From Scam to Sagas: Applause expands slate with Archer titles
streaming platforms
ramp up their demand for scalable IP and cross-market appeal,
Indian content studios
are increasingly looking beyond domestic formats and entering the global literary market.
Applause Entertainment
, backed by the
Aditya Birla Group
, is the latest to make a move, acquiring exclusive screen rights to six novels by British author
Jeffrey Archer
.
The acquisition, which includes
The Clifton Chronicles, Fourth Estate, First Among Equals, The Eleventh Commandment, Sons of Fortune, and Heads You Win
, marks Applause's first foray into
global fiction IP
. While notable, the development fits into a broader trend of Indian studios building slates that can travel across languages, territories, and platforms.
Applause plans to adapt them as series and films across multiple Indian languages and distribution platforms, including global streaming services. 'We have just closed the deal and now we are getting started in earnest,' said Sameer Nair, managing director of Applause Entertainment. 'We want to move fast. The idea is to identify a showrunner or creative director for each title and begin working on adaptation, deciding the context, setting, and treatment.'
Nair added that the studio hopes to have at least one or two properties entering the pre-production phase in the next three to six months. 'Everything we develop will be run past Jeffrey Archer and will go through our own iteration process. We want to make sure we're doing justice to the original material, while also adapting it meaningfully for screen,' he said.
From local books to global IP
Applause's earlier successes have largely come from Indian non-fiction adaptations like
Scam 1992
and
Black Warrant
and scripted versions of international formats including
Criminal Justice, Hostages, Call My Agent
. This move into global fiction marks a strategic expansion geared toward meeting a rising demand for high-concept IP that can be localised but is inherently global in theme and structure.
'Jeffrey Archer's stories are sagas, not single-incident plots,' said Nair. 'They lend themselves to both long-form drama and feature films, depending on how we reimagine them.'
While Archer's books are widely read in India, Nair acknowledged that a large segment of India's tier II and tier III viewers may not be familiar with them. 'The larger Indian mass has not heard these stories. That's the excitement you can take these stories to them. Once it comes on a streamer or platform, it reaches,' he said.
He drew a parallel with Scam 1992, which was based on Sucheta Dalal and Debashis Basu's book The Scam. 'I don't think many people had read the book before the show came out, but more people saw the show. Hopefully, that encouraged some to go read the book,' Nair said. 'We only used a small part of it but the book itself is far deeper.'
Stabilising and expanding
Applause's expansion comes at a time when the Indian content market is undergoing a cost correction, following years of aggressive investment between 2020 and 2023. Several production houses were forced to scale back due to unsustainable content spends and shifting platform strategies. However, Applause has avoided major disruption by maintaining cost discipline.
'We've always been frugal,' said Nair. 'When others were spending INR 100-INR 200 crore on a single show, we were building profitable units. All our projects aim to recover cost and make a margin. That allows us to reinvest continuously.'
He estimated that the company has already invested and reinvested over INR 2,500–INR 3,000 crore and continues to operate on a reinvestment-led growth model. 'There's no fixed number for how much we will invest in the next two years,' Nair said. 'We just keep doing it.'
Applause evaluates all projects on a unit economics basis, aiming for profitability at the project level rather than relying solely on large upfront investments or slate deals. While budgets have come under pressure, Nair said the overall outlook for the industry is positive. 'There was a lot of pressure on content cost in the past couple of years, but now things are levelling out. It's fair, platforms also need to be profitable,' he said.
Alongside the literary acquisition, Applause is also diversifying its production slate with a growing focus on theatrical films and
digital-first animation
. The company has signed filmmakers Kabir Khan and Imtiaz Ali for upcoming Hindi projects and is producing a Tamil feature film Bison with director Mari Selvaraj, targeted for release around Diwali. Nair said the move into theatrical films is a natural extension of the studio's capabilities. 'Hopefully, in the next couple of years, you'll see us as a major movie studio,' he said.
In the kids content space, Applause launched a YouTube channel
ApplaToon
earlier this year, leveraging its animation rights to
Amar Chitra Katha
's intellectual property. The channel, aimed at a digital-first audience, focuses on mythological and historical narratives.
'YouTube turned out to be the most effective distribution channel for children's content,' Nair said. 'Many streamers and broadcasters are currently re-evaluating their kids' programming slates, but YouTube remains consistent. We've made a strong start and we plan to build aggressively in that direction.'
For Applause, the Archer collaboration is not a one-off prestige play, but part of a deliberate expansion into IP-driven content development. 'This is a milestone moment for us,' Nair added. 'To reimagine these stories with scale and style, and position them for audiences across the globe, that's the creative opportunity we're excited about.'
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