Feb 06, 2026 12:04pm IST
Netflix India’s Content Head Monika Shergill On Success Of Korean Shows: ‘They Are Not Scared To Touch Bold Themes’ (EXCLUSIVE)
Netflix has hit the jackpot with Korean content. The latest one being “K-Pop Demon Hunters” that was released on June 20, 2025. It became a historic hit on Netflix, with 481.6 million views in the second half of 2025. This also made it the most watched title on Netflix ever. K-Pop Demon Hunters is not the only one. “Squid Game”, “Queen Of Tears”, “When Life Gives You Tangerines”, “All Of Us Are Dead” are some of the other names that come to mind. These shows have been highly popular in India amongst other nations.
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In a chat, Monika Shergill tells Variety India, “I think Korean content is the absolute benchmark. We all used to think that it's only Hollywood content. But as we've experienced more, we've realized French cinema stands for something. Spanish stories stand for something. But Korean content, there's a reason why, you know, it's just gone global in the way it has. It's because I feel that the creators, the writers, the way they own their stories, the way they are celebrated, the way they work from end to end. I remember we were in a session with director Hwang (Hwang Dong-Hyuk), who's the creator of “Squid Game”, and I asked him this question, you know, how did you know that the world would love to watch this? Or did you even know? And what were the changes that you made to your story to actually adapt to a wide range of audiences?”
“Squid Game” starring Lee Jung-jae, Lee Byung-hun, Wi Ha-jun went onto to become one of Netflix’s biggest success stories. The show left its mark on popular culture all over the world. Giving us a glimpse into the director’s passion for his labour of love, she further said, “And he said something very interesting. He said that for the last six years, I've just lived and breathed “Squid Game”. From writing to shooting to editing, the way they own it, you know, and he's been on it, he's lived that. That's why it's become so big, because he really got into it. The passion that he brought to it across the three seasons, and also, you know, how they reflect their society. They're not scared to touch very bold themes. Like “Squid Game” was on social inequality. The loans that people couldn't pay.
It wasn't people on the margins of society.”
Shergill also lauds the Netflix team in Korea who saw the immense potential of the project. Hwang Dong-Hyuk’s take on capitalism and social inequality was as commercial as it could be. She adds, “We would normally say that, oh, we can make an award-winning niche film on this subject. No. They made the most commercial and wide mainstream series with it. And I would also give credit to our Korea team, because director Hwang was carrying this subject for nine years with him. And there were, you know, executives in Team Korea, who saw the merit in it. When it came to them as a film, they inspired him to make a series, you know, and work together with it. He wanted to do only one season. They said, no, there is more life to your idea. So, you know, really the job of probably someone at Netflix in the creative team is also to see the, you know, potential of an idea and to actually inspire the creator and back the creator to see the potential in their own idea of how big it could go. It's not just that vision. You can actually do bigger. We are here. And this could do, you know, even more than you ever thought it could. So I think that collaboration, that passion, and that commitment to the ideas is something that, you know, Team Korea does, Team Spain does, Team India does.”
Lastly, she highlights that one flies high when their roots are strong. Shows from South Korea reflect their cultural and social milieu. They do not try to globalize their content just for a wider reach. Shergill explains, “Everywhere, I think that is the chemistry that we like to bring and I think the way Korean content has won is because they're so authentic to what they do and the Korean things are Korean. Korean things are not trying to be anything else and I think Indian stories also. There was a time when Indian stories were trying to be too international or um but we have to be the more Indian we are the closer home we are because emotions are universal yes but context is very authentic and local. This is the combination that really makes people you know experience something in the way that it's meant to be experienced because as humans you and I are both curious right? Our curiosity will operate differently but we are both curious. And when we experience somebody's context with that curiosity, somebody's story, their milieu, you know, you can almost taste it. That experience is the most precious one. And when you do that in stories, it really makes people travel, it makes people love, cry, experience.”
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