Chris Hemsworth’s Extraction will start streaming on Netflix from today.
Thanks to the lockdown imposed in the country due to the COVID-19 pandemic, OTT platforms have experienced a sudden surge in viewership. Most people are working remotely and the after hours, which would earlier have been spent in commuting, is now being used to watch a variety of content online.
Currently, there are multiple platforms that cater to the different tastes of the audience, including the likes of Disney+Hotstar, Netflix, AltBalaji, VootSelect, ZEE5, SonyLIV and MX Player among more.
Streaming Guide | April 19, 20 and 21 | April 18 | April 15, 16 and 17 | April 12, 13 and 14 | April 10 and 11 | April 7, 8 and 9 | April 5 and 6 | April 3 and 4 | April 1 and 2 | March 30 and 31 | March 28 and 29 | March 26 and 27| March 24 and 25 | March 22 and 23 | March 20 and 21 | March 19 and 18 | March 17 | March 16
While international OTT platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+Hotstar appeal to the ones who are looking for cross-border entertainment, homegrown streaming platforms such as AltBalaji, Voot Select and ZEE5 are helping in maximising the reach of ‘desi’ content. Voot Select, which is fairly new in the business, has managed to grab eyeballs with its shows Marzi, Asur and The Raikar Case.
This critically-acclaimed show may have even surpassed its predecessor, Breaking Bad. Starring Bob Odenkirk, the series starts six years before the events of Breaking Bad and shows his transformation into the persona of criminal for hire Saul Goodman. Called “one of the best prequels ever made”, make sure you don’t miss this one.
Musical drama Khamoshi with Salman Khan and Manisha Koirala in the lead roles didn’t gain cinephiles’ attention back in 1996 when it released in theaters. But today, this story of love and redemption is counted as one of the best musicals of Hindi cinema and the most enduring film of Sanjay Leela Bhansali.
High Time is a six episode dark comedy web-series streaming on YouTube channel Karvanda Nirmitee. The show stars Aashutosh Gokhale, Kshitish Date, Sainath Ganuwad, Shddjarth Mahashabde, Ketaki Narayan and Tanvi Kulkarni. It is a story about four friends who explore their lives and failures together, and yet promise for a better tomorrow which depends on strengthening their friendship and never giving up on each other.
This tragic-comedy drama created by British comedian Ricky Gervais follows Tony (Gervais), who is depressed and struggling to live after his wife dies from breast cancer. Gervais is at his snarky best in the show and second season has just begun streaming today.
When a loved one dies, we mourn them. And we often say, “I wish he/she would come back!” or something to that effect, but we really don’t want that, do we? What is dead should ideally stay dead. Otherwise, there might arise a number of complications as shown in this American remake of the French original Les Revenants, called The Returned.
One Punch Man, like the name suggests, follows the story of Saitama, a superhero who can defeat any opponent with a single punch. But he is bored of being a hero because there’s nobody who can challenge his powers. This is one of the most fun anime shows to watch. If you are bored of serious tropes and intense storylines, then One Punch Man is the perfect remedy. The show doesn’t take itself too seriously and also on occasions, makes fun of the anime world. And the best part? It’s really funny.
This documentary follows Alex Honnold as he prepares to climb El Capitan in Yosemite. For those who don’t know much about solo climbing, it’s climbing a mountain without any gear. The documentary is a perfect example of a film where you are engrossed in the protagonist’s journey, even if you know nothing about them or their sport. Free Solo won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature in 2019. For more documentaries like this, click here.
The Sam Raimi-produced (he has also helmed a few episodes) show delves into dark legends from different places in the United States. Even though it is not particularly scary, 50 States of Fright is an entertaining affair.
Kaminey is a story of a rivalry between twin brothers, played by Shahid Kapoor, who suffer from a distinctive speech impediment. One of them lisps and other stutters. Priyanka Chopra essays the role of Sweety, a Maharashtrian girl, who is the love interest of one of the twins. 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 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.” Read the full review here.
