Melodrama in mini-format

Editor’s note: The world of microdramas—crisp, over-the-top, vertical one-minute-long fiction shows with high drama and intrigue—is taking off in India, with audiences embracing the format and making the shift from traditional TV and web series. This special report by Ishita Sengupta, our Consulting Editor, tracks the rise of this fresh new medium that’s all the rage today. 

Written by: Ishita Sengupta

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Little is left to the imagination when it comes to microdramas. Take My Arabpati Mechanic BF, streaming on Jio Tadka, for instance. The drama features a millionaire heir secretly working as a mechanic; within the first 20-second episode, we meet the protagonist. We meet his evil aunt who taunts him for being broke. He learns his mother is dead. Then the female lead walks in at the end. 

Microdramas, as the name suggests, are serialised fiction, designed specifically for phone screens and formatted vertically. Rapidly escalating stakes and an urgency in the plotting is deliberate; the aim is to grab attention immediately. The bite-sized entertainment format first originated in China in 2018 and exploded during the pandemic. Each microdrama comprises 40-50 episodes and they last for a maximum of three minutes. 

In December 2024, television producer Anish Surana was coming off a sabbatical. Around the same time, he’d heard about these microdramas from friends. “People were talking about it in hush-hush words,” he recalls. Surana researched the format and learnt that while microdramas were being widely consumed in China, their acceptance was still at an early stage in India. Soon enough, the stars aligned. His company, Ananta Productions, shot three microdramas at the end of that year and, today, with 200 shows on their roster, is one of the biggest production houses in the business. 

The rise of the microdrama

The flourishing multi-billion dollar microdrama market in China is currently bigger than their domestic box office. According to a Deadline report, the revenues “have climbed from $0.5B in 2021 to $7B in 2024, and are expected to exceed $16.2B by 2030, with a 11.5% compound annual growth rate (CAGR).” Bolstered by increasing success, microdramas have, since then, been adopted by the US, South Korea, Latin America. India too has followed suit, and this burgeoning market is currently estimated to be between $300 to $500 million. Here, the pandemic and a heightened reliance on mobile phones during the period played a key role in popularising the format. A more recent report suggests its popularity is now at par with Instagram Reels, and 86% of the people watching these shows are spending more than 15 minutes every day. 

In fact, over the last year, there has been a steady spike of apps, like Kuku TV, Story TV, Quick TV, which are dedicated solely to hosting microdramas; most of them have over 100 million downloads. In March, cricket legend MS Dhoni joined the app as an investor and brand ambassador at Kuku TV, one of the major players in the industry. 

This rising popularity has also led to mainstream streaming platforms staking claim in the boom. In the last few months, Amazon Prime Video has entered the market with Fatafat (March), as has JioHotstar with Tadka (April); Zee5 launched Bullet in July last year. Legacy production houses, too, have joined in. Yash Raj Films is reportedly investing Rs. 150 crores to build a microdrama slate and an app, while Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment is eyeing an entry into the crowded market. Although Netflix hasn’t announced any plans of distributing microdramas yet, the streamer joined the bandwagon with ‘Clips’, a personalised vertical feed for users. 

The visual language

The advent of a new format has brought with it the need for specific skills. In microdramas, each episode—even if it’s less than a minute long—has multiple hook points and must end with a cliffhanger. “It’s not just about one reel but a series of reels that sequentially connects the user to a larger story and gives them an entire experience of a movie,” Sachin Singh, Head of KukuTV, explains. The writing too needs to be curated.

“Generally, screenwriting has a three-act structure, but in microdramas, we need to have a clear hook at the end of every episode. Twists should come every two minutes,” says Kanishka Singh Deo, who has developed over 100 microdramas. Conflict escalates quickly; verbal arguments lead to hair pulling. She adds:

Melodrama is important; when two people are having a fight, it should go into the territory of mania where their expressions go a bit comical with elevated emotions. 

Early advancements in this space first emerged in 2025. Kuku TV, an early mover, started out splicing older movies, traditionally shot in a horizontal scale, to a vertical layout. “When you start cracking something from scratch, you need more attempts. Every iteration gives you a learning experience,” Singh says. The learning was: vertical entertainment needed its own specific filmmaking and writing. Reverse-engineering something that already exists to the microdrama formula will not work. 

Shooting vertically has led to distinct framing. There are hardly any closeups of actors’ faces. In scenes with two people, films often show both characters in the same frame. In microdramas,the camera alternates between the actors. This fits onto a phone screen well, persuading engagement even during idle scrolling. 

