Soul is now streaming on Disney+ Hotstar. It’s the last weekend of 2020 and for many, this is going to be a long weekend that ends after welcoming the new year. To have a gala time to kick in the last weekend of the year, the OTT platforms have presented us with various options that can surely keep us entertained through the chilly winter.
Some of the recent releases include – Disney+ Hotstar’s Criminal Justice Behind Closed Doors and Soul, Netflix’s Bridgerton, AK vs AK, Sony LIV’s Sandwiched Forever and Prime Video’s Coolie No 1.
Prime Video also released Coolie No 1 on Christmas Day. Starring Varun Dhawan and Sara Ali Khan in lead roles, this is David Dhawan’s 45th film and is a remake of his own 1995 film. Talking about the film, Varun Dhawan told indianexpress.com, “It is very relevant and relatable because it is a love story, and love stories are timeless. A story about pure love can never go out of fashion. It is also a classic comedy, and in today’s world, everybody needs to laugh more than ever. Our film has it all. It is a comedy of errors, and a family film. For a very long time, we have not had an out-and-out comedy that is meant for family viewing. Especially so for OTT platforms, as most of what they stream are dark and gritty. So, our aim is to end the year by making viewers laugh and spread some Christmas cheer. The whole family, including young and old, can watch the film together.”
Other releases of this weekend include Netflix’s AK vs AK, a meta film starring Anurag Kashyap and Anil Kapoor, directed by Vikramaditya Motwane. The film started streaming on December 24 and follows an actor whose daughter has been kidnapped.
The Indian Express film critic Shubhra Gupta gave the film 2.5 stars. She said in her review, “Motwane’s movie is not just meta. It’s meta-meta, especially when some parts hit too close to the mark, and some are just tantalisingly off the mark. Overnight no can become a star, unless your surname is Kapoor, smirks Anurag, causing Anil to wince. This line, about the astounding longevity of the Kapoors and Khans, is well-known. But we also know that Anil had to work hard for his success. And would AK Jr ever say this to AK Sr on his face?”
Disney+ Hotstar is streaming the new season of Criminal Justice starring Pankaj Tripathi, Anupria Goenka, Kirti Kulhari among others.
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.
Larry David plays his own fictionalised version in this HBO series. The show is uproariously funny, and it really brings out the talent of the writer behind Seinfeld.
Coolie No 1 is the remake of the film of the same name. It stars Varun Dhawan, Sara Ali Khan, Paresh Rawal and Jaaved Jaaferi among others. The film is the 45th directorial of David Dhawan who also helmed the original. It featured Govinda, Karisma Kapoor and Kader Khan in the lead roles.
The Queen’s Gambit may have its weak spots, but it is for the most part enthralling entertainment. An empowering feminist tale about a female chess prodigy that, thankfully for amateurs, does not get bogged down in fine details and is still satisfying to those who do know the game.
Elijah Wood plays an everyman whose life is turned into a veritable whirlwind by 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.
Your definitive zombie movie. In this South Korean film, zombies do not hobble, they run like Usain Bolt and possess the stamina of a racehorse. Cramped confines of a train do wonders and well-drawn characters are pretty relatable. The pacing is just right. Bottom line is, if you love zombie movies, you cannot really go wrong with this one.
Modern Love is a romantic anthology TV series that dramatises the real-life love stories from the New York Times' column of the same name. For those not familiar with the column, it has essays and stories submitted by readers. The column offers honest explorations of love, relationships and related topics. Modern Love explores love in all its forms, including experiencing it, feeling it, needing it, betrayal, heartbreak, and so on.
Parasite created history at the Academy Awards 2020 as it became the first international film to win the Best Film prize. The Indian Express' Shalini Langer wrote in her review of Parasite, "Korean director Bong Joon Ho’s latest film is a subtle and subversive depiction of class. The setting is Korean, and Ho brings out that country’s obsession with America, English, North Korea and aspirations succinctly. But in depicting the many layers that divide, and blind, the rich from the poor, the poor from the rich, men from women, and husbands from wives, Parasite is universal. And very, very unsettling."
HBO’s The Outsider has proven to be as good as, if not better, than the best-selling Stephen King novel it takes its source material from. That is not something you can say so often with the Master of Horror.
Good Newwz revolves around two couples who opt for an IVF treatment, but a mix-up leads to a comedy of errors.
AK vs AK, starring Anil Kapoor and Anurag Kashyap, is a meta comedy-thriller. It follows Kashyap, the brash film director who kidnaps popular movie star Kapoor’s daughter Sonam Kapoor Ahuja and films his search for her in real-time to present it as his next blockbuster.
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. Go behind the scenes of the Disney Parks dream.
This M Night Shyamalan-produced and directed psychological horror drama generated some good buzz thanks to its promos that teased a series with a fresh, unnerving premise. Dolls that come alive is nothing new in horror, but Servant gives it a unique twist.
Anurag Kashyap’s first release Black Friday is a riveting tale based on the 1993 bombings that shook Mumbai. Though the film was not a commercial success, it has gained a cult status over the years. Kashyap through his actors recreated the actual events as faithfully as possible. Kay Kay Menon, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Vijay Maurya and Aditya Shrivastava among others gave spectacular performances in 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.
Set in Kashmir in the 1990s, Haider tackled many sensitive matters pretty deftly with a fairly neutral eye. It was another triumphant entry in Vishal Bhardwaj’s glorious line of Shakespeare adaptations set in Indian context (Maqbool and Omkara drew inspiration from Macbeth and Othello respectively) and was based on one of the most famous works by the Bard: Hamlet. With a taut storyline, strong performances particularly by Shahid Kapoor as the titular character, Haider was relentlessly absorbing.
Aligarh is an important film that handled 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 young journalist.
Unpaused is an anthology of five short films directed by Raj & DK, Nikkhil Advani, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Avinash Arun and Nitya Mehra. The five directors share five stories from lockdown when the world around us came to a standstill. The five stories examine the loneliness, the struggles and even the epiphanies that changed our lives during the lockdown.
Watch Jallikattu, India’s Oscar entry for 2021, on Prime Video. The Lijo Jose Pellissery film examines the nature of the relationship that’s shared between humans and nature. Jallikattu derives its name from the controversial bull-taming event that is held in the southern part of the country. The film is about a group of men coming together to stop a bull that is running wild in their village.
Starring Bhumi Pednekar, Durgamati is now streaming on Prime Video. The Indian Express’ Shubhra Gupta wrote in her review of the film, “Of course, life can be stranger than fiction, and there are things in this world that no one can explain. That’s what ‘horror-thrillers’ are meant for, and if you want to go down that path, you have to ensure that the viewers will fall for it, hook, line and several sinkers. But there are zero thrills or chills in Durgamati, the Hindi remake of the Tamil-Telugu bilingual Bhaagmathie, by the same director. The whole thing, which stretches for an inordinate 2.5 hours, is almost entirely unintentionally hilarious.”