Two Indian Americans— Netflix Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria and actor, writer and producer Mindy Kaling — are among entertainment industry leaders in The Hollywood Reporter’s ‘2022 Women in Entertainment Power 100’ list.
“They’re all at the top of the game. That’s why they made THR’s definitive annual rundown of the most powerful women in the entertainment industry,” said the magazine announcing the list.
“In creating the 2022 list of entertainment’s top female players, editors considered portfolio sizes, series loads, TV ratings, box office returns, awards, deals, employees overseen, revenue and profit generated, subscriber counts and, let’s be honest, leadership,” it said.
READ: Biden presents National Medal of Arts to Mindy Kaling (March 22, 2023)
Bela Bajaria, Head of Global TV, Netflix
“Overseeing an annual content spend of $17 billion alongside film counterpart Scott Stuber, the TV titan manages hundreds of executives in more than 20 territories,” the magazine noted.
In 2022, she delivered some of the streaming giant’s biggest hits including Inventing Anna, season four of Stranger Things and Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story — which Ryan Murphy is turning into an anthological franchise.
READ: Mindy Kaling’s ‘Velma’ to premiere on January 12 (December 23, 2022)
“Under Bajaria, Netflix was recognized with 105 Emmy nominations, including 14 for Squid Game,” Hollywood Reporter noted.
Netflix’s most watched original of all time (1.65 billion hours and counting, per the streamer) became the first non-English-language series nominated in the drama category.
Bajaria said the character she identifies with is “Devi Vishwakumar in Never Have I Ever. She really captures the hilarious and heartwarming intersection of cultures.”
READ: Kamala Harris, Bela Bajaria among World’s 100 Most Powerful Women (December 9, 2022)
2023 will be the year that Hollywood finally … “Recognizes local-language shows with the industry’s highest honors,” she said.
Bajaria recently secured 67th spot on Forbes list of the 100 Most Powerful Women in the World for 2023 with US Vice President Kamala Harris and IndianFinance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. She was also named to TIME’s 100 Most Influential People list in 2022.
Mindy Kaling, Actor, Producer, Writer
“Ask any woman in entertainment who most impresses her right now, and odds are a solid contingent will say, ‘Mindy Kaling,’” according to the Hollywood Reporter.
The actress’ shift from performer-writer to writer-performer, with series Never Have I Ever (Netflix) and The Sex Lives of College Girls (HBO Max), has cemented her as one of the most sought-after voices in Hollywood, it said. The Warner Bros.-based multihyphenate next tackles animation with Velma.
Kaling describes the daily routine hack that’s changed her life as “50:10 ratio: 50 minutes of writing, 10 minutes of internet.”
The character she identifies with is “When I’m on script I most identify with the Mandalorian. I wear the same thing every day, I look after a toddler, and no one is allowed to see my face.”
Kaling’s last great read was “The Vibrant Years by Sonali Dev. It has so much humor and heart, such a great read around the holidays.”
Earlier this year, President Joe Biden honoured Kaling with the prestigious National Medal of Arts.