Mulan is streaming on Disney+ Hotstar. (Photo: Disney)The pandemic is far from over, and even though producers are willing to release their movies in theatres, not everyone feels safe to step out after staying months locked inside their homes. OTT platforms continue to save the day by churning out quality content. While the long-awaited live-action remake of Mulan has finally premiered on Disney Plus Hotstar, cinephiles are also excited to watch the David Fincher directorial Mank on Netflix.
Another OTT feature that seems to have an interesting premise is the ZEE5 film Darbaan, featuring Sharad Kelkar and Sharib Hashmi. Talking about Darbaan, Sharad told indianexpress.com, “Darbaan is a story about relationships, love and sacrifice. Honestly, I had been waiting for such a film. Also, Bipin has written the film so well that it was easy to perform it. Also, the music of the film is so melodious that it is the USP of the film.”
The standard yet thrilling zombie apocalypse series has a woman being separated from her daughter. She goes on a journey to find her, determined to be reunited come hell or high water.
A romantic anthology series that dramatises the real-life love stories from the New York Times’ column of the same name, Modern Love explores love in all its forms.
This film is about Adam Sandler’s Hubie Dubois. A town dunce who is an object of ridicule for pretty much everybody in Salem, he owns and runs a deli. But the job he is really passionate about is to roam around the town on Halloween night and make sure nobody is harmed, and everybody plays it safe and the etiquette is followed.
Steven Knight’s excellent British war drama is quite the piece of modern cinematic achievement. Set post World War II, the series follows the Peaky Blinders gang that is led by Thomas Shelby — a ruthless war hero turned mafia leader. You can watch it on Netflix.
Based on the books written by Diana Gabaldon, Outlander boasts of an engaging storyline, credible performances and excellent camera work. The story moves in multiple timelines, but it all starts when a married nurse of World War II gets transported to 1743’s Scotland. The series is currently streaming on Netflix.
An inspiring and emotional sports documentary, Free Solo had won several accolades post its release. It centres around the climber Alex Honnold and documents his journey uphill as he undertakes a mountain of a task. The movie had won the Best Documentary Feature at the 91st Academy Awards.
Abhishek Chaubey’s dacoit drama Sonchiriya is one of the most underrated films of 2019. 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.
1922 is a decent watch for horror fans. The themes of the film – guilt and ‘every murderer gets his comeuppance’ (epitomised by a character in the line “In the end, we all get caught”) – are as old as time. It unsettles more than it scares and seeks to be a slow-burner.
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.
They Shall Not Grow Old is a World War II documentary directed by Peter Jackson. It is an extraordinary experience, which has rightly earned plaudits around the world. Jackson, best known for directing the Lord of the Rings trilogy, has used modern post-production techniques, both visual and sound, including new voice-acting, and colourisation to bring alive World War II in all its terrible glory.
Aligarh is an important film that handles a sensitive matter masterfully. Manoj Bajpayee delivers an absolutely storming performance as a homosexual professor who is persecuted just because of his sexual orientation. Bajpayee’s work is complemented quite well by Rajkumar Rao as an enthusiastic real-life young journalist Deepu Sebastian (who incidentally worked at the Indian Express then).
Based on Andrzej Sapkowski’s stories, which also inspired a hugely popular series of open-world RPG video-games, the world of the witcher resembles Westeros (from Game of Thrones) in many ways. For one, it is a gritty, dirty world full of violence, sex, and so on. For another, there is no clear division of good or bad like in most fantasy tales. However, The Witcher boasts of a lot of magic and fantastical creatures, which George RR Martin’s novels shied away from. The hero itself, Geralt of Rivia, is a mutated human with superhuman abilities. Game of Thrones in comparison had magic, but only on the periphery, at least in the first few seasons.
A Series of Unfortunate Events is based on the book series of the same name by Daniel Handler who uses his pen name Lemony Snicket to write the books. The story follows three Baudelaire children – a baby girl, a boy and his elder sister. The children have a fortune to their name, but a certain Count Olaf (played with a patent delight by Neil Patrick Harris) would like the fortune to himself. He will kill the children if that is what it took. The devilish Count is assisted by even nastier minions.
Fun for children, and a decent way to pass time for adults, Alvin and the Chipmunks is one of the better family movies.
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.
This animated adventure revolves around a misunderstood and ostracised ogre who gets inundated by fairy tale creatures and goes on a quest to get back the quiet he had in his swamp. There are three sequels, and they are pretty good too.
Starring Saif Ali Khan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui, this Netflix show helped India become a global force in the web series space. While the first season drew in viewers who praised all aspects of the show, the second season attracted some criticism. It is yet to be known if the show will come back for a third season since the second season ended on a cliffhanger.
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.
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.