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.”
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.
Chernobyl, a miniseries based on the nuclear disaster of the same name, is scarier than any horror story in existence, precisely because it did happen in the past and a similar event can happen in future. Human incompetence, after all, has no limits. Read more
The Last Kingdom gives some interesting insights on Alfred the Great, the man who first envisioned the idea of England as a single entity as opposed to a conglomerate of disparate kingdoms like Mercia and Wessex. The story is told through the eyes of a nobleman's son who is kidnapped by the Danes invading England.
The Imagineering Story is about Walt Disney Imagineering, a little known design and development centre of The Walt Disney Company, which creates Disney theme parks and attractions around the world.
Set three decades after the Evil Dead movies, this comedy-horror series has Bruce Campbell reprising the role of Ash Campbell. Sam Raimi, who directed the first three Evil Dead movies, has developed Ash vs Evil Dead.
Netflix’s adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Victorian-era Gothic horror novel was a surprisingly clever, well-performed piece of entertainment. While it was a considerable departure from the source material, it remains an interpretation that Stoker himself probably would have been proud of.
An underrated show of the time when the Palace of Versailles was being built, and the court was being moved from Paris to Versailles. The show offers insight into the politics of the time and how kings dealt threats, internal and external.
The classic Doordarshan TV series based on RK Narayan's charming small-town based stories still holds up well. Relive your childhood with this series.
Watch Masaba Gupta and Neena Gupta play their fictional selves in a web series inspired by their lives. The series follows the mother-daughter duo as they navigate their life through their competitive careers while also balancing their personal life.
Bhaag Beanie Bhaag follows Beanie Bhatnagar (Swara Bhasker), who steps away from her supposed ‘perfect life’ to become a stand-up comedian.
In Margarita with a Straw, Kalki Koechlin’s character is a teenage girl who is not afraid to express her sexual urges and finds herself enjoying getting intimate with both men and women.