Ghoul: Netflix is using popularity of Sacred Games to promote their upcoming horror series

If you’ve been out on the streets of Mumbai, you’ve probably seen the large, bloodied billboards of Netflix’s successful Indian original series _Sacred Games_ . While Sacred Games received much love and appreciation from all quarters, Netflix is leaving no stoned unturned in promoting their upcoming original miniseries, _Ghoul_ .

#Ghoul on #SacredGames. Couldn’t get creepier than this! Love it. @NetflixIndia pic.twitter.com/OjciUr2830

— J (@jheelkothariii) August 13, 2018

The blood splattered Sacred Games billboards across cities has got everything to do with Radhika Apte’s Ghoul, and nothing to do with the epic adaptation that is Sacred Games. What seems like the work of a creepy, sinister mind is actually Netflix’s way of promoting their horror miniseries Ghoul. The last teaser-trailer for Ghoul  revealed what the show is about. It opened with interrogator Nida Rahim (Radhika Apte) questioning a prisoner about the truth of the person locked in a special cell. “Arabic legends tell tales of the Ghoul,” replies the prisoner. “The Ali Saeed imprisoned in your cell is not human.” What we see next is a mysterious shot of Ali Saeed Al Yacoub — a dreaded terrorist from whom Rahim has to draw out a confession. We then hear someone say, “He’s a Ghoul,” followed by an important revelation: “Anyone can summon the Ghoul by making this symbol with their blood and agreeing to sell their soul.” This is the same blood-soaked symbol that appears on Sacred Games billboards set-up at multiple places across the city.

Paint the symbol. Summon the ghoul. Make them pay. pic.twitter.com/CiLWjHIyRD

— Netflix India (@NetflixIndia) August 8, 2018

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This decision depicts how important the Sacred Games franchise is for Netflix. While Netflix’s entry into the Indian market is fairly new, they have been producing one original series after another in their home market for years. What started with House of Cards in 2013 now encompasses a wide rage of genres and formats; from drama, animation, comedy and anime to live-action, docu-series, talk shows and non-English shows. But Netflix shows — be it the super-popular Stranger Things or Wild Wild Country, or the criminally underrated The Ranch or Chewing Gum — have a niche of their own. The advantage of a Netflix show is its instant availability to a global audience. For Netflix to bet the success of Ghoul on the existing hysteria that surrounds Sacred Games is good marketing, but not a great tool for letting shows thrive on their own. [caption id=“attachment_4976311” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Poster for Ghoul/Image from Twitter.[/caption] The success of Sacred Games can be attributed to a number of things. Presence of names like Vikramaditya Motwane, Anurag Kashyap, Saif Ali Khan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Radhikha Apte can be one of the reasons, but an excellently adapted screenplay, authentic dialogues, refusal to dumb down the content, and not falling into the usual Bollywood tropes is what the audience have truly enjoyed. It’s a refreshing change, and that’s what got Sacred Games acclaim from all quarters. Ghoul, too, might be a terrifyingly wonderful show, (we’ll have to wait and watch), but, ultimately, marketing will only get a show so far. In India, Netflix seems to be putting all their eggs into the Sacred Games basket. Ghoul has been produced in partnership with Phantom Films, Ivanhoe, and Blumhouse. It will be released on 24 August as a three episode miniseries, and is the second Netflix original from India. It has been written and directed by Patrick Graham.