Bandish Bandits is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
Theatres are slowly but gradually opening up in a few parts of the world, but for most of us, streaming services remain the best option to get our daily entertainment fix. Fortunately, the supply of content on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ Hotstar, Zee5, SonyLIV and others remains uninterrupted right now. We will probably have shortage of new TV shows and movies by the end of the year, but for now, there’s plenty of new content to enjoy.
One of the popular recent releases is Prakash Jha’s Pareeksha. Starring Adil Hussain, Priyanka Bose, Sanjay Suri and Shubham Jha, it is a commentary on India’s education system. It follows the story of a rickshaw puller in Bihar who dreams of providing quality education to his son and the challenges that come his way. Jha, known for critically-acclaimed films like Apaharan, Gangaajal, Raajneeti, Mrityudand and Damul, made his digital debut with Pareeksha. The film was earlier going to be released theatrically.
Jha earlier told Indianexpress.com, “The core of the story has been with me since childhood. I also used to travel to a convent school via a rickshaw, and I would always wonder about the kid of that rickshaw puller and even the peon in the school. Then Abhayanand once told me the story of the time he was posted in Jahanabad, which is a Naxal-afflicted area. Sometimes, when they would raid, they wouldn’t find the Naxals but would come across their children. These kids, once they overcame the fear of speaking to a police officer, would turn out to be so expressive. There were many success stories that came from there, when they were provided with the right education. That’s how the story came into being. There have been so many real-life stories of people who have faced several hurdles to give their kids basic education.”
Based on Neil Gaiman's fantasy novel, Stardust is directed by Matthew Vaughn. It stars two actors who later played comic-book superheroes - Charlie Cox (Daredevil) and Henry Cavill (Superman).
Julia Roberts stars in this psychologica thriller based on the podcast of the same name created by Eli Horowitz and Micah Bloomberg. Roberts plays the role of a social worker at a facility that apparently helps soldiers coming from war zones transition to the civilian life. Though, it is done by making the soldiers basically forget everything over a certain period of time, good or bad, creating a blank space in its place.
Bobby Cannavale, Stephan James, Shea Whigham also star in this tight, compelling thriller that needs to be watched to appreciate the superlative writing and performances.
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.
The concept of child soldiers is incredibly repelling. But it is not hypothetical. In some parts of the world, it is a reality. Beasts of No Nation involves Idris Elba's sadistic commandant conscripting a child into his army in Sierra Leone, West Africa. The film is a brutal blow to the viewer, and asks the question that how can we be so complacent when there still exist kids who are forced to fight and die?
This series really represents the rage of a man who avengers the death of his pet in the most brutal way imaginable. The movie and the series as a whole is cathartic in many ways. The action scenes are downright fantastic.
Created by Amritpal Singh Bindra (known for Bang Baaja Baaraat) and directed by Anand Tiwari (who made his feature directing debut with Netflix's Love Per Square Foot), Bandish Bandits is a romantic musical drama series. It juxtaposes two forms of music which are extremely different from each other.
Shubhra Gupta wrote in her review of the series, "Shah towers over the show, showing us how silence can convey so much, his expressions ranging, with a slight flicker, from outright disgust, to disapproval, to faint praise: last seen toying with ragas in Sarfarosh (1999), he fills his role completely. You wish though that the writers hadn’t chosen to reveal a few dark secrets which have deeply impacted his family, especially his daughter-in-law, so late into the ten episodes. It’s done with the intention of cracking the façade of the guru who can do no wrong, and by implication, stating that the old is not always the best, but it’s all done in too much of a hurry."