Filmmaker Ram Madhvani follows the Emmy Awards every year, rooting for his favourite shows. Something tells us he will be cheering on much harder this year — his web debut Aarya is among the three nominations that India has picked up at the International Emmy Awards 2021. The Disney+ Hotstar drama, featuring Sushmita Sen in the titular role, has been nominated for the Best Drama Series.

The director says he was neck-deep in post-production work when the news came his way last Thursday. “I was editing the second season of Aarya. My editor and I had to finish that scheduled edit. So, we took a minute-long break to celebrate, and then got back to work. Everybody was in a state of disbelief. The Emmys are as important as the Oscars. The nomination itself is a huge honour; we haven’t thought about winning,” says Madhvani, who co-directed the series — an official adaptation of the Dutch crime series, Penoza — with Sandeep Modi.