Talking about Disney+ Hotstar, Uday Shankar - President, The Walt Disney Company APAC and Chairman, Star & Disney India, said, “With the success of Hotstar, we ushered in a new era for premium video streaming in India. Today, as we unveil Disney+ Hotstar, we take yet another momentous step in staying committed to our promise of delivering high-quality impactful stories for India that have not only entertained but also made a difference in people’s lives, a promise that is even more meaningful in challenging times such as this. We hope the power of Disney’s storytelling, delivered through Hotstar’s technology, will help our viewers find moments of comfort, happiness and inspiration during these difficult times.”
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Elementary is a contemporary retelling of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's character Sherlock Holmes starring Jonny Lee Miller as Sherlock Holmes and Lucy Liu as Dr. Joan Watson. The show follows Holmes, a recovering drug addict and former consultant to Scotland Yard, as he assists the New York City Police Department in solving crimes, where he is joined by Dr Watson.
The Tamil remake of the Telugu hit Okkadu (2003), Ghilli propelled actor Vijay to stardom. The film, which also starred Trisha in the lead, was a huge hit for its mass-entertainment factor. Ghilli has everything - romance, action, sentiment and great songs.
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Malgudi Days captured the imagination of the Indian audience in the late 80s and early 90s, and it still remains etched in people’s minds. Relive the memories of your lost childhood and introduce your children to the works of Indian author R.K. Narayan through this unmissable show.
Penny Dreadful lasted for three seasons and was loved by fans of the horror genre. This is a Victorian horror show where literary characters like Dorian Gray, Victor Frankenstein and others are reimagined as horror characters with new storylines. These literary characters meet other fictional characters and what we get is a horror fest that will leave you wanting more.
The movie tells us it is human nature to act irrationally sometimes. We make grave mistakes that we can’t undo. Humans are flawed and ever-evolving. All we can do is we can learn from our past mistakes, make peace with them and master the art of forgiving ourselves.
If there is one thing that we can all agree to, it is that laughter is indeed the best medicine. If you are not feeling okay, mentally, then you can just watch a few random episodes of this show, and get in all the happiness and laughter. Based on real-life pranks, four friends Joe, Murr, Sal and Q, participate in tasks to embarrass each other and score high, so they can save themselves from a grand punishment. They must say/do everything that the other ‘jokers’ tell them to, and any refusal will lead to a loss.
Starring Al Pacino, Logan Lerman and others, the official synopsis of Hunters reads like this - "From Executive Producer, Jordan Peele, Hunters, follows a rag-tag team of Nazi Hunters on their quest for righteous revenge in 1977 New York City.” Read the review here.
Tolkien is a biopic about the early life of English professor J. R. R. Tolkien, author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, as well as notable academic works. The film stars Nicholas Hoult, Lily Collins, Colm Meaney, and Derek Jacobi.
This Korean series is a watered-down version of Grey’s Anatomy and that’s perfect if you, like me, think the latter has become over-the-top. As the name suggests, it’s a medical drama with all the elements that make for solid, uninterrupted viewing. There is a neglected hospital, a brilliant surgeon/mentor, romance, edge-of-the-seat medical surgeries and some good-old action scenes. Why would you not watch it? It is noteworthy to mention that this show is among the very few K-dramas to get renewed for a second season.
This Marathi series is a story of a fierce and rebellious independent woman who moves out of her parents’ house to explore life, standing on her own feet. The show talks about casual sexism, and the kind of inequality that women face on daily basis. Rewa, the central character of the show wants to break out, fight back and live life on her on terms. Moving Out stars Abhidnya Bhave and Dr. Nikhil Rajeshirke and is streaming on YouTube channel Reverb Katta.
Home Before Dark is a new mystery-drama web series that stars Brooklynn Prince, Jim Sturgess, Abby Miller, Louis Herthum, Michael Weston, Kiefer O'Reilly and Kylie Rogers among others. The show revolves around the life of “young journalist Hilde Lysiak, who unearths a cold case that everyone in town tried hard to bury.”
The longest running medical drama series, Grey’s Anatomy showcases the lives of surgical intern residents, their challenges and achievements and how they cope with them in their professional as well as personal life. Season 16 is out recently, so this makes for perfect binge material.
