A jail-based reality show from India has pulled 50 million viewing hours on Netflix in its first month — and the platform is now preparing more local versions of its global unscripted formats to follow.

Lock Upp debuted on Netflix on 27 June and runs through 5 August. It amassed 50 million hours viewed since launch, spent two weeks in Netflix's Global Top 10 Non-English Series list, and sits as the second-most watched series by hours in Netflix's most recent What We Watched data release, according to an exclusive Deadline interview with Netflix India VP of Content Monika Shergill (Deadline).

The show generated 2.5 billion social media interactions within three weeks of its Netflix launch. That figure covers shares, comments and reactions across platforms — a scale of online chatter that few Indian streaming titles reach.

Lock Upp is a reality competition in which celebrities live together in a mock prison, competing in tasks to win their "bail." It originally launched in 2022 on Indian streaming platforms ALTBalaji and MX Player. Netflix revived it with Bollywood figures Farah Khan and Riteish Deshmukh as hosts. The series is produced by Balaji Telefilms and was created by Ektaa Kapoor, who, per the Deadline interview, rejected two other platform offers to bring it to Netflix.

Audience demand pushed Netflix to increase the weekly episode count from five to six. Neither Shergill nor Kapoor would confirm a second season.

Shergill told Deadline that Netflix is working on Indian adaptations of its global unscripted formats — shows the platform owns or holds production rights to, which have already run in other countries and would be retooled for Indian audiences. She did not name which formats are being adapted. Netflix holds exclusive international production deals for the dating-reality formats Too Hot to Handle and Love Is Blind, though it does not own either outright. Whether either is among the titles headed to India is not yet confirmed.

Netflix India unveiled its 2026 content slate at a "Next on…" event in February, where Shergill stated that 2026 would be the platform's biggest year yet (BestMediaInfo). The unscripted adaptations she referenced would fall under that slate.

One complication: Netflix's own Tudum site lists Lock Upp among titles leaving the platform in August 2026 (Netflix Tudum). The show's run was always scheduled to end 5 August, so the removal aligns with the conclusion of its current season. Whether it returns — in a second season or another form — remains unconfirmed.

For viewers, the takeaway is straightforward: Lock Upp proved an Indian unscripted title can draw a global audience on Netflix, and more local-format adaptations are on the way. What they are, and when they arrive, is still under wraps.