From regional reads to blockbusters: Siddharth Roy Kapur taps Pratilipi for fresh stories

Roy Kapur Films ties up with storytelling platform Pratilipi.

Producer Siddharth Roy Kapur, founder of production house Roy Kapur Films (RKF), seems to be on a script signing spree. After announcing his most ambitious global project — a series called The Anarchy, based on a book by historian William Dalrymple, he has now tapped stories from the heartland of India through storytelling platform Pratilipi.

The initial content slate includes six stories from Pratilipi that will either be turned into a film or a series over the next three years. Kapur said this is a long term partnership and expects to pick up more stories from Pratlipi.

"We have kept six just as a target for ourselves because we intend to see that we don't do this just as a one off. We want to do at least six pieces of content in the next three years. But if we can do eight to 10, that would be great," Kapur told Moneycontrol.

He is picking up the most loved stories on the platform for upcoming blockbusters.

Loved stories

"Pratilipi gives us the added benefit of knowing which stories are most popular, and therefore, the most likely to be able to find success in the audiovisual medium."

He added, "They (Pratilipi) are able to assess the potential of each one of those stories purely based on the readability on the platform, and how widely those (stories) are being read and consumed. For us, that's invaluable information because that actually means that you've got an audience that has enjoyed those particular stories in large numbers."

The story-telling platform has over 1.6 million writers and over 12 million active monthly readers. Over 10 million stories have been published so far with 627 million stories being read in a month.

The first project in the works is on a story called Charitraheen, a powerful courtroom drama that has recorded over 21 million reads, with users leaving more than 244,000 reviews. The content will be turned into a series.

Kapur added that more than knowing the target audience, the metrics Pratilipi has access to gives a great indication of how well loved a story is. "Therefore, you get to know how many people have taken to it (story), because you have got metrics like completion rates and all kinds of data that tells where people have enjoyed the story more, where they may have dropped off. Most importantly, I think it gives us access to a treasure trove of stories from across the country, and gives us access to and gives these people access to us, because they might not have had the access to production houses in the past."

A first in India

In the past, stories on Pratilipi have also been picked up by audio platform Audible and broadcaster Star (now JioStar).

"In India, we have done partnerships that have always been about a specific output format. For instance, we have done about 40 audio shows with Audible and five to six TV shows with Star. We have also done single projects like OTT shows. But this is the first time we will take a call on which best stories deserve to be told to a large audience, and then figure out which model or which format works best for it," Ranjeet Pratap Singh, Co-Founder and CEO (chief executive officer) of Pratilipi.

He said this model has not happened much outside of Korea, Japan and is a first in India.

More scope for scripwriters 

But does this tie-up with Roy Kapur Films mean more opportunities for scriptwriters? Singh says to some extent.

"Storytellers who choose scriptwriting as the format, for them, Pratilipi will be useful. The way Pratilipi works is that when people write something on the platform the right belongs to them. Roughly, one in a 3,000 stories, we acquire the rights. Even when we acquire the rights, we own the IP, but the writer will always have a royalty share. Our top writers make Rs 80 lakh a year."

Writers also get upfront payment but the amount differs depending on the scale of the IP (Intellectual Property). "If the upfront payment is much higher, typically the royalty share would be much lower and vice versa."

For the six projects that RKF will be developing along with Pratilipi, the IP rights will depend on which platform or production house is signed and in what capacity.

"There could be two different types of partnerships that depend on the platform which is finally financing the production or distribution. There are cases where the platform just has distribution rights. There are cases where they will have rights for all audio visual formats but the base right still belongs to us. There could also be cases where a platform is investing a significantly large amount of money and they ask for the rights of the base IP. We are going to be very flexible," Singh said.

Focus on growth

The collaboration with RKF comes at a time when Pratilipi is expanding content verticals, expanding in overseas markets along with preparing for an initial public offering (IPO).

"Till July 31, we are going to be focusing on growth because we couldn't do that for two years. Starting August, we'll start talking to bankers and figure out what the best path is for listing," Singh said.

The platform currently has 450,000 monthly active premium subscribers (those paying Rs 150) and  total monthly paying users are over 500,000.

Company's FY25 unaudited revenue stood at Rs 83.5 crore versus Rs 57.85 crore in FY24 and Rs 34.89 crore in FY23. It has narrowed its losses to Rs 41.9 crore from Rs 58.13 crore in FY24 and Rs 152.6 crore in FY23.

Pratilipi earlier this year raised $20 million in a Series E funding round and expanded in the US market.

On raising more funds, Singh said they might raise a pre-IPO round just to clean up the cap table a little bit more. "But I don't think the company will require a binary infusion anytime after this."