Streaming Guide: Web series, movies and TV shows to watch on May 7

So this is a show run by the people at BuzzFeed America where a few select people take turns to ascertain whether an item is worth its price or not. Entertaining and weirdly informative.

The King: Eternal Monarch is a South Korean drama about an emperor Lee Gon who tries to close the doors to a parallel world which was opened by demons and a detective Jung Tae-eul who tries to protect the people and the one she loves.

The show revolves around a middle-class Gujarati family led by matriarch Ba (Sarita Joshi). It is a simple story with a perfect mix of situational comedy and drama.

Mrs. America is a Hulu miniseries created by Desperate Housewives and Mad Men alum Dahvi Waller. Starring Cate Blanchett in the lead, the series is set in the 1970s 'United States and is about the movement to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment or ERA by second-wave feminists.

A fantasy rom-com starring Ashol Ashok Selvan, Ritika Singh in the lead, Oh My Kadavule chronicles the story of two childhood best friends who decide to marry on a whim. Indianexpress.com critic S Subhakeerthana wrote in her review, “This film largely works because of the fantasy spin and the fun treatment to the subject matter—but the writing is problematic.” 

The film, starring Smita Patil, Supriya Pathak, Farooq Shaikh and Naseerudin Shah, talks about the issue of “bride buying” in India, through the tragedy of a young girl being sold by needy parents to affluent expatriate Indians in the Middle-East.

This MX Exclusive series takes us on a bachelorette trip that three friends throw for their best friend and bride-to-be, Mehak. The show features Priyank Sharma, Aashim Gulati, Veer Rajwant Singh and Adah Sharma in lead roles.

Welcome to the family of the crazies where every character exhibits their own unique trait. Monisha, Saahil, Rosesh, Indravadan and Maya love to rattle each other but also happen to adore each other despite their flaws.

Based on an intriguing what-if premise, The Man in the High Castle is an alternate reality show. In this world, the Axis powers won and the United States was carved up between Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany. Common Americans live under two foreign, oppressive regimes and they are resigned to their fate... until the people come across another reality -- our reality -- according to which things could be better.

The well-loved Netflix tragicomedy drama series After Life, created by, directed by and starring Ricky Gervais, is back for its second season. The first season charmed the viewers with its tale of a man's journey from an obnoxious, wise-cracking man who thinks of his behaviour after his wife's death as a superpower (as he can always kill himself if things get too hot) to a kinder, more considerate person.

Marielle Heller directorial A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood stars Tom Hanks as Fred Rogers, the creator and host of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.

The coming-of-age comedy-drama reflects on the ambitions of an average Joe in Kerala. Sreenivasan, who has also played a key role in the movie, makes a keen observation of Kerala’s growing dependency on migrant workers, especially from Bengal, for hard manual labour. Fahadh Faasil’s brings to life an ambitious but flawed small-town simpleton, who eventually learns to appreciate and value himself. 

Written and directed by Park Hoon-jung, this South Korean horror-action film is about a young girl who escapes a government facility that conducted experiments on kids 10 years ago. What happens when strange people start entering her life forms the rest of the plot.

Guillermo del Toro's Oscar-winning feature The Shape of Water twists the traditional beauty-and-the-beast story and in the process tells a story that is gorgeous both visually and musically.

Chernobyl, the award-winning miniseries based on the nuclear disaster of the same name, is scarier than any horror story in existence, precisely because it did happen in the past and a similar event can happen in future. Human incompetence, after all, has no limits.

The story revolves around Ananya Rawat (Joshi), an ambitious and hardworking middle-class girl. Her parents have spent all their money on making their daughter a pilot. And, she is the first female pilot of Indie Airlines, where she has to fight the patriarchal mindset along with doing her job.

Helmed by debutant Jonathan Augustin, The Lift Boy is a coming-of-age story that follows the life of 24 year old Raju Tawde, who works as the lift boy after his father falls sick. The movie is now streaming on Netflix. 

Mentalhood is a depiction of modern mothers who are trying to get to the end of the day without going completely insane. Meira Sharma (Karisma Kapoor), Anuja Joshi (Sandhya Mridul), Preeti Khosla (Tillotama Shome), Deeksha Shah (Shruti Seth), Namrata (Shilpa Shukla) are the mothers who seem to be in a race. A race to become the best parent. But in their quest of perfection, their imperfections show. They are competitive. They put the pressure of their dreams on their children. They spy on their kids. And, all of this while being under the gaze of a society which easily blames everything wrong with a child on the mother. Read more

The Indian Express film critic Shalini Langer wrote about Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan, "It’s through the two of them that the film also explores what is its strongest theme: that of unrequited love. Like others before them, and others sure to come after, they carry regrets about a special someone, and “what could have been”. Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan doesn’t evoke these memories with bitterness or anger but as one of those moments that make up a life."

