OTT Round Up - Sushmita Sen And Raveena Tandon Bring On High Drama With Aarya 2 And Aranyak, Madhavan-Surveen Chawla Team Up For Decoupled, Vinay Pathak-Ranvir Shorey Jodi Returns With 420 IPC

Aarya 2 is coming quick on the heels of the first season which had made quite some impression last year and takes off immediately

OTT Round Up - Sushmita Sen And Raveena Tandon Bring On High Drama With Aarya 2 And Aranyak (Source- Instagram)

By Joginder Tuteja

It was women power all the way as 90s leading ladies Sushmita Sen and Raveena Tandon returned on the small screen with Aarya 2 and Aranyak respectively.

Aarya 2 is coming quick on the heels of the first season which had made quite some impression last year and takes off immediately.  Yet again, Ram Madhavi has come up with a filmy drama that keeps your attention on right through the narrative. One does feel though that the promotion and marketing of the web series left a lot to be desired as Aarya 2 has released way too quick without much of a build up. One can understand about new shows where waters still need to be tested but for a hit show like Aarya, there could well have been a far more solid push en route its arrival on Disney + Hotstar.

Ditto for Aranyak which has a top leading lady from the era gone by, Raveena Tandon, making her big comeback. The series is in fact good and impresses with its blend of drama, supernatural and action, just like Richa Chaddha starrer Candy had on Voot. However, even though a biggie like Netflix is associated here, the marketing seems to be rather constrained. While they have gone all out with Money Heist (and rightly so), even Aranyak could have gained with an added promotional push.

Coming soon

One just hopes that things do get better for this week’s release Decoupled. Arriving on Netflix, this one is indeed a true biggie as after the first season of Breathe, Madhavan is now arriving in yet another web series. This time around the theme is relatively light hearted as it narrates the story of a couple which is splitting. In a way, this could well be Tabu Weds Manu redux, though the characters this time around (with Surveen Chawla playing Mashavan’s wife) being far more urban and cosmopolitan. Made in English, this one has director Hardik Mehta returning after delivering one of the only big screen successes of 2022, Roohi.

As for the fans of Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story and The Big Bull, there is yet another OTT offering which is centred on a bank scam. Titled 420 IPC, this one is about a man (Vinay Pathak) who is accused of indulging in a bank scam and may or may not be actually the perpetrator of crime. It’s always a pleasure to see the actor with Ranvir Shorey and this time around both would be seen on the opposite sides with Ranbir being a lawyer and grilling him in court. Arriving on ZEE5, the film also stars Gul Panag and Rohan Vinod Mehta who would be seen after Pataal Lok and Baazaar respectively.

Release dates

Decoupled - 17th December - Netflix

420 IPC - 17th December - ZEE5