This wacky show revolves around a mad, alcoholic scientist Rick and his grandson, Morty. Each episode takes you on a crazy sci-fi adventure. The comedy drama has gained so much popularity for its imaginative concepts and dark humour, that it’s almost a cultural phenomenon, like The Simpsons. All four seasons are streaming on Netflix, and the show is perfect binge-watching material.
Nayanthara starrer Kolaiyuthir Kaalam is the remake of Hollywood film Hush. The film, helmed by Chakri Toleti, is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
Anurag Kashyap’s first release Black Friday is a riveting tale based on the 1993 bombings that shook Mumbai. Though the film was not a commercial success, it has gained a cult status over the years. Kashyap through his actors recreated the actual events as faithfully as possible. Kay Kay Menon, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Vijay Maurya and Aditya Shrivastava among others gave spectacular performances in the film.
Be sure to catch Kanan Gill’s latest stand-up special, Yours Sincerely. The show is currently streaming on Netflix.
Read | Yours Sincerely, Kanan Gill review: Timepass at best
Director Mat Whitecross shot footage of the band Coldplay for almost 20 years, which was later compiled for this documentary. Coldplay: A Head Full Of Dreams follows Coldplay’s rise to fame. It also features interviews of band members and a great soundtrack.
Voice is one of those series that will blow you away by its sheer brilliance. The series is about a temperamental, guilt-ridden detective Moo Jin Hyuk (essayed by Jang Hyuk) and gifted profiler Kang Kwon Joo (Lee Ha Na) who join hands to catch the serial killer who murdered their loved ones. Let the simplistic premise not fool you as this show is filled with concepts of criminology and psychology that will fascinate you. Unfortunately, only the first season is available on Netflix, but don’t let that deter you. This show comes highly recommended.
If you are looking for a movie to stream with family, this is the one. You will get a lot of ‘gyaan’ on family values and ‘sanskaars’. The film was so ‘sanskaari’ that the lead characters were called Ram Kishen, Mamta, Vivek, Vinod and Prem.
The clock is ticking, a girl needs a heart transplant operation, and the organ is 150 kilometres away. It is a busy weekday and traffic is high as usual. The entire traffic police department goes to work to create a green corridor to allow the uninterrupted passage of the vehicle carrying the organ. This Malayalam movie is 122-minutes of pure thrills.
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.
Omkara found its narrative in William Shakespeare’s Othello, a tale of friendship, jealousy and betrayal. Apart from an engaging story, the film boasts of some spectacular performances by Saif Ali Khan, Ajay Devgn, Konkona Sensharma and Vivek Oberoi. Bipasha Basu’s dance on “Beedi” became one of the highlights of the film and music by Bharadwaj played a character in the movie. You can’t miss this one from Vishal Bharadwaj’s filmography.
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.
Also Read | Bhumika, Salim Langde Pe Mat Ro, Party and more: Our ultimate guide to the 1970-80s parallel cinema gems
Defending Jacob features Chris Evans as the supportive father who will go to any lengths to save his son Jacob. Indianexpress.com critic Sampada Sharma wrote in her first impression review, “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.” Read more here.
Wreck It Ralph story follows Ralph, a soft-hearted video game villain, who is tired of playing the role of a bad guy. He embarks on a journey to become a video game hero but it backfires when he accidentally lets loose a deadly enemy that threatens the entire arcade.
The four-part documentary series starts with tapes that were recorded by a journalist while serial killer Ted Bundy was on death row in Florida. Here, two journalists meet and talk with Bundy and even though he does not confess to the killings in the tapes, he analyses the killings by taking a third person’s point of view to explain why a killer would act that way.
Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan, starring Ayushmann Khurrana, Jitendra Kumar, Gajraj Rao, Neena Gupta and Manu Rishi is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video. The film’s plot revolves around the love story of two men who are trying to convince their family to accept their relationship. Read the full review here.
Anushka Sharma’s debut production venture, NH10 starring her, Darshan Kumar and Neil Bhoopalam is a film about a woman’s survival in a world devoid of law and order and her journey to escape the barbaric civilization along with her husband.
