The Indian Express' Shubhra Gupta called Breathe: Into the Shadows a "preposterous web series" in her review. She further wrote, "Abhishek Bachchan has a few moments, but can’t get rid of the stiltedness that coats his character. Some attempt has been made to give his Avinash an interesting back-story, and again some of those parts are effective, as we see how childhood trauma can have a lasting impact on a fragile mind. Next thing we know, there’s psychobabble involving split personalities. Several characters show up to pad up the proceedings: women who love women, amazingly cheerful wheelchair users, astonishingly fearless ladies of the night when confronting people who could be psychopaths, a recovering drug addict with a dark secret, a competitive female cop who wants to get ahead, and so on. Off and on, there’s a watchable scene or two, and then, wham, back to the table, with lines such as ‘crockery ki dukaan mein khula saand’, a literal translation of ‘a bull in a china shop’. Nope, not kidding."
In a conversation with indianexpress.com, Amit Sadh spoke about his character on the show and said, "It has been a long journey. I was offered this role around 2016 after Sultan’s release. To be honest, I have put everything in this character. The success of the first season and the love my character got in it, allowed me to work harder. All the things you are liking in Breathe, the credit goes to the director and writer. As far as I am concerned, I have given my 1000 per cent to the character, and I will continue to give my heart and soul to Breathe because this series means everything to me."
Recently, Netflix announced 17 new films and shows that will be released on the streaming platform in the upcoming weeks. These are - Gunjan Saxena The Kargil Girl, Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitare, Ludo, Raat Akeli Hai, Torbaaz, Ginny Weds Sunny, Tribhanga – Tedhi Medhi Crazy, AK vs AK, Kaali Khuhi, Serious Men, Class of ’83, Bombay Rose, Masaba Masaba, A Suitable Boy, Bombay Begums, Mismatched and Bhaag Beanie Bhaag.
Talking about the upcoming slate of releases, Monika Shergill, VP-Content of Netflix India told The Indian Express, "Based on a true story Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl is different from Raat Akeli Hai, which is a thriller. There are interesting releases such as Masaba Masaba, AK Vs AK and Tribhanga – Tedhi Medhi Crazy that features Kajol. Yes, some of them would probably have released in theaters, but we are happy to bring them to our consumers. It is going to be a packed release calendar for us as these Indian titles are scheduled to release along with our international ones."
She added, "We keep trying to provide good content. This year, we had Jamtara, Betaal, Guilty, She, Bulbbul. From the new line-up, several titles we hope will find love and success. A lot of Indian stories are widely watched but not talked about such as Betaal and Taj Mahal 1989. It is important to cater to different sections of our audience."
This FX series has everything in its favour - colourful characters, dark humour, varied settings (every season takes place in different places and times), and excellent writing. Cops face solo gangsters or gangsters with families and your sympathies are dragged all over the place. You think things like -- why did this charismatic rascal had to be a bad person, inherently? There is a character played by David Thewlis in the third reason who is the repelling-yet-compelling sort -- a perfect representation of the show as a whole, I think.
Starring Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham in the titular roles of Luke Hobbs and Deckard Shaw, the Fast and Furious spin-off movie featured Idris Elba as villain Brixton Lore.
The Dark Knight is widely considered to be the best superhero movie ever made, though it has little common with the superhero movies being made today. Its ‘superhero’ was just a costumed and well-muscled rich guy – a man without any superhuman abilities.
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.
Hugh Jackman’s final outing as Wolverine is one of the best superhero movies ever made. This is the Wolverine movie we needed and deserved. A no holds barred film filled with ample gore and eye-popping action, a compelling desolate setting, and marvellous work by Jackman and Patrick Stewart in their last hurrah, Logan is fantastic.
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.
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.
Tired of stiff and prissy British royalty? Well, let’s take a look at Vikings, the ruthless raiders and warriors who dared to see what lay beyond at the cost of their lives. Many famous Vikings like Harald Bluetooth (after him the Bluetooth technology is named, no kidding) and our own Ragnar Lothbrok, the hero of Vikings, went on to become great kings. Vikings explores the rise of Ragnar to the top – and his inevitable fall -- as well has the story of his sons.
Equal parts swashbuckling piracy adventure and fantasy, Pirates of the Caribbean, or at least the first two films, is wholesome entertainment for the whole family.