This Gujarati period drama film won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film at the 66th National Film Awards. Directed by debutant Abhishek Shah, the film revolves around a group of women living in Kutch in the 1970s.
One Punch Man follows the story of Saitama, a superhero, like the name suggests, 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. Click this link for more anime shows you can watch on Netflix.
This American crime-procedural drama is based on forensic anthropology and forensic archaeology, with each episode focusing on an FBI case file concerning the mystery behind human remains brought by FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz) to forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance "Bones" Brennan (Emily Deschanel). The imaginative cases and the interesting ways used to solve them will definitely keep you hooked.
Kaale Dhande is a Marathi comedy web show starring Mahesh Manjrekar, Sanskruti Balgude and Shubhankar Tawde. Surprising bold, this show is a new age comedy. The story revolves around Vicky, a young photographer and how his life changes because of various unforeseen situations. Desperate to put things in order, he gets entangled into further mess. Manjrekar plays a baddie and makes this show a total entertainer.
What’s not to love about a series of 12 animated shorts featuring Charlie Brown and the beloved Peanuts gang. Snoopy fulfills his dreams and embarks on his next big adventure: becoming a NASA astronaut. Joined by Charlie Brown and the rest of the Peanuts gang, Snoopy takes command of the International Space Station and explores the moon and beyond.
Directed by Vignesh Shivn, Naanum Rowdy Dhan is a 2015 Tamil-language action comedy film. The movie, featuring Vijay Sethupathi and Nayanthara in the lead roles, is perfect for a fun, relaxed afternoon watch. The songs, composed by Anirudh Ravichandran, are also a huge hit.
Ashutosh Gowariker’s greatest feat is to give us a Shah Rukh Khan stripped of all his superstarry glamour. Along with SRK of the Aziz Mirza-Kundan Shah days and Chak De! India (2007), Swades defies our expectations of a Shah Rukh Khan movie. Don't miss this one.
Starring Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston, and Steve Carell, this candid drama looks at the modern workplace through the lens of the people who help America wake up. Read More
In times when it’s hard to decide what to watch, how amazing would it be to have a web series with episodes as short as one minute? Dice Media’s one-of-its-kind web series titled Firsts serves the purpose and how. It is a delightful and engaging portrayal of all the significant firsts of a relationship–first eye contact, first proposal, first date, first kiss etc. Firsts is streaming on the YouTube channel of Dice Media. Read more
Abhishek Chaubey’s dacoit drama Sonchiriya is one of the underrated films of 2019. If you missed watching it in theaters, do catch it on ZEE5. Set in the 1970s, the film is packed with some hard-hitting dialogues and noteworthy performances from Ranvir Shorey, Sushant Singh Rajput, Bhumi Pednekar and Manoj Bajpayee.
Shahid, a biopic, is based on the real-life story of slain human rights lawyer Shahid Azmi. He fought cases for the poor and innocent who were jailed or arrested on the charges of being terrorists. In 2010, he was gunned down while defending Fahim Ansari, accused in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. Even though Azmi was a hero for the innocents he saved, Mehta doesn’t portray him as a hero or a saint in the biopic. Shahid is a must-watch for its gripping narrative and effective performance. Read more
Nani’s production venture HIT, which stands for Homicide Intervention Team, features Vishwak Sen and Ruhani Sharma in the lead roles. Indianexpress.com’s critic Manoj Kumar R gave HIT 2 stars out of 5 and called it an “uninspired thriller”. In his review he wrote, “Instead of a path-breaking procedural thriller that we were promised, we get a movie that has been well-packaged with visual and audio elements to trick our minds into believing that we watched was a path-breaking procedural thriller.”
Fahadh Faasil’s psychological drama Trance is directed by Anwar Rasheed. The film also stars Nazriya Nazim, Soubin Shahir, Vinayakan, Gautham Menon, Chemban Vinod Jose and Dileesh Pothan in significant roles. A low profile motivational speaker from Kanyakumari, Viju has a troubled past and lives with his younger brother Kunjan, played by Sreenath Bhasi. He moves to Mumbai after his brother hangs himself just like their mother. In Mumbai, Viju is recruited by two corporate giants played by Gautham Vasudev Menon and Chemban Vinod to become a wonder-working pastor.
