Taapsee Pannu’s Gandhari isn’t just holding its audience on Netflix — it’s multiplying it. The film has leapt to the Global No. 1 spot on Netflix’s Non-English Movies chart after clocking a staggering 9.6 million views in its second week, up from 5.9 million in week one.
The word-of-mouth surge makes Gandhari the highest single-week viewed Indian Netflix Original film ever. Writer and producer Kanika Dhillon, for whom this is a third successful collaboration with Netflix alongside Taapsee, says the numbers gave her a different kind of high.
“As a writer producer, it was double the excitement, when I realized that the word of mouth and the audience response to the film is taking it from global number three to global number one in the second week,” Dhillon said in a conversation with Bollywood Hungama.
Taapsee herself pointed to the rare second-week jump as proof the film has connected beyond its expected audience. “So that kind of reaffirms that the content has connected beyond borders,” she said, adding that the opening week alone was already ahead of most Netflix original films released in recent years.
For Dhillon, the biggest reward is evidence that an unconventional story can find its people. “There is no greater joy than discovering a new audience base,” she said. “It is phenomenal when, you know, when you make a film which is audience-forward, and it gets that acceptance and love from the audience.”
The film also features Chhaya Kadam, Ishwak Singh, Jatin Sarna, Mita Vasisht and Swastika Mukherjee, and its global run looks far from over.
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