Such has been the impact of Scam 1992 for the last fortnight that despite being in the second week of its streaming, the escapades of Harshad Mehta, courtesy director Hansal Mehta and his brilliant find Pratik Gandhi (enacting the part of the central protagonist), were the most talked about. The web series has pretty much surpassed some of the best in the business in 2020 (most notably Patal Lok) and joined Special Ops as one of the most admired shows coming out of India.
No wonder, the series has in fact turned out to be one of those rare offerings that is even warranting a repeat watch amongst the audiences. In the times when even a two hour film doesn't really qualify for a repeat watch, here is this 10 hour long series that is finding such love and attention from all over. Rest assured, its makers [Applause Entertainment] and the OTT partner [Sony LIV] could well be grinning from ear to ear.
There were several other offerings on other OTT channels as well. ZEE5, in its tradition to keep churning new content every week, had two more releases - Comedy Couple and Poison 2.
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Former is a made-for-OTT release that was put together entirely in the pandemic. With a largely indoor shoot set in a couple of apartments, it was relatively easier as well. A romcom with a hint of Pyaar Ka Punchnama thrown in, this was one had 'babu shona' mode set for its lead protagonists Saqib Saleem (recently seen in Crackdown) and Shweta Basu Prasad (who is fast turning out to be Radhika Apte of 2020 with a release every second week). At last count, she has been seen in four shows (or is it five?).
The 2 hour film, which is 15 minutes too long, has an appeal in urban India, primarily metros, courtesy its stand-up comedy set up. A live-in couple is making good money with their comedy shows in Gurgaon but then has its own set of challenges that range from opening up before the parents and keeping their mouths shut, lest they aggravate those who are intolerant. A lot is packed in Comedy Couple which has its strengths in the light hearted moments, though could have done better had there been more roaring laughter during the stand-up shows as well.
On the other hand Poison 2 marks the second arrival of Poison, which had featured Arbaaz Khan, Tanuj Virwani and Freddy Daruwala in the lead roles. This time it's an altogether different story, though some sort of connect is established between the lead protagonist Aftab Shivdasani and the central character of Poison, Tanuj. Surprisingly, even though the series is directed by Vishal Pandya, who has delivered a couple of successes in Hate Story 2 and Hate Story 3, this saga of revenge and lust turns out to be rather unconvincing. Expectations were more.
This is the reason why a couple of English offerings that were unveiled in the week gone by turned out to be truly surprising. Hillary, a biography of sort featuring the lady herself in a documentary set up, arrived on Sony LIV. Though it has seen its world premiere a few months on TV, on the OTT medium it has arrived in India. A four hour long mini-series, it shows the life and times of one of the most talked about First Ladies, Hillary Clinton, and her trust with politics in her early days, her whirlwind romance with Bill Clinton and the fight with Donald Trump.
Given the fact that Trump is currently fighting it out for his second term, the timing of Hillary is well planned as it does paint a rather opinioned picture of the current President of the US.
This could well be the thought behind the release of The Trial of the Chicago 7 as well on Netflix. Based on the infamous 1969 trial of seven defendants who were charged by the federal government with conspiracy, it's a hard hitting courtroom drama that makes for an engaging two hour affair. In the times when web series are the order of the day, it is actually refreshing to see some original feature film content. This Aaron Sorkin directed affair should find its target set of audiences with growing word of mouth.
Watch out for:
One series which won't really have to wait for word of mouth and take an 'opening of sorts' (if a word like this could be coined for the OTT world as well) is Mirzapur 2. Just like Baahubali 2 which was hyped beyond imagination, the same has happened for this Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani produced show as well for which audiences have been waiting for quite some time to check out the second season. The original cast of Pankaj Tripathi, Ali Fazal and Divyendu Sharma returns and this time around the battle is expected to be bloodier and deadlier.
Then there is also mini-series A Suitable Boy which is arriving on Netflix. A Mira Nair offering, it features Ishaan Khatter in the lead along with Tabu. For Rasika Dugal though it would be a double bill since she would be seen in A Suitable Boy as well as Mirzapur 2 which streams on Amazon Prime.
(Joginder Tuteja is a trade expert and film critic, and loves to talk and write about anything that is related to films. Views are personal.)