came behind the counter at a video rental store. That humble setting gave him a ringside view of consumer desire—something he scaled up spectacularly at Netflix. “People hated late fees, but they loved discovering something new,” he quipped, summing up the genesis of Netflix’s ‘everything, anytime’ model.
Sarandos’ India story was peppered with glam. He reminisced about his first meal with SRK—“very different in Mumbai than in LA”—and lauded Aryan Khan’s directorial chops in The Ba**ds of Bollywood*. His creative crush? Sanjay Leela Bhansali. “Heeramandi felt like a dare… he pitched it in LA like, ‘I dare you to make this’,” said Ted, still in awe.
“For 10 years, I heard India was two years away,” Sarandos laughed. “Now, it feels truer than ever.” With local stories making global noise—think RRR or Kapil Sharma—Netflix doubled down. Sarandos noted that Indian audiences aren’t just watching Bollywood. They are binging Korean anime, true crime, Tamil action, and Turkish dramas with equal zest. “This market’s appetite is unmatched,” he said.
On leadership, Sarandos kept it brutally real. “Work-life balance? That’s a fantasy,” he shrugged. His playbook: take big swings, fail fast, and hire smart. He credited Netflix’s risk-positive culture to Reed Hastings, who saw streaming coming when dial-up ruled the world. “In 1999, Reed said, ‘Everything will come through the internet.’ It sounded crazy. Turns out, he was right.”
Sarandos bet big on local stories going global. “Squid Game was never supposed to be a global hit. But great stories travel.” He stays bullish on AI—so long as humans lead the charge. “The art of the prompt will be a human skill,” he remarked, calling AI a cost cutter, not a creator killer. “It’ll help make better films, but won’t replace human imagination or emotion.”
From gaming titles like Grand Theft Auto to video-forward podcasts, Netflix’s empire keeps expanding. Sarandos sees serious returns in content creation. “The best ROI? Still content. Delivery and monetisation are evolving faster than ever,” he noted.
His advice to young creators? Make the coffee. “Be a PA, join a writers’ room, see if this is what you really want. Passion often follows excellence,” he urged, advising rookies not to reverse-engineer Netflix’s tastes, but pitch what needs to be told.
The full episode of People by WTF featuring Ted Sarandos streamed on YouTube—popcorn highly recommended.
iWorld
Why Peaky Blinders is one of television’s biggest hits that still deserves more attention
Six seasons, multiple awards and the release of Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man bring the Shelby saga back into the spotlight
In the crowded universe of streaming content, only a handful of shows manage to leave a lasting cultural footprint. Peaky Blinders is overwhelmingly considered one of the biggest global hits of the past decade. Yet many viewers still haven’t fully explored the dark, gripping world of the Shelby family.
Originally produced for the UK’s BBC and later finding a massive global audience through Netflix, the series quietly grew from a British period drama into a worldwide streaming phenomenon.
Created by Steven Knight, the show follows the rise of the Shelby crime family in post-First World War Birmingham. What begins as a gritty street-gang story gradually expands into a sweeping narrative about ambition, politics, power and survival.
At the centre of the saga is Thomas Shelby, portrayed with extraordinary depth by Cillian Murphy. The casting of Murphy is widely regarded as perfect for the role. With piercing eyes, restrained dialogue and an almost hypnotic screen presence, he transforms Shelby into one of the most unforgettable characters in modern screen storytelling.
Murphy’s brilliance lies in his restraint. He rarely shouts or performs theatrically. Instead, a quiet stare, a calculated pause or a subtle shift in expression conveys the emotional storms within the character. Beneath the ruthless gang leader is a war veteran carrying trauma, guilt and loneliness. Murphy captures this complexity with remarkable precision, making Thomas Shelby both terrifying and deeply human.
Beyond its central performance, Peaky Blinders stands out for its unfiltered portrayal of reality. The show does not romanticise crime. Instead, it exposes the harsh social conditions of early 20th-century Britain, from poverty and class struggle to political extremism and the psychological scars left by war.
The series also presents powerful female characters who hold their own within the Shelby empire. Polly Gray, played by Helen McCrory, is the strategic backbone of the family and one of the most formidable figures in the story. Women in the series shape decisions, influence power structures and challenge the rigid social norms of the time.
Across six seasons, the narrative grows dramatically in scale. What begins in the smoky streets of Birmingham evolves into a story involving political conspiracies, fascism and international criminal networks.
The series has also earned significant critical acclaim. It won the BAFTA Television Award for Best Drama Series in 2018 and multiple National Television Awards for Best Drama, cementing its reputation as one of Britain’s most celebrated modern shows.
Another defining feature of the series is its iconic music. The show’s opening theme, Red Right Hand by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, became instantly recognisable and widely associated with the Shelby universe. Combined with a powerful soundtrack featuring artists such as Arctic Monkeys and Radiohead, the music helped shape the show’s dark, stylish identity and became hugely popular among fans.
And the Shelby story is not over yet.
In fact, its legacy is unfolding right now. The long-awaited feature-length continuation, Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, was released on March 6, 2026, bringing the Shelby universe from streaming screens to cinemas and giving fans a new chapter in the saga.
For viewers who have not yet stepped into this world, the timing could not be better.
Six gripping seasons are ready to binge on Netflix. A new film has just arrived in theatres. And at the heart of it all stands one of the most magnetic performances in modern drama by Cillian Murphy.
So if Peaky Blinders has been sitting on your watchlist for years, this weekend is your moment.
So, by order of the Peaky fookin’ Blinders, consider this your cue to finally step into the ruthless world of Thomas Shelby. Pour yourself a drink, clear your schedule and press the play button. Because when the Peaky Blinders give an order, you listen.