Despite its mixed critical reviews, The Mummy (1999) is simply one of the best adventure movies ever made. Brendan Fraser's Rick O'Connell is an American adventurer who accidentally awakens a cursed high priest Imhotep from the era of Seti I, a pharaoh that ruled Egypt around 3300 years ago. The special effects handled by Industrial Light & Magic still hold up superbly.
Helmed by Drew Goddard and co-written by him and Joss Whedon, The Cabin in the Woods is a subversive horror film that takes the hackneyed remote forest cabin premise of so many horror films and turns it on its head. The result is a smartly written and acted movie. Chris Hemsworth plays the role of Curt Vaughan, who is one of the college students who go on a vacation to that forest cabin.
A quintessential adventure movie, it is hard to choose one among these Indiana Jones movies, though I would probably rate the original as the best. A poll from a couple of years ago deemed Harrison Ford's fictional archaeology professor the most popular movie character, beating out Batman and his own Han Solo. It is easy to see why. Indiana Jones lives the life many dream of. There is nothing remotely dull in his life, it appears, as he fights the Nazis, cult leaders and all manner of scum of society... and comes out of the fray alive and still pining for more adventure.
In this Sam Hargrave directorial, Chris Hemsworth’s character Tyler Rake, a mercenary, is recruited by another mercenary Nik Khan (Golshifteh Farahani) to rescue the son (Rudhraksh Jaiswal) of an imprisoned crime lord (Pankaj Tripathi). Randeep Hooda, Priyanshu Painyuli and David Harbour also star.
While the plot and characters are thin, Extraction is all the same a gripping piece of entertainment.
Relive your childhood and follow the adventures of ultra-rich Scrooge McDuck, and his three grandnephews Huey, Dewey and Louie in the classic series.
This show is based on the children book series of the same name and follows two young siblings as they try to protect themselves and their fortune from the devilish Count Olaf (played with a menacing glee by the inimitable Neil Patrick Harris). The series is the right mix of horror and comedy and you scarcely mind the improbability of the events unfolding before you, since it is incredibly entertaining.
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.
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.
An Amazon Original, Lore is based on a podcast of the same name. Every episode of the show tells the origins of a horror story and although it is more of a documentary than drama, it is a slickly produced show that is engaging enough for a binge. You might want to check out the podcast as well. It is sublime.
After Life has been written and directed by popular British comedian and actor Ricky Gervais. Gervais is known for his snarky, brutally honest style of comedy. And that is what he brings to the table here. Except this time he is not hosting any awards show and offending the rich and famous people of showbiz. In After Life, we see another facet of Gervais — the performer. In the series, he has lost the love of his life, his wife, and he finds it hard to keep up the pretence of normality. That results in some heartfelt, but truly hilarious moments.
Parichay, a screen adaptation of Rajkumar Mitra’s Bengali novel Rangeen Uttarain, delightfully dealt with relationships. It is a story of an unemployed man Ravi (Jeetendra) who readily takes up the job of tutoring Raisaheb AP Rai’s (Pran) four grandchildren until he finds a proper job. While tutoring them, he finds love in their elder sister Rama (Jaya Bhaduri). If you are looking for a wholesome family entertainer with some soothing music, watch this simple yet impactful film by Gulzar. While the notorious kids will make you laugh with their antics to make Ravi quit the job of their tutor, you may get emotional seeing the relationship between a rigid grandfather and his grandchildren.
Taapsee Pannu and filmmaker Anubhav Sinha collaborated for the first time in Mulk which highlighted the prejudice against Muslims in India. The film chronicled the struggle of a Muslim family after a family member is declared a terrorist. The boy’s father Bilal (Manoj Pahwa) and uncle Murad (Rishi Kapoor) also come under the scanner after his death in a police encounter. This is when their Hindu daughter-in-law Aarti Mohammed (Pannu) takes charge of the case and bring justice to them.
Forrest Gump boasts of one of Tom Hanks’ finest performances yet. And it is so much better than that draggy book which had some truly awful narration. It is amazing how someone could transform that heap of garbage to such a lovely film.
Luck By Chance, starring Farhan Akhtar and Konkana Sen Sharma, released in 2009, and tanked at the box office. Not because it was a bad film, but because it was way ahead of its time. Through the story of two outsiders in Bollywood, Vikram and Sona, Zoya Akhtar’s debut directorial pointed figures at everything wrong in Bollywood, from nepotism, insecurity among actors, mediocrity to the competition. The film was also a lesson on hope and how one should learn to appreciate what they have in life.
