Invar Studios Global, a production entity with offices in Los Angeles, Mumbai and Silicon Valley, will produce three seasons of English and Hindi language crime series “Snake” for Indian OTT platform Zee 5.
The series will focus on the life of French national Charles Sobhraj, nicknamed the ‘Bikini Killer’ for a series of murders that left a trail of bikini-clad bodies across Asia. He is now serving time in a Nepal prison. Sobhraj was previously the subject of the films “Main Aur Charles” (2015) and “Shadow Of The Cobra” (1989).
Invar partner, Farrukh Dhondy (“American Daylight”) is the series’ showrunner who will run the writers’ room. The script will be based on several years of research and personal interviews conducted by Dhondy with Sobhraj. Jonathan Jiang, chief executive of production house Dragon Dreams, is one of the development partners.
Invar’s slate includes WWII-set “The Huma Bird – Noor Inayat Khan,” about the first British-Indian spy, being co-written by Dhondy and Steven Armstrong; and “Aryabhatta,” about the eponymous pioneering Indian mathematician/astronomer, that another Invar partner Santosh Sivan (“The Terrorist”) will direct from a script by Dhondy. Sivan’s Invar-produced “Sin” is in post and is due later this year. The company is also developing “Rocket Science,” which will follow Indian scientists fuelled by dreams of travelling to space based on R. Aravamudan and Gita Aravamudan’s novel.
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“Invar Studios Global has a strong vision and a team with a foothold in both India and America, and great experience in crafting content that appeals to both regional and international audiences,” said Invar CEO and founder Elizabeth Koshy. “Invar (is) poised to address the massive growth on Indian OTT,” said manager and producer Steven Adams, partner and head of management at Buffalo 8 Management, who represents Invar in the U.S.
Zee 5 is a division of media conglomerate Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited. It was launched in 2018 and now claims 56.3 million monthly active users in 190 territories.