Bad Boys for Life is streaming on Amazon Prime Video. (Photo: Sony Pictures Releasing)
While the lockdown is starting to ease in many parts of the country, social distancing is still the norm of the day. Amid following the new guidelines of safety, many are preferring to stay indoors and continue their work from home. Life within limited space can surely get mundane, but streaming platforms have surely come as a saviour in these unprecedented times.
Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Disney+ Hotstar, Voot Select, AltBalaji, Zee5, Sony LIV, Apple TV+ and other streaming platforms are putting their best foot forward so that their audience can get the best possible content. In the last few days, Netflix’s Bulbbul, Sony LIV’s Bhosle, Disney+ Hotstar’s Aarya have gotten a great response from the audience.
Amazon Prime Video’s upcoming series Breathe: Into The Shadows is the next big OTT release. The show marks Abhishek Bachchan’s debut on the web platform.
Disney+ Hotstar is also increasing the stakes in the OTT space as the streaming platform is releasing as many as seven Bollywood films. These films are – Dil Bechara, Sadak 2, Bhuj, The Big Bul, Laxmmi Bomb, Khuda Hafiz and Lootcase. This comes after Amazon Prime Video released Ayushmann Khurrana and Amitabh Bachchan starrer Gulabo Sitabo. Vidya Balan’s Shakuntala Devi is also set to release on the platform soon. Other OTT releases include Janhvi Kapoor starrer Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl that is coming out on Netflix.
Among the international content on OTT platforms, Netflix’s Dark Season 3 seemed to please the viewers. Indianexpress.com’s Kshitij Rawat wrote in his review of the series, “Dark has been one of my all-time favourite Netflix Original series, and would easily make it to my list of best five science-fiction series. I first tried this German series because I was told it was Stranger Things, only, well, darker. And indeed, the first few episodes did make it seem as though it was Stranger Things set in an infinitely bleaker parallel universe. But Dark soon became its own thing, with a complex mythology that was knotty enough to rival Lost.”
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.
A sitcom about a bunch of police officers in a New York precinct, Brooklyn Nine-Nine is continuously funny. The performances are great, and the uniquely written characters never let you get bored.
This film was all about repairing the supposed damage that the previous entry in the sequel trilogy, The Last Jedi, did. Essentially, it tried to please the fanboys and turned out to be so messy that it did not please anybody. However, as a send off it is pretty good and if you are a fan, it will make you emotional and teary-eyed.
This documentary film chronicles Chinese city Wuhan’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic in its initial days. For those who do not know, Wuhan is now considered to be the place from where the novel coronavirus originated.
Although the first season was marred by more talking than action, the definitive pirate TV show Black Sails picks up from second, gets better in third, and goes out with a bang with its fourth and final season. The story is the prequel of Treasure Island, classic adventure book by Robert Louis Stevenson.
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An adaptation of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s Bengali novel of the same name, Parineeta starred Saif Ali Khan, Vidya Balan, Sanjay Dutt in lead roles. The film’s director Pradeep Sarkar won the National Award for Best Debut Film of a Director, and Shantanu Moitra along with lyricist Swanand Kirkire wove magic with their music.
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.
Based on the 1993 novel of the same name by John le Carré, this miniseries has two of the best actors on television: Hugh Laurie and Tom Hiddleston. It is a espionage drama and is engaging throughout its run.
This one is among the weirder and eccentric shows. Frodo of Lord of the Rings movies, Elijah Wood, plays an everyman whose life is turned into a veritable whirlwind a flamboyantly British "holistic" detective; holistic because he believes everything in the universe to be interconnected. And indeed, he has a seemingly preternatural ability. The feel of the show is like from one of the more strange comic-books from the 80s came to life. The story is loosely based on the writings of the great Douglas Adams.
This Batman movie is the most Batman-esque movie. In fact, if you see only this movie, you will have a pretty good idea as to what the superhero is all about. Will Arnett's superbly written and voiced Caped Crusader is as much a tribute as a parody of every live-action version of Batman. And it is downright nuts. Voldemort and Sauron are two of the villains that the Joker recruits to take down Batman, for crying out loud, and that is not the craziest thing in this movie. Zach Galifianakis, Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson and Ralph Fiennes are also part of the film's voice cast.
The classic Doordarshan TV series based on RK Narayan's charming small-town based stories still holds up well. Relive your childhood (if you watched Malgudi Days as a child, that is) with this series.
A low budget film that tells the story of screenwriter Emily V Gordon and her husband and comedian Kumail Nanjiani, who have also written the story together. This is a no-holds-barred story that does not gloss over anything a relationship is - messy, sometimes infuriating and perplexing, but beautiful and worth it nonetheless.
While the sunny Los Angeles is not as compelling a setting for horror as the dank streets of Victorian London, The City of Angels, Showtime horror series Penny Dreadful's spinoff, is surprisingly good, with a nice amalgam of contemporary social issues and the supernatural.
After a child disappears, the residents of the town discover that in a cave system adjacent to the power plant, there is a wormhole from which characters can travel through time. The discovery leads to new, truly fascinating revelations that often change the way one looks at the whole story. For instance, one missing child, Mikkel inadvertently travelled into the past, got stuck, grew up as Michael, had a son who was older than him when he went missing in the present.
Read the review of the third and final season here.
The third installment in the Bad Boys trilogy, Bad Boys for Life brings back Will Smith and Martin Lawrence as Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett, respectively, who investigate a series of murders.
The film received positive reviews with a 77 per cent rating at Rotten Tomatoes. The critical consensus reads, "Loaded up with action and a double helping of leading-man charisma, Bad Boys for Life reinvigorates this long-dormant franchise by playing squarely to its strengths."
