As Niveditha Shivarajkumar eagerly anticipates her debut as a film producer with Firefly hitting theaters on April 24, 2025, she reflects on her journey. Initially, she faced challenges in the Kannada web series scene. After teaming up with RJ Pradeepa’s Sakath Studios to produce three shows—Honeymoon, By Mistake, and Hate U Romeo—Niveditha, who focused on the business side, admits that even with her family connections, it took her about 2-3 years to secure streaming deals for these projects.

Niveditha reflects on their early ambitions, saying, “We were really ahead of the curve with our ideas for Kannada web shows, but we lacked a solid business plan. We were probably a bit too confident, thinking everything would just fall into place and that platforms would be eager to buy our content. That definitely didn’t happen.” While Sakath handled most of the production aspects, Niveditha took the lead when it came to the business side and reaching out to OTT platforms.

“It took me 2-3 years to make any sales because there was hardly any demand for Kannada content. I tried every angle, both with and without connections. We even dubbed one show, Honeymoon, in Telugu and sold it to aha. Eventually, we managed to sell Honeymoon and By Mistake to Voot (now JioHotstar) and Hate U Romeo to Talkies. The whole experience was really confusing for me; I was unsure of my next steps and even considered starting a different business since the series weren’t taking off and movies weren’t on my radar,” she shares.

Niveditha Shivarajkumar: Streaming services are reluctant to work with new talent

Niveditha has decided to stick with the web series scene and has been receiving a lot of pitches. “If a platform wants to strike a deal for three series with me, I’m ready with several scripts to offer. Recently, Prime Video reached out for a series, and I pitched six ideas, including two from Firefly director Vamshi. They ended up choosing one of his stories. We had a detailed narration and met with the Prime team, who said they would follow up. However, within a month, they dropped the project because they preferred a well-known actor instead of newcomers. They even suggested a name for me to collaborate with,” she shares.

This didn’t sit well with Niveditha. She started her banner to work with fresh talent. She’s come to realize that many platforms might not be ready for the types of stories she connects with. The bigger issue is that top stars in Kannada cinema view web series as a step down. They haven’t embraced the idea that it can offer a wider reach and audience, so collaborating with a familiar name might be more challenging than it seems,” she reflects.

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