Starring Charlize Theron in the lead role, The Old Guard is now streaming on Netflix. The Indian Express critic Shubhra Gupta gave the film 3 stars and wrote in her review, “There are some lax moments, and a bit of portentousness in the dialogue. But in the way of slick superheroes flicks, there’s enough wham-bam, guns rattling and bodies piling up, to keep things ticking over nicely.”
Manoj Bajpayee starrer Bhosle is now streaming on SonyLIV. The Indian Express critic Shubhra Gupta wrote in her review of the film, “The last time Manoj Bajpayee internalised a role as much was in 2017's Gali Guleiyan. Here he is even better. Bhonsle, streaming on SonyLIV, gives us an actor on the top of his game."
The Hulu series streams in India on Disney+ Hotstar. Starring Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington, Little Fires Everywhere is a show about motherhood and the struggles that come with it. Based on the bestselling book by Celeste Ng, the show follows two mothers who are sometimes overwhelmed by the responsibilities that they have to fulfill. The secrets, the lies and everything that lies beneath their relationships with their children form the plot here. Watch it for Witherspoon and Washington.
In Sumukhi Suresh’s Pushpavalli, we follow Pushpavalli as she moves cities and changes her career after she meets a boy. Her sneaky ways of trying to become a part of the boy’s life start getting creepy soon, but for Pushpavalli, it’s all an expression of love. Her twisted tale can easily serve as a tale of caution. Two seasons of Pushpavalli are currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
The first successful Indian web show, Permanent Roommates follows Mikesh and Tanya as they take their long-distance relationship and turn it into a live-in relationship. Permanent Roommates started the trend of rom-coms in the Indian web space and the first season of the show is still loved.
The first season of Breathe narrated the story of a father (R Madhavan) who is ready to go to any length to save his son from a deadly lung disease. He starts killing the organ recipients who are ahead of his son in a list. Everything goes as per plan until he reaches the last recipient (Sapna Pabbi), who is the ex-wife of Senior Inspector Kabir Sawant (Amit Sadh).
Crime thriller Undekhi has a coldblooded murder at the centre of its plot. An intoxicated rich man shoots a dancer dead after she refuses to match steps with him at a stag party. A photographer, Rishi, captures the entire crime and is then threatened by the powerful men. Read more
The eight-episode web series revolves around the manhunt for a fictitious mastermind responsible for carrying out multiple terror attacks, from the one on Parliament in 2001 to 26/11 Mumbai attacks. The web series was an instant hit among the audience. If you like edge-of-the-seat thrillers, this one should not be missed.
Zero Dark Thirty is a fictionalised account of the decade-long hunt for former Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden was shot to death during the much-talked-about night raid of his compound in Pakistan on May 2, 2011. The movie’s name is inspired from the same raid and the fact that much of the hunt was shrouded in darkness, and very little was known of bin Laden’s whereabouts until the very end. Read more
Asha (Prajakta Koli) is a class topper in a small village in Haryana. When we meet her, she is cooking her own ‘khayali pulao’ (daydreaming) until her sports coach Kharab Sir (Yashpal Sharma) announces he is forming a handball team for a match on Republic Day. Asha, who is good in academics, is determined to be a part of this team. Her teacher, coach, friend and mother are unable to fathom her sudden obsession with sports. However, the audience is told, it is not for her love for the sport, but its the uniform, a T-shirt and shorts, that entices her. Read more
The series, based on an illustrated novel of the same name by Frank Miller and Tom Wheeler, stars Katherine Langford in the lead role. It pictures a Britain in which Nimue belongs to a race of otherworldly beings called the Fey, who are being persecuted by an order of zealot monks called the Red Paladin, led by Peter Mullan’s Father Carden. There is Merlin, as well, played by Vikings and Westworld star Gustaf Skarsgård. Read More
With the cop drama Singham starring Ajay Devgn as a passionate police officer Bajirao Singham, Rohit Shetty brought back the traditional Bollywood cop. Devgn plays a righteous police officer who is out to take revenge. Special mention to Prakash Raj for acing the role of antagonist Jaikant Shikre. While watching it, you might feel you are watching a 1970s Bollywood masala entertainer packed with the perfect dose of comedy, action, romance and drama.