Directed by George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road chronicles a battle for water supply set in the post-apocalyptic world. Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron star in this visual spectacle.
This is an interactive movie that lets you make decisions for the main character. Following the same dystopian sci-fi genre of the Black Mirror series, Black Mirror: Bandersnatch revolves around young programmer Stefan Butler, who is adapting a fantasy choose-your-own-adventure novel into a video game in 1984.
Written and directed by Jennifer Fox, The Tale is based on her own experiences of child sexual abuse. This is no sanitised version of events. This is harsh reality laid bare - unsparing, unstinting.
This 2016 Oscar-winner shows us three stages in the life of the main character: his youth, adolescence, and early adult life. It explores the difficulties he faces with his sexuality and identity, including the physical and emotional abuse he endures growing up. Do not miss Mahershala Ali’s award-winning performance in the movie.
The King: Eternal Monarch is a new South Korean drama about an emperor Lee Gon who tries to close the doors to a parallel world which was opened by demons who were unleashed by a deity into the human world, and a detective Jung Tae-eul who tries to protect the people and the one she loves. The show premiered on Netflix on April 17.
Netflix’s dark comedy Hasmukh features Vir Das in a never-seen-before avatar, where he plays the role of a stand-up comedian and a serial killer.
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.
The series is a coming-of-age story that is based on Anmol Rana’s best-selling book – Those 7 Days. The plot revolves around a young boy, Vishwas who travels from a small town to a big city for his first job and meets 7 women whom he learns different lessons from.
Starring Vijay Deverakonda in the lead role, World Famous Lover has been directed by Kranthi Madhav and also stars Raashi Khanna and Aishwarya Rajessh. Indianexpress.com's Manoj Kumar R wrote in his review of the film, "World Famous Lover is not a cheesy romantic story about a man hurting from inside and fighting to win back the love of his life. It is an indictment of the male gaze that fails to see the other side of the story: women."
The 2017 animated feature boasted of a great voice cast, including the likes of John Cena, Kate McKinnon and David Tennant among others. Based on the children’s book called The Story of Ferdinand, the movie went on to bag an Oscar nomination in the Best Animated Feature category.
This dark-comedy drama features Mary-Louise Parker, Hunter Parrish, Alexander Gould, and Kevin Nealon among others. Set primarily in the fictional town of Agrestic, California, the series follows a widowed mother of two boys who begins selling marijuana to support her family.
By far the best thing on Quibi, When the Streetlight Go On is about a high school teacher and a teen girl murdered in cold blood. A boy goes on a quest to solve the mystery. It is Stranger Things, turned down a notch. Here is one series that uses the bite-sized format very well.
In this short form interview series, we get a peek inside the minds of some of the most successful Indians working today, including the likes of AR Rahman, Anurag Kashyap, Anita Dongre, Ad man Piyush Pandey and more.
Samantar stars Swapnil Joshi and is just what we need when we are locked down during the coronavirus outbreak. The web-series was originally made in Marathi and later dubbed in Hindi, Telugu and Tamil. Directed by Satish Rajwade, Samantar is a thriller based on the book of the same name by Suhas Shirwalkar. It also stars Nitish Bhardwaj and Tejaswini Pandit.
This dystopian sci-fi film, directed by Steven Speilberg, is set in the year 2045 when a virtual reality game, OASIS, is part of everyone’s lives. The story follows an orphaned teenager Wade Watts, as he tries to stop a powerful corporation from taking control of OASIS’ ownership.
Manbhanjan is one of Rabindranath Tagore’s best short stories. Hoichoi’s adaptation of the short story stars Sohini Sarkar, Amrita Chattopadhyay and Anirban Bhattacharya, who shoulder the two-part mini-series.
Love Death and Robots showcases a whole new world in the best way possible. The show is a collection of 18 stand-alone episodes that spans various genres like science-fiction, fantasy, horror and explores post-apocalyptic worlds and alternate histories.
This post-apocalyptic film features one of Will Smith's finest performances. He is a man left alone in New York after a deadly virus ravages most of the population and turns some others into bloodthirsty creatures. But these are not mindless zombies, and at least one of them has the capacity to think and plan.
