Culture & Living
Whether to indulge in some guilty pleasure or to give your brain cells a rest, queue up these shows for the next time you're in the mood to cringe-watch
Storytelling in cinema can serve many purposes. Some leave you pondering larger existential questions, while others serve as a guilty indulgence and yet others serve as escapist fare to subvert the monotony of everyday life. A little further beyond that end of the spectrum lies the terrain of cringe watches—designed to shock, surprise and scandalise, often all at once. Considered as the cinematic equivalent of a midnight binge, you will likely find yourself unable to stop after just one episode or one clip. The hotly-debated nature of these movies and TV shows often means that they become crucial cornerstones of conversation on the internet. If you’re looking to keep up with the virtual water cooler discussions, here are the titles you’ll want to add to your watchlist.
Under the watchful vigil of matchmaker Sima Taparia, clients from the United States and India attempt to find their soulmate while navigating the antiquated minutiae of the institution of arranged marriage in the country. Inspiring satire and social conversations in equal measure, Indian Matchmaking unintentionally served as the lynchpin for a larger discussion about marriages in India.
Streaming on Netflix
If Keeping Up With The Kardashians and The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills count as your favourite guilty indulgences on a lazy weekend, you’ll want to add Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives to your watchlist. Starring Maheep Kapoor, Neelam Kothari, Seema Khan and Bhavna Pandey, the first season offered a candid look at the personal and professional lives of the star wives as well as the everyday trials and triumphs of their 25-year-long friendship.
Streaming on Netflix
There are few constants in the world of reality shows, but ‘sex sells’ is probably its foremost edict. So, what happens when a reality show lays siege on a horde of serial swipers in a tropical paradise and takes sex out of the equation in lieu of a grand prize?
Streaming on Netflix
Managing to escape the pandemic-induced lockdown by a slim breadth, the Tony Award-winning musical found its way to the silver screen with its December 2019 release. With Oscar-winning director Tom Hooper at the helm, the marquee features an ensemble cast of Judi Dench, James Corden, Jason Derulo, Idris Elba, Jennifer Hudson, Taylor Swift and Rebel Wilson, among others. If you haven’t seen the musical before, you’ll want to give its on-screen adaptation a watch for the headiness of its oversized set pieces and photorealistic CGI, and maybe end the night with a few online reruns of the original Broadway musical as well.
Available for purchase on Amazon Prime Video
If you’ve been looking for a cringe comedy to have running in the background while doing your laundry, the hunt halts with The Wrong Missy. The romcom follows the time-honoured tradition of accidental-date-gone-right, however, that is not before subjecting its talented lead, Lauren Lapkus of Orange Is The New Black fame, to a series of cringe-inducing clichés and tropes.
Streaming on Netflix
If you were looking for an edge-of-the-seat thriller for date nights during the lockdown, this Shirish Kunder directorial likely wasn’t a frontrunner. After her husband is wrongfully accused of a series of serial killings, Jacqueline Fernandez’s character attempts a copycat crime to prove his innocence. The movie may not make it to your must-watch list for the gripping complexity of its plot, but chances are you’ll get a good laugh out of the formulaic jumpscares anyway.
Streaming on Netflix
Those looking for an escapist delight won’t want to miss the newest addition to Netflix’s reality roster: Bling Empire, that can easily pass off as a real-life adaptation of Crazy Rich Asians (2018). Over the course of eight episodes, the show offers inside access to the jet-set lives of Asian heiresses and thrill-seekers in sun-splashed Los Angeles. You’ll come for the Gucci-themed arcade party and stay for the jaw-dropping custom couture.
Streaming on Netflix