Creative risks are the rule at Netflix, says Monika Shergill

MUMBAI: Netflix does not just tolerate creative risk in India. It has made it the house rule. At FICCI Frames 2026, Monika Shergill, vice-president of content at Netflix India, laid out that philosophy, and the streamer announced that Lock Upp: Sach Yaa Sazaa will return for a new season.

The announcement came from Mumbai on September 29, 2026. Netflix brought together creators and talent behind some of its most talked-about titles to unpack what audiences want next, where storytelling is headed and the creative bets shaping the future of entertainment. The session, “The Next Big Story”, marked Netflix’s 10 years in India by reflecting on the insights and learnings from a decade of entertaining audiences in the country, while looking ahead at what is next. The conversation also explored evolving audience tastes, creative risk-taking and the stories that have the potential to travel from India to audiences around the world.

Led by actor, author and creator Prajakta Koli, the session featured Shergill alongside guests who represented some of Netflix India’s 2026 successes: Suresh Triveni, director of Maa Behen; Abhijeet Singh Parmar, creator and showrunner of Operation Safed Sagar; Siddharth, actor in Operation Safed Sagar and Lust Stories; and Farah Khan and Riteish Deshmukh, hosts of Lock Upp: Sach Yaa Sazaa. Together, the panel looked at how Indian audiences are moving more freely across languages, genres and formats, why distinctive creative voices matter more than fixed formulas, and what it takes to keep surprising an audience with more choice than ever before.

Monika Shergill, vice-president of content, Netflix India

Speaking about how Netflix thinks about what comes next, Shergill said: “Creative risks are the rule at Netflix, thinking bold, thinking about the extraordinary range that India offers. We know that we do not operate as just a country, we operate as a continent. We have so many different languages, regions, genres; along with generations and communities who have their own relationship with entertainment. When you’re looking at that, it becomes almost an unspoken responsibility to give everyone their version of entertainment. The ambition has always been ‘Netflix for all’. We were Netflix for a few, but I think we have made that journey to now becoming the Netflix for all.”

That breadth of programming, Shergill noted, is also being shaped by a wider pool of creative voices. Netflix worked with 10 first-time or emerging writers, directors and creators across its 2026 India slate, while more than 30 creators, writers and directors returned for a second or subsequent project over the last two years. That reflects the balance between finding new voices and building long-term creative partnerships.

The session also included the announcement that Lock Upp: Sach Yaa Sazaa will return for a new season on the service, one of several programming bets discussed as Netflix looks ahead across films, series and unscripted entertainment. The announcement builds on the strong audience response to the first season, which spent seven weeks in India’s Top 10, including three consecutive weeks at #1.

Moderated by Koli, the session asked what creators are betting on next.

Siddharth, actor

Referring to his roles as Capt Ajay Ahuja in Operation Safed Sagar and Badru in Lust Stories, Siddharth quipped about playing a decorated war hero and a woman’s fantasy within 90 days. He said: “Thank you, Netflix for making it possible for an actor in 90 days to play a decorated war hero and a woman’s fantasy of her own husband, which I found extremely progressive. I’m just very grateful that we live in this streaming age where you can get work like that.”

Farah Khan, host of Lock Upp: Sach Yaa Sazaa

For Khan, Lock Upp brought together two things she instinctively understands: reality entertainment and the audience. “Lockup was our dream show. Because we are reality show junkies… I wanted to speak on behalf of the viewer.” She added: “You want to put a message across, entertain. Nothing gets a message across faster than that.” Khan joked about the unexpected currency the show gave her with younger audiences: “What I got out of it was, it made me cool with my kids and their friends. Because wherever I went, all the teenage girls would come, ‘We are lock-up pagloos.'”

Riteish Deshmukh, host of Lock Upp: Sach Yaa Sazaa

Speaking about the next generation of storytellers and the need to listen to their voices, Deshmukh added: “I think the next generation, everyone is a storyteller. They’re expressing themselves, they’re telling their stories. The problem is, we aren’t listening to them. If we start listening to them and seeing what they’re expressing, I think we’ll be able to create newer content and newer stories that connect with them, and perhaps they’ll embrace us much better than they do right now.”

Abhijeet Singh Parmar, creator and showrunner of Operation Safed Sagar

Parmar reflected on Operation Safed Sagar and the importance of beginning with a clear emotional point of view before building scale, technology and spectacle around it. He said: “While you’re trying to tell something, there is something that just comes out of the blue, grabs you, and wants to be told. So I feel stories choose you, rather than you choosing stories. And I think in the case of Operation Safed Sagar, that happened.”

Suresh Triveni, director and co-writer of Maa Behen

Speaking about creative freedom, Triveni said: “When you’re making a film for a medium like Netflix, you’re not bound by the typical rules. That’s the freedom you get.”

Koli closed with a simple brief: connect, entertain, and start listening to a generation of young storytellers.

What does this add up to? Three things stand out. First, the risk is backed by evidence, not just rhetoric. Ten first-time or emerging voices in the 2026 slate show a streamer willing to gamble on newcomers, while more than 30 creators returning for a second or later project in two years show it also rewards those who deliver. That is a sensible portfolio: fresh blood at one end, loyalty at the other. Second, the “Netflix for all” journey is a strategy as much as a slogan. Shergill’s point that Netflix operates “as a continent”, with its many languages, regions, genres and generations, explains why one formula could never serve everyone, and why distinctive creative voices matter more than fixed formulas. Third, the panel proved the point. A war drama, a film, a reality show and a set of anthology stories shared a stage, and each guest said the same thing in different words. Triveni values the freedom from typical rules, Parmar says stories choose the storyteller, Siddharth praises the range of roles the streaming age allows, and Deshmukh wants the industry to listen to young storytellers. Lock Upp: Sach Yaa Sazaa is the best exhibit. A first season that spent seven weeks in India’s Top 10, including three straight weeks at #1, has earned a second, and Khan’s belief that entertainment is the fastest way to carry a message suggests the format still has plenty to say.

The session ultimately returned to a simple idea: the next big story is unlikely to look exactly like the last one. Netflix’s current slate reflects that breadth across films, series, unscripted entertainment and languages, from Operation Safed Sagar, Musafir Cafe, Chumbak, The Great Indian Kapil Show, Lock Upp, Ikka, Maa Behen, Gandhari, Accused, Super Subbu, Pyaar Prema Kalyaanam, Lust Stories 3, #Love and Vishwanath and sons. Its programming strategy continues to bring established creative relationships together with emerging voices and new formats.