By Joginder Tuteja
The week gone by was light when it came to OTT releases, what with The Wife and Bekaaboo 2 as the only two new arrivals. Both the web offerings came up with expected results, as was expected from the promo.
The Wife emerged as a decent drama with the usual horror tropes included in the narrative which made for time-pass entertainment. Gurmeet Choudhary has been around for a while and yet again he came up with a confident act in this ZEE5 affair. The story does have some surprises round the corner, though some added chills could have further elevated the proceedings of this 100 minute film. Debutante Sayani Datta is easy on eyes and it is good to see newer talent emerging every week due to the OTT medium coming to the fore.
As for ALT Balaji's Bekaaboo 2, it is for the adult audiences and carries a mix of thrills and erotica which was at the center-stage in the first season as well. Not the kind of web series which caters to the family folks, this one is for the gentry which catches such offerings in the comfort of their cell-phones and for them, there is expected entertainment that Priya Banerjee and Taher Shabbir bring to the proceedings.
Coming soon
It is going to be a busy Friday as 26th March would see the release of Silence...Can You Hear It, Pagglait, Hey Prabhu 2 and OK Computer.
The promo of Silence...Can You Hear It has been cut well and promises to be an intriguing crime thriller in the offering. Manoj Bajpayee leads the pack in this ZEE5 original film which also marks the comeback of Prachi Desai, this time as a cop. The year had started with Nailpolish which was again a crime drama that was fought in a courtroom. Now Silence...Can You Hear It has it all happening in a crime branch as the team comes together to solve the murder of a young woman. With Manoj Bajpayee in the lead, there is added credibility lent to the film.
Pagglait is yet another film starring Sanya Malhotra to release directly on OTT. While her Ludo had premiered on Netflix last year, Shakuntala Devi too had seen a digital arrival on Amazon Prime. Now Pagglait is a Ntflix release and the promo promises good fun. An Ekta Kapoor production, this one is about a young woman who has lost her husband but somehow grief doesn't seem to hit her hard. A dramedy in the offering, it comes close on the heels of Ramprasad Ki Tehrvi which was the first theatrical release of 2021.
Apart from these two films, there are a couple of web series too coming up. Hey Prabhu 2 is a follow-up to the first season and has Rajat Bamrecha as the central lead. An adult entertainment in the offering at MX Player, this one is about a guy who is facing similar challenges similar to that of Ayushmann Khurranna in Shubh Mangal Zayada Savdhan i.e. erectile dysfunction. Meanwhile, there is office drama integrated into the narrative as well by director Abhishek Dogra and one expects some good fun in store for young adults.
As for OK Computer, one waits to see how does the final product turn out to be as the promo hints of something really quirky. A futuristic tale with humor and drama integrated into the proceedings, this is created by Anand Gandhi who had made Ship of Theseus. A rare science fiction to be coming out of the Indian web scene, OK Computer features Radhika Apte, Vijay Varma and Rasika Dugal in principle roles with Jackie Shroff bringing star value to the proceedings. One waits to see what actually is served to the audiences by Disney+Hotstar here.
Release dates
Silence...Can You Hear It - ZEE5 - 26th March
Pagglait - Netflix - 26th March
Hey Prabhu 2 - MX Player - 26th March
OK Computer - Disney + Hotstar - 26th March
(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)