Check out the latest season of Money Heist on Netflix. Indianexpress.com’s Manoj Kumar R writes about Money Heist, “The third season of Netflix’s hit Spanish show Money Heist (La casa de papel) ended on a massive cliffhanger. The entire plan of The Professor (Álvaro Morte) was on the verge of collapse. Oh, wait! It was not The Professor’s plan in the first place. It was his brother Berlin’s plan. Berlin had conceived the heist with his soul-mate Palermo, and The Professor always thought to rob the Bank of Spain of its massive gold reserve was nothing but a suicidal mission.” Read more.
The Vidhu Vinod Chopra directorial Shikara is set in 1990 when Kashmiri Pandits were forced out of Kashmir. Starring newcomers Sadia and Aadil Khan, the film focuses on their struggle as they leave their home and have to start afresh in a refugee camp.
The relationship drama explores the lives of three couples – all coincidentally named Pawan and Pooja, who, at different stages of their lives discover that their love is indeed conditional, breakable and questionable. Their complex relationships and their even more complex emotions are all brought alive in this 10 episodic series. It stars Deepti Naval and Mahesh Manjrekar, Sharman Joshi and Gul Panag, Taaruk Raina and Natasha Bharadwaj.
The Indian Express' Ektaa Malik, in her review of Panchayat wrote, "Panchayat incisively breaks the dual-tone presentation of the Indian small town in mainstream narratives. We are not treated to the lush fields and everyone singing and dancing – a nod to Yashraj/DDLJ — nor are we treated to a Gangs of Wassyepur throwback, where everyone has a weapon slinging from their backs. Here there is a rifle, but its usage is highly incidental. There is some rivalry, but again, its sole purpose is comic relief."
Also read | Panchayat review: It takes a village
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse is considered to be one of the best animated films in recent times. Apart from winning an Academy Award for the best animated feature, it is also the first Marvel superhero film to win an Oscar. Spider-Verse features alternate spider heroes from different dimensions with the voices of Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld and Mahershala Ali.
Two brothers hunt down ghosts, vampires and other monsters skulking across the United States. The concept itself gets old very quickly, but the characters don’t.
A plane crashes on an island. Some passengers die, most survive. The survivors build a life together on the island and wait for the help that must surely be coming. It never does. If that weren’t bad enough, they discover there are other people on the island, and they are hostile. Quite unimaginatively, they call those other people the Others. Despite its controversial ending, Lost remains an addictive drama.
In an alternate reality where fantasy creatures like elves, orcs, centaurs, and so on co-exist uneasily with humans, Will Smith plays a cop called Daryl Ward who has been saddled with, to his bad fortune, an orc Nick Jakoby (Joel Edgerton) for a partner – the first ever orc to be a Los Angeles cop. Jakoby is looked down upon by both humans and orcs. Humans, because he is an orc. Orcs, because he is working with the police department, an institution that victimises their race.
Based on Robert Galbraith's crime books, this series follows Afghan War vet and private investigator Cormoran Strike and his assistant Robin as they solve mysteries. In case you are not aware, Robert Galbraith is a pseudonym of JK Rowling.
If you love zombies and zombie movies, you cannot go wrong with this South Korean thriller.
A virus has decimated humankind. Those who survived emerged blind. Jason Momoa stars as the father of twins born centuries later with the mythic ability to see—who must protect his tribe against a threatened queen. Alfre Woodard also stars.
This brilliant, and little-known, Showtime miniseries, starring Benedict Cumberbatch deals with a traumatic childhood, substance abuse and also with recovery and redemption.
Different from anything you have seen before, True Detective (season 1 especially) is a thrillling and engaging watch. The second season is garbage, though, despite the cast and the third season is just okay.
Perhaps the greatest film trilogy ever, Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings films are available to watch in their full glory. Relive the nostalgia, or if you haven't seen them, discover a stunning new world full of colourful characters and creatures and a classic tale of good vs evil with themes like friendship underlying the whole thing.
Ghostwriter is a re-imagining of Sesame Workshops' 1992 series. Each episode story arc is grouped around literature, featuring classics and new works commissioned from popular authors like DJ MacHale and Kwame Alexander.
Batman Begins is not just a superhero movie, it is also a story of prevailing over adverse circumstances. As dark it is, it is ultimately about an optimistic superhero who learns to best his inner demons.