The show — narrated by tennis legend John McEnroe — essentially is the story of 15-year-old Vishwakumar, a sophomore high-school student, who is trying to make a go at life while coming to terms with the recent death of her father. It has been created by Mindy Kaling. Read more here.

Welcome to the family of the crazies where every character exhibits their own unique trait. Monisha, Saahil, Rosesh, Indravadan and Maya love to rattle each other but also happen to adore each other despite their flaws.

What happens when great actors like Varun Badola and Shweta Tiwari come together on screen? The audience gets to watch a good show. Mere Dad Ki Dulhan is not your typical Indian TV show. At the heart of it is a beautiful relationship between a single father Amber (Badola) and his young daughter Niya (Anjali Tatrari). Niya wants to set up her father with someone. Enters a forty-something single woman Guneet Sikka (Tiwari), who starts living in Amber’s house as a tenant. Amber and Guneet cannot stand each other but unknowingly start liking each other on a dating app. Watch this show for an entertaining story and some brilliant performances. Read more 

Based on the British crime drama series of the same name by Peter Moffat, Criminal Justice questions the loopholes in Indian criminal justice system. It stars Vikrant Massey, Pankaj Tripathi, Jackie Shroff, Anupriya Goenka and Mita Vashisht. The original series also inspired a brilliant HBO miniseries starring Riz Ahmed, Michael Kenneth Williams and John Turturro.

Also Read | Criminal Justice review: Night after night

Take a tour into the wild through this docu-series to experience the beautiful nature filled with amazing species and their survival methods, overcoming harsh climates, scarce food sources, and dwindling resources for shelter. An extremely captivating and educative series, Our Planet is a great pick for you and your kid to watch together.

Haven't seen probably one of the best comedy series to ever grace the telly? Perhaps this is the time, when you have all the time in the world. A remake of the British series of the same name, enter the hilarious world of Dunder Mifflin in The Office.

The animated series follows a mad but brilliant scientist Rick Sanchez and his naive, impressionable grandson Morty Smith's adventures across faraway galaxies, planets, parallel worlds, different realities and so on. Rick and Morty boasts some of the most intelligent writing in the medium currently, with jokes that are easy to miss if the attention wavers even a little. And before you have managed to wrap your head around it, the show has already moved ahead.

Hundred is about two women, Netra Patil (Rinku Rajguru) and Saumya Shukla (Lara Dutta). Netra, who works in the census department, is given the tragic news that she has a brain tumour. She has 100 days left. Saumya, an Assistant Commissioner of Police, is struggling to prove there is more to her than just being a woman. One day, their paths cross and thus begins the story of Hundred, a web series on Disney + Hotstar. Read more

The documentary Becoming chronicles Michelle Obama’s 34-city book tour in 2018-2019 for her best-selling memoir Becoming. It is described as “an intimate look into the life of former first lady Michelle Obama”.

A Vishal Bhardwaj film, Kaminey is a story of a rivalry between twin brothers, played by Shahid Kapoor, who are very different from each other. One of them lisps and other stutters. Priyanka Chopra essays the role of Sweety, a blunt Maharashtrian girl, who is the love interest of one of the two twins. If you have watched the film, you would have heard Priyanka speak a lot of Marathi and many don’t know before the film she hardly knew the language. The music of Kaminey became a rage and for the longest time after the film’s release, people attempted to replace 's' with an 'f' in their speech.

A cute and colourful series set in India, Mighty Little Bheem encompasses the perfect combination of comedy, adventure and mischief. It centres around a toddler version of the mythological character Bheem, who with his boundless curiosity and extraordinary might amazes his friends and everyone else around him. The series also comes with two specials centred around Holi and Diwali.

Bhaukaal, a 10-episode series, traces the real-life chapters of an IPS officer. Set in the hinterland of Uttar Pradesh in Muzaffarnagar, the series highlights how a police officer goes beyond his call of duty to eradicate organised crimes in the crime capital of India. The series is directed by Jatin Wagle and stars Mohit Raina, Abhimanyu Singh, Siddhanth Kapoor, Bidita Bag, Sunny Hinduja, Rashmi Rajput, Pradeep Nagar and Gulki Joshi in pivotal roles. 

This series makes science fun and accessible to everyone. Each episode deals with a topic that is important for children (and adults!), such as social media, germs, dreams, among others. Children will learn through interactive experiments and games while having fun.

It is witty, funny and gives a new way to look at the world around us, especially the one inhabited by the so-called middle-class people. Biswa’s punch lines are smooth, his observations are hilarious and his delivery is on point. What more do you need from a stand-up really?

This is not your regular stand-up. In her hour-long set called Nanette, Australian comic Hannah Gadsby talks about her life as a queer woman, sexuality and her identity in the stand-up circuit. She forces us to think about things differently.