Starring Ayushmann Khurrana and Amitabh Bachchan, Gulabo Sitabo premiered on Amazon Prime Video. The Indian Express' Shubhra Gupta gave the film 2 stars and wrote in her review, "I missed the zest, the drollness and sharpness, that Juhi Chaturvedi’s writing is so full of. Some of that edge shows up in the way the women, old and young, are etched, all happily themselves, never at a loss for words: you wish they had more to do."
Read the full review here.
The Big Bang Theory started as the story of two geeky scientists Leonard (Johnny Galecki) and Sheldon (Jim Parsons) who have a new neighbour Penny (Kaley Cuoco). The socially awkward science geeks live in a different world as compared to Penny, who works as a waitress and is an aspiring actress. It’s the clash of these two worlds that forms the base of this sitcom. Over time, supporting characters like Raj (Kunal Nayyar) and Howard (Simon Helberg) were given leading parts and Amy (Mayim Bialik) and Bernadette’s (Melissa Rauch) characters were also given top billing.
Also Read | The Big Bang Theory: Sheldon, hold the fort!
Written and directed by Rajat Kapoor, Kadakh is set during the day of Diwali when an unexpected incident derails the course of a marriage and many friendships. STarring Ranvir Shorey, Chandrachoor Rai, Mansi Multani, Rajat Kapoor, Cyrus Sahukar and Kalki Koechlin, this Rajat Kapoor film is streaming on Sony LIV.
Read movie review here.
Starring Tripti Dimri, Avinash Tiwary, Rahul Bose, Parambrata Chattopadhyay, Paoli Dam among others is Anvita Dutt’s directorial debut. Produced by Anushka Sharma and Karnesh Ssharma, the film has been receiving rave reviews.
Read the movie review here.
Gilmore Girls was the story of a mother-daughter, who are more like friends to each other. The relationship shared between Lorelai (Lauren Graham) and Rory (Alexis Bledel) soon became so aspirational that viewers started tuning in just to live through the fantasy of having a near-perfect relationship with your mother.
Also Read | Gilmore Girls: The near-perfect relationship drama that keeps on giving
The most popular cooking show is close to its finale. With only seven contestants fighting for the top spot, MasterChef Australia is pulling the toughest challenges. You can stream the show on Disney+ Hotstar, only 24 hours after the Australian telecast.
House MD is one of the most engaging medical dramas that we have seen in the last few years. Starring Hugh Laurie in the titular role, the show first premiered in 2004 and lasted for eight seasons. The easiest way to describe him would be to call him the man with Tony Stark’s arrogance and genius but not as much money.
Also Read | House MD: The medical genius we need right now
Sushmita Sen starrer Aarya is now streaming on Disney+ Hotstar. The Ram Madhvani series has impressed the viewers as well as the critics. The Indian Express critic Shubhra Gupta wrote about the show, “For the most part, Aarya stays on course, taut, unpredictable, pacey and enjoyable. I was eager to know what’s going to happen next, and that’s straight away a win.”
Read the full review here.
Starring Manoj Bajpayee in the lead role, this Devashish Makhija film is streaming on Sony LIV. In her review of the film, The Indian Express critic Shubhra Gupta wrote, “Devashish Makhija’s 2018 Bhonsle uses a Mumbai chawl, which houses ‘native’ Marathi manoos and ‘outsiders’ Bhaiyya log (the derogatory euphemism for people from UP and Bihar), as a site to revive an old conflict. The feelings of antagonism on the two ‘sides’ run high, with Vilas (Juvekar) having constant run-ins with Rajendra (Banerjee, who broke out in Pataal Lok), and the people in the chawl split down the middle.”
Read the review here.
Netflix's first Belgian original show, Into the Night, is a thrilling survival story. What helps its case is that it works like an unputdownable pulp fiction novel.
Also Read | Into the Night: A lockdown gift from Netflix
This Greg Daniels series is set in the future where one doesn’t cease to exist after they are dead. They can continue to live in a digital afterlife that looks like heaven but is just as complicated as life itself. Upload is certainly one of the best international web series to have released this year.
Starring Mindy Kaling, The Mindy Project is the story of a gynecologist who wants her world to be a romantic comedy. Her work-life balance becomes the subject of this six season series that also stars Chris Messina.
Also Read | The Mindy Project: When a sweet, simple rom-com goes awry
Little Fires Everywhere, starring Kerry Washington and Reese Witherspoon in the lead roles, is a show about motherhood and its struggles. However, what makes it appealing is its 'thriller-genre' approach.
Also Read | Little Fires Everywhere: A beguiling tale of motherhood
Rasbhari is an eight-episode series starring Swara Bhasker in the lead role. The story is set in Meerut, where a new English teacher Shanu has just moved. All the men of the city are transfixed by her but Shanu isn't all that she seems.
Indianexpress.com's Kshitij Rawat wrote about the third season of Dark, "while Dark’s final season does not deliver on every single thread, it does provide an overall great culmination to the story. The concluding season is so big and different and new that it is hard to talk about its plot without spoiling something. I highly recommend going into the season without watching any promos or trailers. Right from the first episode, it builds upon the concept of parallel worlds that the penultimate season introduced and further fleshes out the world as threads."
Also Read | Dark season 3 review: Netflix series goes out on a high
Starring Christian Bale and Matt Damon, Ford v Ferrari is an Oscar-nominated sports drama film. The film's story is set during the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans race in France where Ford has sent in its best people to defeat the racing champions, Ferrari. The film received rave reviews at the time of its release. Ford v Ferrari is now streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.