Sameer Sippy, Service Street partner to adapt Bollywood classics as microdramas
Sameer Raj Sippy (left) and Sammie Astaneh
CONTENT LONDON: India’s Sameer Sippy Productions and Vancouver-based Service Street Pictures are set to reimagine classic Bollywood stories as microdramas under a new strategic partnership, C21 can reveal.
The first project emanating from the pact is the previously announced The Billionaire’s Fake Wife (ReelShort), which is a reimagining of the 1983 Bollywood title Kissi Se Na Kehna.
On the heels of the project, which wrapped production in mid-November, the companies are expanding and formalising the partnership to build a Bollywood-to-microdrama pipeline.
Starring Cayman Cardiff and Kendyl Twa, The Billionaire’s Fake Wife follows a brilliant doctor who agrees to pose as her friend’s socialite fiancée to win over his controlling billionaire father, who funds her research to save her dying sister. But jealous rivals, buried secrets and a fake relationship push her toward a truth she can’t keep hidden. The Bollywood film was directed by Indian filmmaker Hrishikesh Mukherjee.
Sameer Sippy Productions is led by Indian producer and director Sameer Raj Sippy, son of the renowned Bollywood filmmaker Raj N Sippy. Service Street Pictures is helmed by president Sammie Astaneh, who is among the top microdrama producers working in Canada today.
The companies said the partnership lays the groundwork for further adaptations drawn from the Sippy family’s classic Bollywood catalogue, which will be “curated, re-imagined and produced for a global vertical-video audience.”
The announcement of the partnership comes on the eve of Content London, which this year includes a programming strand devoted to the burgeoning microdrama space.
After becoming a multi-billion-dollar industry in China over the past few years, the microdrama gold rush has gathered pace rapidly in North America and Europe over the past 12 months. In the last three months alone, numerous producers and studios have dived into the space, including Fox Entertainment through an investment in MyDrama owner Holywater.
This latest deal between Service Street Productions and Sameer Sippy Productions is another example of how companies are forging innovative partnerships to feed the growing global demand for vertical video series. In addition, the partnership is an innovative way for classic Bollywood stories to reach a new audience.
“Bollywood has always been about emotion, heightened stakes and universal themes that resonate across cultures – love, sacrifice, identity, family,” said Sippy.
“I’m thrilled that, together with Service Street, we’ll bring these cherished stories into the microdrama space and introduce them to new audiences worldwide.”
Astaneh added: “The dramatic arcs, vibrant characters and emotional depth inherent in Bollywood storytelling are perfectly suited for microdrama programming – especially in today’s fast-paced digital landscape. We believe this partnership will prove there’s global appetite for reimagined Bollywood classics in fresh, vertical formats.”