A group of teenagers from different cliques are thrown together in detention for a period of eight hours. They are ordered by their Assistant Principal Vernon (Paul Gleason) to not move around and write a 1000 word essay about who they think they are. Initially hesitant and wary of each other, the five teenagers — John, Claire, Andrew, Brian and Allison — in the end, find that despite their different interests and friend circles, they are not as dissimilar as they thought they were. Read more

Irrfan Khan plays Saajan Fernandes, a widower who has gotten used to his monotonous lifestyle until one day he gets a lunchbox with a personal note that wasn’t meant for him. He develops a pen friendship with Nimrat Kaur’s Ila and their delicate relationship takes the plot of the film forward.

Aamir Khan and Juhi Chawla starrer is a perfect family entertainer. The story revolves around Rahul (Khan), the caretaker of his two nephews Vicky and Sunny and niece Munni. Rahul is tormented by Bijlani (Dalip Tahil) who wants to take over the former’s business. However, Bijlani is ready to let things slide if Rahul marries his daughter Maya. Amid this chaotic life, he has an unwanted guest at home, a Tamil girl called Vyjayanthi Iyer (Chawla). But because the children like her, he can’t let her go. Now, how he copes up with three naughty children, one prankster guest and two villains of his life, makes for the narrative of Hum Hai Rahi Pyar Ke.

Trevor Noah is never far behind when it comes to current affairs. The Daily Show with Trevor Noah is now called ‘The Daily Social Distancing Show With Trevor Noah’, as he is hosting the specials from home. He provides a hilarious and insightful take on current events. 

In Ad Astra, Brad Pitt plays Roy McBride, an astronaut who chooses the profession to be like his father. The last space mission that his father went on had a lot of secrets, and there is a possibility of him either being dead or alive. It’s now Roy’s job to get to the truth. Directed by James Gray, the film also stars Tommy Lee Jones, Ruth Negga, Liv Tyler and Donald Sutherland.

This 1989 romantic drama featured Rishi Kapoor, Sridevi and Vinod Khanna in the lead roles. A love triangle, Chandni continues to be remembered for the leads’ chemistry and its hummable music.

Gossip Girl, starring Blake Lively and Penn Badgley, explored the lives of a few rich kids studying in an elite school in New York City. With social media just entering the scene at the time, this show took the paparazzi and gossip culture to new avenues. Gossip Girl is remembered for its bold fashion statements.

Disney movies, animations in particular, are often preachy by nature. However, the makers know how to mix things up. Add songs, a hero (and in Mulan’s case, a heroine) that everyone looks up to and some comic relief. When put simplistically like that, it becomes easy to decipher why these features work. But Mulan was more than a bunch of stereotypes put together. Especially considering the year it was released, it’s significance in cinematic history takes a serious turn.

Based on the Chinese legend of Hua Mulan, the film was released during the period of ‘Disney Renaissance,’ a time when after years of slump, the brand was reinventing itself by churning out commercially viable and critically acclaimed movies. Read More.

Chris Evans has taken the charge of the Apple TV+ limited series Defending Jacob and judging by the initial episodes, it would be right to say that Evans has an intriguing thriller on his hands. Here, Evans plays Andy Barber, a lawyer who worked at the District Attorney’s office until recently. He is released from his duty after his teenage son Jacob (Jaeden Martell) becomes the prime suspect in the murder of a classmate. The show is largely narrated through Andy’s point of view as he discusses the events in a grand jury hearing a few months after the murder and we are shown those events in flashbacks. Read More.

The Indian Express’ Shubhra Gupta wrote in her review of the film, “We hear ‘Ilahabaad’, just the way real Allahabadis pronounce it, a few minutes into the film. And instantly, several crucial elements lock in: location, leheja (accents), and log (people), as well as the title, coarse but rooted. And these are the strongest aspects of a film which gives us the familiar headstrong boy-pretty girl romance-in-small-town-UP. Nasir aka Naate (great touch, that pyaar-ka-naam) loses his heart to Neelam (Pandey), who is tied to local mob boss Jigar (Varma) in mysterious ways. That one line tells us, pretty much, everything. In a town where ‘gunda’ raaj rules, what are the chances for the young lovebirds to chirp and flourish?” Read More.

The movie that is most representative of its genre, Fury Road is simply the best action movie ever made, bar none. The stunt work in this George Miller directorial is mind-boggling, and if you look at its behind-the-scenes clips, you will realise the movie had an insane amount of practical effects and actual people rather than CGI.

This documentary on Netflix will surely send chills down your spine as you see the story of Jan Broberg Felt, who was kidnapped by her neighbour Robert Berchtold on two separate occasions. The backstory of the kidnapper, his relationship with the pre-teen girl and his relationship with her parents are simply shocking and will make you question the so-called ‘sane’ adults in the picture.