For someone like me, a writer, whose day job is to sit before an empty document on the laptop and procrastinate by watching Reels on Instagram, microdramas were a chance discovery. In most cases, this is the chosen route. Social media pages of these apps share the first couple of episodes in the form of Reels, as bait. Once you (read: me) are hooked to the excess, you get a subscription to watch the rest.

Attention is the currency, but care is taken to not make the viewers feel shortchanged. Most microdramas, across apps, share common themes like rags to riches, secret identity, revenge, and humiliation tropes, all of which promise instant gratification and are inherited from the dramas popular in China. A lot is evident in the self-explanatory titles like Doodh Wala Crorepati (Millionaire Milkman) on Story TV or Undercover Arabpati Dulha (Undercover Billionaire Groom) and Billionaire Driver’s Situationship on Jio Tadka. 

Rising popularity 

The growing popularity of the format has also pushed creators to take bigger leaps instead of blindly deriving tested formulas. “A lot of the tropes that work in the China market might not necessarily work in India,” Singh adds. Themes being explored here include mythology, horror, or fantasy. And invention is the key. For instance, Story TV started Sach Ya Kalesh, an unscripted reality show where couples take lie detector tests, hosted by matchmaker Sima Taparia, from Netflix’s Indian Matchmaking. 

Budgets have also subsequently increased. Depending on the platform, a microdrama today attracts investment ranging from Rs. 18-20 lakhs and the turnaround time from scripting and shooting to post-production is 24 days or less. Narratives often unfold in one setting and, on an average, 15-20 scenes are shot in a day. On the other hand, a premium web series operates on a budget of Rs. 1-2 crores on a single episode, a figure that has only recently been scaled down. 

“The performance is faster but it also teaches you a lot. There are fewer multiple takes or retakes,” Ariah Agarwal, an actor who has worked on multiple microdramas, says. With bigger budgets, they can even cast popular Hindi television actors, like Sanaya Irani and Mohit Sehgal, both of whom have also tried their hand at the format with Qubool Hai on Kuku TV. 

The pace might seem manic, and so is the quantity (Jio Tadka has 100 original titles at the time of writing; Kuku TV has over 150 in eight languages) but a whole ecosystem exists where platforms work in tandem with production houses and online storytelling places to locate and churn out stories. Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) play crucial roles. Sharlton Menezes, vice President, IP and key partnerships at Pratilipi, one of the largest digital storytelling platforms in India, shares that their existing library of stories have come to play a crucial role. “We currently boast of more than 35,000 stories,” he says. The platform, started in 2015, allows common people to contribute pieces and earn money; the repository of stories has transformed into a wealth of content that is now being shaped into microdramas.

Boom, bite, addiction

The more crucial question is: who is watching the shows? Who is fuelling this billion dollar industry? The data available offers some insight. Singh says: “More than 42% of the viewership comes from consumers under the age of 24, while audiences in metros and Tier 2 cities each contribute nearly 40% of the overall watch time.” He adds that a lot of Kuku TV’s audience comprises people from big cities. The consumption rate peaks during morning and evening, implying that people watch these shows on the go while commuting to their work perhaps. 

Ahana Sarkar, a 33-year-old banker in Bengaluru admits to watching microdramas on her way to work. “I find them on Instagram and watching them requires no effort. They are cringey but entertaining.” Shilajit Mazumdar, a 28-year-old journalist in Delhi, discovered microdramas differently. “When I am travelling to work, I find the cab drivers watching them while driving. The content just plays in the background and, because they are so easy to follow, I find myself watching it with them.”

This low-stakes investment is the biggest draw of the format, and its apparent pitfall. While researching this piece, I spoke to various people, many from the industry. A writer, on the condition of anonymity, also shared that she watches microdramas while commuting. She finds the frantic speed of the narrative to be both enticing and horrifying. “I watch these shows in terror. I cannot look away but I will never be able to write them,” she says. “And, if this is the future, what remains of us?”

It’s a valid question but also an unfair one. Storytelling, the original form of technology if you will, is supposed to evolve. The rest needs to catch up. With the explosion of microdramas, people prone to spending time idly watching Reels are being handed down something more concrete to hold on to. And in that process, a section of actors and technicians are getting hired. The continued success of the format, if anything, points to a generation willing to watch something and not simply consume content for stimulation. Besides, if attention is indeed scarce and procrastination is the fatal flaw of writers, then watching a bunch of people being mean to each other might not be the worst way to pass time. 

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Ishita Sengupta is a film critic and culture writer. She is Consulting Editor at Advisory. Her work is informed by gender and pop culture.