Asia Society to Honor Top Indian American Netflix Executive Bela Bajariaas ‘Game Changer’
File photo of Bela Bajaria. (Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for March of Dimes)
India-West Staff Reporter
Indian American media executive (and Miss India Worldwide 1991) Bela Bajaria, who oversees Netflix’s global portfolio of original and vernacular content, joins South Korean actor Lee Byung-hun and Destin Daniel Cretton, director of the Marvel superhero movie “Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings,” on Asia Society’s annual honors list of Asian and Asian American ‘Game Changers’ in film and television, according to an IANS report.
A non-profit organization based out of New York, Asia Society hosts the event to recognize the contribution of people in the entertainment industry across the Asian region, according to the Yonhap news agency. The awards gala will be held in Seoul Nov. 1 at the Academy Museum.
Bajaria, who has earlier worked with CBS, Warner Bros and Universal Television, joined Netflix during the Covid-19 pandemic. She was ranked 43rd on Fortune magazine’s Most Powerful Women list.
At Netflix, Bajaria spearheaded Netflix’s highly popular docuseries, “Indian Matchmaking,” which followed the lives of Indians and Indian Americans as they navigated the process of an arranged marriage with the help of an Indian matchmaker, Sima Taparia.
The success of that series and others — including Spain’s ‘Money Heist’ and the recent South Korean phenomenon ‘Squid Game’ — led to her promotion, according the The Wrap.
Earlier, as the vice president in charge of Local Language Originals, Bajaria was also behind the drama series, “Sacred Games,” and the Mindy Kaling series, “Never Have I Ever.”
Before her promotion, Bajaria oversaw Netflix’s original content for India and elsewhere in Asia and across Europe, the Middle East, Turkey, Africa, and Latin America, according to Netflix.
Lee has received critical acclaim for his performances in a wide range of genres throughout his 30-year career.
Cretton is a Japanese American who grew up in Maui, Hawaii, before moving to San Diego, California. His last big film was “Just Mercy.”
(With IANS reports)