The Affair is a serious show that explores extra-marital affairs in a mature way. Dominic West (The Wire) and Ruth Wilson (Luther) star in the show.
Starring Bill Milner and Maisie Williams (Arya Stark of Game of Thrones), iBoy is about a teenaged boy who gets shrapnel from his phone lodged inside his brain and gets strange abilities like visualising mobile signals and controlling electronic devices. The premise is interesting and performances good.
Amazon’s Modern Love is a romantic anthology TV series that dramatises the real-life love stories from the New York Times’ column of the same name. There are some quite endearing stories in there.
Gerald’s Game perfectly captures the essence of a dark and twisted King novel of the same name in spirit if not in plot. A woman is left bound to bedposts with steel handcuffs with her husband dead after their planned BDSM session goes terribly wrong. What follows elicits the deepest fears inside the viewer and this is not your ordinary ghost story involving scary monsters. It is instead a more realistic story where your own inner demons that you thought were things of the past come back.
Also Read | Gerald’s Game review: This Netflix adaptation of Stephen King’s book is one of the darkest films you will ever see
A science fiction drama TV anthology series, Tales from the Loop is a gripping, superbly shot and well-written piece of entertainment that will delight everyone, but specifically those who liked HBO's Westworld and FX's recent series Devs.
If you are in the mood to explore some light-hearted regional shows, Paanch Phoron comes highly recommended. The Bengali anthology series comes in two-parts and attempts to explore love in all of its forms. Five different directors from West Bengal and Bangladesh come together to narrate five tales that are sure to make you feel a broad spectrum of emotions. Read More.
Elsa and Anna join hands for yet another adventure as we witness the sequel of the hit 2013 film. The film’s voice cast includes Idina Menzel, Kristen Bell, Jonathan Groff, Josh Gad. Read movie review
Pawan and Pooja explores the lives of three couples who are all named Pawan and Pooja. They have discovered that love is, indeed, not always unconditional, unbreakable and unquestionable. The show stars Deepti Naval, Mahesh Manjrekar, Sharman Joshi, Gul Panag, Taaruk Raina and Natasha Bharadwaj.
M Night Shyamalan’s Servant is about a couple Sean (Toby Kebbell) and Dorothy Turner (Lauren Ambrose), who welcome a babysitter Leanne (Nell Tiger Free) into their home in Philadelphia for their infant Jericho. But the catch is Jericho died when he was only 13-weeks old, and the creepy doll that now sleeps in his crib is actually a part of Dorothy’s transitory object therapy. Sean is well aware of the situation in his house, but Dorothy is still undergoing the healing process, hence the doll. But Leanne doesn’t flinch for a second when she is handed over a doll instead of a human baby. So what’s the catch here? Read More
Starring Tarom Egerton in the role of Elton John, this biopic by Dexter Fletcher is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video. Rocketman also stars Richard Madden, Bryce Dallas Howard among others.
Starring Hina Khan in the lead role, Hacked is now streaming on ZEE5. Directed by Vikram Bhatt, the film follows the story of a cyber crime.
The Banker is about two African-American entrepreneurs, Joe Morris and Bernard Garrett (played by Jackson and Mackie, respectively), in 1950s’ United States who tried to evade racial limitations of the era to pursue the American dream. Read More
Indianexpress.com’s review of the series read, “Queen works well as a web series. The suspense at the end of each episode keeps you invested in the characters. The actors are superb, the detailing is layered and great, and the chemistry so natural that it doesn’t hinder the proceedings. The web series is largely riveting, and the craft is as unobtrusive as possible. Perhaps the most startling scene is where we are shown the funeral procession of GMR and the happenings that unfold. Witness some nuanced acting by Ramya Krishnan!” Read More
This mockumentary is inspired by the High School Musical movies and is set in East High School. Here, a group of high school students get together to put up a school production inspired by original Disney movies.
VootSelect’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. Read more.
Stage of Siege 26/11 covers the three days of the 2008 Mumbai attacks. The narrative switches back and forth to show how the terrorists conducted the attack and how the security forces prepared to fight them. Read more.
Watch this limited series on Netflix that explores the life of a woman who has grown up in an orthodox community. She flees to Berlin to escape her life but things take a turn when her past comes calling.