Everyone Working On Netflix's Anthology Series, Navarasa, Hasn't Taken A Professional Fee

Chennai, July 9, 2021: Netflix has unveiled the much-awaited teaser of the Tamil anthology web series, "Navarasa", created by the ace filmmaker, Mani Ratnam. The 9-episodes series stars some of the biggest names of the South Indian cinema such as Suriya, Vijay Sethupathi, Parvathy Thiruvothu, Fahadh Faasil, Arvind Swami, Prakash Raj, Anjali, among others.

Unlike the other shows and films, Navarasa has been made for a noble cause. As we all know, the covid-19 pandemic had left the film industries in a bad shape as workers who form the bulk of it were struggling to make their ends meet. It was then that Mani Ratnam and Jayendra Panchapakesan along with the rest of the team thought of raising funds by making a series and generate funds to support those in the film industry who have been affected by the COVID19 crisis.



It is to be noted that the artists, technicians, and directors working on the series are contributing towards the film without remuneration, with only the costs of production being associated. The profits earned from the project will be donated to the members of the Film Employees Federation of South India (FEFSI), who were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mani Ratnam, in a conversation with Sreedhar Pillai for sify.com, said that they are close to reaching their target between Rs 12 to 15 Crores, which will go directly to the worker and his family. They are working with Bhumika Trust which was set up for disaster relief management, and have issued individual credit cards to all workers.

In the process, the team started distributing prepaid cards to the workers from the end of March 2021 onwards, with each beneficiary receiving ₹ 1,500 per month on the prepaid card for a period of five months, which can be utilized at grocery outlets. Nearly 12,000 workers in the film industry will benefit from it.



Mani Ratnam and Jayendra Panchapakesan, who are producing the series under their respective banners Madras Talkies and Qube Cinema Technologies, had initially thought of releasing the anthology in theaters. However, due to the closer of cinemas because of the covid-19 pandemic and each part of the anthology being 30-40 minutes long, a theatrical release was not possible. It will now premiere on Netflix on August 6.

Navarasas is based on the Indian concept of the 9 human emotions or 'rasas' - anger, compassion, courage, disgust, fear, laughter, love, peace, and wonder. Each episode has been directed by 9 different directors - Bejoy Nambiar, Priyadarshan, Gautham Menon, Karthick Subbaraj, Karthik Narain, Vasanth, Arvind Swamy, Rathindran Prasad, and Sarjun.

Stay tuned...