MUMBAI: Ivan Ayr’s directorial debut, Soni, a crime drama chronicling the life of two policewomen is set to get its digital release on Netflix. After being screened at prestigious festivals such as the 75th Venice Film Festival, the Mumbai Film Festival and the BFI London Film Festival, the title will be available exclusively on Netflix, to 130 million members across 190 countries, on January 18, 2019.

The story revolves around Soni, a young policewoman, and her superintendent, Kalpana, who have collectively taken on a growing crisis of violent crimes against women in the capital city of Delhi. Their alliance suffers a setback when Soni is transferred out for alleged misconduct on duty.

In this drama, Ayr explores, observes and unveils the daily grind, dynamics and hierarchies that lie within society. The strong characters and compelling narrative brought to life by Geetika Vidya Ohlyan (Soni) and Saloni Batra (Kalpana) have earned the film love and praise from both critics and movie enthusiasts. Soni has received stellar reviews from around the world with The Hollywood Reporter calling it “the ideal vehicle to explore a wide variety of issues related to gender battles in contemporary Indian society”, and Variety tagging it as an “indie Indian gem”.

Ivan Ayr said, “I am excited that my film Soni will premiere on Netflix, which is accessible to millions of people around the world. We live in a society that has accepted to adjust and bear patriarchal norms and gender biases, and I believe that the release of the film on a global service like Netflix will help the voices of my characters reach a large and diverse audience base eloquently.