Elnaaz Norouzi: ‘Sacred Games’ at Emmys a big moment for new-age Indian entertainment

By Arundhuti Banerjee

Mumbai, Sep 20 (IANS) Actress Elnaaz Norouzi, who played Bollywood star Zoya Mirza in the Netflix series "Sacred Games", says the show's being nominated in the Best Drama category of the International Emmy Awards 2019 is a positive sign of how content can be celebrated beyond boundaries in the era of digital entertainment.

"It is a big moment for new-age entertainment in India, especially because it shows how a good story can be celebrated breaking barriers. I have spoken to Anurag (Kashyap, one of the directors of the show) sir and of course, we all are very happy. From the beginning, we knew that we are in the process to make something good, but now the world knows, we have created something great!" Elnaaz told IANS.

Elnaaz's character Zoya did not get a huge screen time but was crucial for the narrative.

Since Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Saif Ali Khan were the lead actors of the show, which also had big names such as Radhika Apte, Pankaj Tripathi and Kalki Koechlin among others, did Elnaaz feel overshadowed? "I think such a question comes in conversation only in India. Anywhere else in the world, actors look for a character that is impactful more than its length," said the actress, who recently featured in Guru Randhawa's video "Made in India".

The two-season series "Sacred Games" is based on the book of the same name by Vikram ChandraWhile the first season released on July 6, 2018, season two premiered on August 15, 2019.

In the first season, Vikramaditya Motwane was not only a showrunner of the web series, but also one of the directors along with Anurag Kashyap.

Back then, Vikramaditya told IANS: "It was challenging for both of us to tell a story in a longer format. Writing the story to keep the audience engaged was especially a challenge. Neither of us have worked in the long format of an eight-episode series, because we come from feature film background, where we tell a story within a maximum of two and half hours."

As the first season received an overwhelming response worldwide, before the release of the second season, Anurag had said: "I think the pressure is more now. When we started the first season, we had no idea of the impact we would create. Back then, we did what we wanted to do. Now, the show is a giant... I am pressured, but happy!"

"Sacred Games 2" has been nominated in the Best Drama category alongside Brazil's "Contra Todos" season 3, Germany's "Bad Banks" and the UK's "McMafia".

The 47th edition of International Emmy Awards will take place in New York on November 25.

(Arundhuti Banerjee can be contacted at arundhuti.b@ians.in)