What's Driving Netflix's Explosive Growth in Indian Content? A Data-Driven Look at Crime Series and Beyond

India’s content dominance on Netflix’s global stage just hit a new milestone. This week, five Indian productions—three Hindi films, one Tamil movie, and a celebrated crime web series—conquered Netflix’s worldwide top ten most-watched non-English content list. But what’s really noteworthy isn’t just the volume; it’s the velocity and staying power of these titles.

The Crime Thriller Making Waves: Delhi Crime Season 3

The jewel in this crown is undoubtedly Delhi Crime Season 3, the Emmy-award winning original that’s redefining what Indian crime dramas can achieve globally. Since its November 13 launch, this crime web series has logged 2.3 million views and an impressive 11.1 million watch-hours in its opening week alone. That’s enough to secure the ninth position on Netflix’s non-English watch list worldwide.

What makes this crime thriller particularly compelling is its geographic reach. Delhi Crime Season 3 became the most-watched web show across all languages in ten countries—a list that spans from India to Maldives, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Sri Lanka, Oman, Qatar, UAE, Pakistan, and Mauritius. Back home in India, it claimed the second spot for most-watched fictional web series of the week (losing only to Maharani 4), generating 3.3 million domestic views.

The show’s infrastructure is equally impressive. Tanuj Chopra’s direction brings fresh faces like Mita Vashisht, Huma Qureshi, Anshumaan Pushkar, and Sayani Gupta into the franchise, while veteran actors Shefali Shah, Rasika Dugal, Rajesh Tailang, and Denzil Smith return to reprise their iconic roles. This blend of continuity and fresh energy appears to be the winning formula for this crime-centric narrative.

The Newcomers: Film Releases That Disrupted the Rankings

While Delhi Crime Season 3 maintains steady momentum, the platform saw a flood of new theatrical releases making their digital debuts. Baramulla, a Hindi police procedural that had already climbed to second place globally in its second week on Netflix, continues its winning streak with 4.3 million views and 8.6 million watch-hours—trailing only Denmark’s Mango for the top spot.

Aditya Suhas Jambhale’s Baramulla has tapped into a particular sensitivity: it investigates missing children in Kashmir through the lens of an investigative police officer (Manav Kaul). The narrative employs unconventional storytelling techniques to chronicle the experiences of Kashmiri Pandits. In just fourteen days on the platform, it has already penetrated Netflix’s top ten movie lists in sixteen countries.

Jolly LLB 3 entered Netflix on November 14 and immediately claimed the fourth spot among non-English films globally—accumulating 2.7 million views and 7 million watch-hours in just 72 hours. This courtroom comedy, which reunites Akshay Kumar and Arshad Warsi as feuding advocates, has proven that franchise appeal translates across formats. Subhash Kapoor’s third installment ranks as the second most-watched Indian film on Netflix for the week, and it’s currently dominating the all-language movie rankings in both India and Pakistan.

The Tamil romantic comedy Dude debuted with 2.4 million views and 5.4 million watch-hours in three days, securing fifth place on the non-English global list. Meanwhile, Ek Chatur Naar—a black comedy thriller starring Neil Nitin Mukesh and Divya Khosla Kumar—registered 2 million views and 4.3 million watch-hours to land seventh place. Both films have penetrated Netflix’s top ten in double-digit countries.

The Bigger Picture: Competition and Sustained Performance

What’s striking is that this week’s surge of new releases hasn’t displaced earlier performers. Kantara Chapter 1, the Kannada-language film that debuted on October 31, continues as the most-watched movie across all platforms in India (all languages combined) for the second consecutive week, with 3.3 million domestic views. Similarly, Lokah Chapter 1—a Malayalam superhero film—despite sliding to third place nationally, maintains 2.7 million views.

Over on Sony LIV, Maharani 4 (a political drama series) has actually climbed from second to first place on India’s most-watched web series rankings, generating 3.5 million views. This suggests that audiences aren’t clustering around a single platform but actively engaging with premium content across multiple streaming ecosystems.

What This Data Tells Us

The convergence of these releases reveals several critical insights about the streaming landscape:

Geographic Penetration: Indian content isn’t performing well just domestically. Delhi Crime Season 3 and other releases are creating ripple effects across South Asia, the Middle East, and beyond—suggesting that stories rooted in specific regional contexts have unexpected universal appeal.

Format Flexibility: The mix of theatrical releases finding new audiences digitally alongside originals designed for streaming demonstrates that the content economy no longer operates in silos. A film’s box office run isn’t an endpoint; it’s a stepping stone toward digital revenues.

Retention Metrics: The watch-hour data (often more meaningful than view counts) shows audiences aren’t just clicking; they’re binge-watching. Delhi Crime Season 3’s 11.1 million watch-hours on 2.3 million views suggests a high completion rate—a metric that platforms closely monitor for algorithmic promotion.

For content creators and industry observers, the message is clear: the golden age of Indian entertainment on global platforms isn’t coming—it’s already here. Whether it’s a crime web series with international awards pedigree or a new franchise comedy, quality storytelling with deep regional roots appears to be Netflix’s winning formula right now.