Starring Tripti Dimri, Avinash Tiwary, Rahul Bose, Parambrata Chattopadhyay, Bulbbul is streaming on Netflix. The Indian Express' review of the film read, "Anvita Dutt’s striking debut feature is set in the late 19th century Bengal. It uses the supernatural horror genre to tell the story of a wide-eyed child bride whose quest for a kindred soul and kindness pulls her deep into peril. Bulbbul (Dimri), a free spirit who used to love climbing trees and plucking raw mangoes in her ‘maayka’, has to turn into an obedient wife to her much older husband Indranil (Bose), who lives in a big haveli, with his mentally challenged twin Mahendra (Bose again), Mahendra’s wife Binodini (Dam), and younger brother Satya."
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. Streaming on SonyLIV, Kadakh opens in Malti (Mansi Multani) and Sunil’s (Ranvir Shorey) house. As soon as we see the nameplate that says ‘Ghar Malti-Sunil Ka’, we know this marriage is on the rocks as Kapoor pays homage to Basu Bhattacharya’s 1974 film Avishkaar. And by the time this film ends, it’s obvious that this marriage is over.
Set during the Great Depression in America, Mildred Pierce is the story of a divorced woman who is trying to run her restaurant business while also dealing with her difficult daughter Veda. Directed by Todd Haynes, the show stars Kate Winslet in the titular role. Watching Winslet’s Mildred come to terms with her new economic reality as she tries hard to like her daughter is nothing short of brilliant.
Lovesick opens with Dylan Witter (Johnny Flynn), who is diagnosed with chlamydia. Now, Dylan has to take up the unthinkable task of getting in touch with every ex-girlfriend and inform her about his condition so she can get tested. This premise gives the show an interesting narrative technique as we meet an ex-girlfriend every episode.
Read More | Lovesick: The binge-worthy romcom
The Indian Expres'' Ektaa Malik wrote in her review of the musical, "The achievements of Alexander Hamilton have been well documented, his contribution as the founder of the modern finance system and his strong support of the US Constitution, is all entrenched in the public domain. But its everything else that makes this musical drama into the pop-culture phenomenon that it has become — right from the very catchy and hummable music, to the eclectic choreography — Hamilton is a winner on all fronts."
Starring YouTuber Prajakta Koli, Khayali Pulao is a short film streaming on YouTube. "Khayali Pulao, apart from boasting of a strong message on empowering women, highlights the power of hard work and self-belief," writes indianexpress.com's Arushi Jain.
Also Read | Khayali Pulao review: Prajakta Koli’s short film is simple, sweet and uplifting
Tom Hanks starrer Greyhound is now streaming on Apple TV+. The Indian Express' review of the film read, "Tom Hanks’ performances habitually do not call attention to themselves. In this one, he goes even more minimalistic, literally battening down on his hatches, as he takes split-second calls."
As Bajrangi Bhaijaan completes five years, watch this Salman Khan film on Disney+ Hotstar. The film, which also stars Harshali Malhotra, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Om Puri, Kareena Kapoor Khan among others, has been directed by Kabir Khan. The film follows a simple man who finds an abandoned mute little girl. It is now his mission to take her back to her home in Pakistan.
This web series starring Abhishek Bachchan, Nithya Menen and Amit Sadh in significant roles follows the story of a couple whose daughter gets kidnapped. After they start getting clues from the kidnapper, they realise that they will have to compromise their morality to get their daughter back.
Also Read | Breathe Into The Shadows review
Directed by Sam Mendes, 1917 is set during World War I. The premise of the film has two men crossing the trenches and passing a message to call off an attack but since that path is extremely dangerous, they have to risk their life to get to the other side. The film appears to be shot in one take and that makes it visually stunning.
Starring Charlize Theron in the lead role, The Old Guard is now streaming on Netflix. Based on the comic book of he sam ename, this film is the story of immortal assassins who are now on the run as an evil pharamceutical company wants to capture them and decipher the code of their immortality, but for the wrong reasons.
Also Read | The Old Guard review: A superhero movie with a difference
Kannada film Law follows a female law student, who takes on injustice despite the odds stacked up against her. The film marks the acting debut of Ragini Prajwal.