Cursed season one is streaming on Netflix.
With movie theaters still being closed and the fear of coronavirus prevalent in people, we have all accepted that the only way to consume new content that comes from all over the world is via OTT platforms. Streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ Hotstar, ZEE5, Voot, Apple TV+ among many more, usually have something for everybody.
In the month of July, we already saw the release of Tom Hanks starrer Greyhound on Apple TV+ and Charlize Theron starrer The Old Guard on Netflix.
In terms of web series, we saw the release of Abhishek Bachchan and Amit Sadh starrer Breathe: Into the Shadows. The 12-episode series premiered on Amazon Prime Video and has received mixed reviews. Undekhi also dropped on SonyLIV.
The films that are yet to release this month include Sushant Singh Rajput starrer Dil Bechara on Disney+ Hotstar, Vidya Balan starrer Shakuntala Devi on Amazon Prime Video, Kunal Kemmu starrer Lootcase on Disney+ Hostar and Vidyut Jammwal starrer Yaara on ZEE5.
Dil Bechara, starring Sushant Singh Rajput and Sanjana Sanghi, releases on Disney+ Hotstar on July 24. The film, based on John Green’s novel The Fault in our Stars, has been directed by Mukesh Chhabra. Dil Bechara marks the last film of late actor Sushant Singh Rajput who passed away on June 14. The film’s music has been composed by AR Rahman with lyrics by Amitabh Bhattacharya.
Vidya Balan will play the role of famed mathematician Shakuntala Devi in the biopic that is all set to release on July 31 on Amazon Prime Video. Directed by Anu Menon, the film also stars Sanya Malhotra, Amit Sadh and Jisshu Sengupta.
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.