Voot Select’s latest web series Asur is a crime-thriller (with a generous dose of Indian mythology) which stars Arshad Warsi, Barun Sobti, Anupriya Goenka, Riddhi Dogra and Sharib Hashmi among others. What is interesting about Asur is that it is dipping its hands into a lot of things – a dissolving marriage, love, crime, mythology and psychology. To juggle these and simultaneously make a watchable show is a task. Only future episodes would reveal how well they have accomplished the task. Read More.

Directed by Bryan Fogel, Icarus won the Oscar award for Best Documentary Feature in 2017. The film follows Fogel as he dabbles in doping for an amateur race. Things heat up when he digs deeper and finds a Russian link who can help him get by undetected. The Russian has been responsible for many athletes going unnoticed.

Starring Ryan Reynolds, Justice Smith, Kathryn Newton and Suki Waterhouse, Pokémon Detective Pikachu is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video. “The star of the film is an amnesiac and adorable Pikachu (voiced by always-brilliant Ryan Reynolds), who is also a self-professed world-class detective. The Deadpool actor is able to give the character a lot of personality, and thoroughly outshines Justice Smith’s Tim Goodman, the other protagonist of the movie,” read the review of the film on The Indian Express. Read More.

The Middle is about a simple working-class family – parents and three kids, who struggle to put food on the table, deal with each other’s quirks and live in chaos but at the end of the day, it’s love that brings them all together. Every episode is narrated by Patricia Heaton’s Frankie Heck as she is dealing with one crisis after another. Her husband, Neil Flynn’s Mike Heck, is the chilled-out laid-back dad who steps in when things go out of control. The three kids – Axl (Charlie McDermott), Sue (Eden Sher) and Brick (Atticus Shaffer) are unique enough to carry entire storylines on their shoulders, and none of them disappoint. Read More.

Here, Irrfan Khan played Saajan Fernandes, a widower who has gotten used to his monotonous lifestyle until one day he gets a lunchbox with a personal note that wasn’t meant for him. He develops a pen friendship with Nimrat Kaur’s Ila and their delicate relationship takes the plot of the film forward.

Watch Irrfan Khan, Amitabh Bachchana and Deepika Padukone starrer Piku on Sony LIV. This slice-of-life film by Shoojit Sircar is a pleasant watch and is perfect to revisit given the recent events.

Watch Jerry Seinfeld grab some coffee with some of the best comedians in the business in this casual talk-show. Here, Seinfeld meets up with the likes of Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert, Alec Baldwin, Sarah Silverman, Kate McKinnon, David Letterman among many others.

“Patience is the key with Upload. The first two episodes are where you have to stay put and plough through, but once you get over the nerd lingo, you get the minute satire that’s inbuilt in every scene — very Greg Daniels, who created the show,” writes Ektaa Malik for The Indian Express. Read More.

Watch Ryan Murphy’s latest drama series set during the Golden Age of Hollywood. The seven episode series is now streaming on Netflix. 

Starring Paul Giamatti and Damian Lewis, Billions is now streaming its fifth season. The show follows a hedge fund billionaire and a United States Attorney as they are at loggerheads with each other.

All Nikki (Esther Smith) and Jason (Rafe Spall) want is a baby—but it’s the one thing they just can’t have. How are they going to fill the next 50 years if they can’t start a family? After ruling out every other option, Nikki and Jason decide to adopt and are confronted by a world of bewildering new challenges. With their dysfunctional friends, screwball family and chaotic lives, will the adoption panel agree that they’re ready to be parents?

Starring Sanjay Mishra, Kaamyaab is streaming on Netflix. “Kaamyaab is a moving, consistently engaging portrait of an artiste as a weathering, weathered man. And Sanjay Mishra is faultless as the lead character - always the bridesmaid, never the bride; an insider but always on the outside,” read The Indian Express’ review of the film. Read More.

The show — narrated by tennis legend John McEnroe — essentially is the story of 15-year-old Vishwakumar, a sophomore high-school student, who is trying to make a go at life while coming to terms with the recent death of her father. On her first day of school as a sophomore, she prays to a horde of Indian gods, asking for certain things to make up for last year, claiming “that last year sucked for a number of reasons.” She adds a few items on the list, as she bargains earnestly with the whole Devlok, and asks for invitations to parties with drugs and alcohol. But its her hairy body that bothers her more than you would think. “Two, I’d love for my arm hair to thin out. I know it’s an Indian thing, but my forearms look like the frickin’ floor of a barbershop,” says Vishwakumar, earnestly as she bows down at the shrine ensconced in the living room of her home. The last request on her list is for a boyfriend, who is “not some nerd” but “a stone-cold hottie who can rock me all night long.” Read More.