This South Korean romantic drama is a modern take on the Cinderella fable. Here Cinderella has multiple knights in shining armour, but they all have their own motives.
A newly graduated chef is forced to seek refuge in his grandfather’s hotel, which is old but very popular with the people of Kozhikode. Dulquer Salman’s Faizi’s granddad is a task-master played by Thilakan. It is at this depleting hotel, Faizi practically learns the core values of his profession that classrooms can’t teach.
Known as the bizarre case of the pizza robbery, this docu-series follows a case where a man is sent to rob a bank with a bomb around his neck. The man in question was a pizza delivery executive who ended up dying as the bomb went off in front of the authorities. Who planned the mission and was the victim also the mastermind?
The Raikar Case is a whodunnit. Story writers Bijesh Jayarajan and Anaitha Nair have crafted the plot in a way that you get entangled in the mystery.
Also read | The Raikar Case review
Just as the name suggests, Gilmore Girls is about the Gilmore Girls – Lorelai and Rory who live in a little town called Stars Hollow. Lorelai had Rory when she was still a teenager, and since she is still single, the two have their ups and downs whilst also dealing with the fractured relationship between Lorelai and her parents – Richard (Edward Herrmann) and Emily (Kelly Bishop). For more deets, click here.
The 1998 film starring Edward Norton in the lead had in its time created quite the wave for tackling the issue of race head-on. The movie had not just brushed the topic at surface level but had dealt with it by going inside the minds of a fictitious group of neo-nazis.
If you are feeling low, don’t just eat good food, gorge yourself crazy on this ultimate food film.
The story is of a once-famous and now-failed executive record producer Dan (Mark Ruffalo) who just cannot pick the right kind of talent anymore, the kind that sells. Largely because he doesn’t wish to compromise his personal taste for the sake of a mere trend. There is something noble and authentic about him. Everyone loves to support an underdog anyway so it is easy to wish for Dan’s success. But a wonderful twist of fate happens when a heartbroken Dan hears an equally heartbroken Gretta (Keira Knightley) sing in a pub one night. For more deets, click here.
There is a reason why Ratatouille won an Oscar in the Best Animated Feature category. Brad Bird. Bird who produced, wrote and helmed this delightful little tale of ambition and passion deserves most of the credit for the film’s success. Of course, having voice actors like Patton Oswalt and Lou Romano helps the case immensely.
Johnny Cash, Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon, country music and a tumultuous love story in the backdrop. These are some of the key ingredients of the acclaimed biographical movie Walk the Line. Built around the life and times of country music legend Johnny Cash, Walk the Line is a touching feature about what it means to pursue your passion. Click here for more insight on the movie.
The Nora Ephron directorial is a winsome movie that perfectly encapsulates the angst of being in love with someone you think you can never be with. However, despite all the obstacles, love ultimately wins, as it always does in case of romantic comedies.
Also read | Hollywood Rewind: You've Got Mail
If there was ever a category for a smart comedy, Arrested Development would ace it hands down. Well, Community would wrestle for that place but that’s a conversation for another time. Arrested Development first premiered in 2003 and in hindsight, it can easily be said that this show was way ahead of its time and that is probably why it suffered in its later years. Click here for more insight on the show.
For his incredible work on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, its host John Oliver has won eight Emmys. And once you start watching the show, you will understand why. Oliver’s witty and entertaining fashion of disseminating news is addictive.
Delve deep into the world of the mighty Baahubali and his kingdom, where everything is a piece of stunning art. This mega blockbuster proved to be a game-changer for Indian cinema. Baahubali has been helmed by SS Rajamouli.
This German series is about an investigative trip undertaken by the families of missing children. It's scary, 'science-fictiony' and of course, dark.
A captivating first-half and a mediocre second-half are the phrases that would probably best describe the Vicky Kaushal starrer. However, if what you are looking for is a decent entertainer, then Bhoot is an ideal pick for a lazy day. Read more about the movie here.