‘Unbelievable‘ is brilliant! Do not miss it! The way this police procedural dives deep into the psychology of rape victims, detectives, and serial abusers is very intense and highly moving!
Category: Web Series Reviews
CHERNOBYL : Choking Saga of Horror
What is the cost of lies? Lies to cover-up the worst nuclear disaster ever in human history? What is the human value equivalent of that loss? Well the official Soviet numbers are still pegged at 31! The actual number for an incident that happened more than three decades ago could be anything between 4,000 to 96,000 and still counting! And yes, no one bothered to keep any track of that! Three decades on, some 2,600 square miles of area was evacuated deemed contaminated by the nuclear meltdown. And 300,000 of those temporarily moved residents have still not moved back, because the after effects of contamination are still active and will remain so for many more decades.
KOTA FACTORY : The Grey Dreams
It is not just an aesthetic differentiation that the new TVF original Kota Factory is possibly the first black and white Indian web series. Created by Saurabh Sharma, it uses the color scheme as the very handle to tell the world that the dreams of millions of students (and their parents) every year to crack IIT or equivalent is not all back and white, but a lot of grey in between. This well conceptualized show, that has been releasing one episode every week since the last three weeks exposes the dark shades of ambition vs. ability, and how the pressure often takes an irreconcilable toll on the young minds tainting them for life.
LAAKHON MEIN EK : Indeed Stands Out
Laakhon Mein Ek Season 2, as created by Biswa Kalyan Rath, and directed by Abhishek Sengupta, is a grounded tale of suburban and rural India that exposes the deep rooted corruption and process inefficiencies of our medical institutions. At another level, it is also the coming of age story of a brave, young doctor, who is punished with a rural posting in a hostile village, and how she practically turns things around towards good without differentiating between duty and responsibility unlike what her seniors preach her to practice.
TRIPLING SEASON 2 : Loses its way terribly
Let me begin with the confession that I had no idea about the Tripling world until very recently. I didn’t watch the Season 1 when it came out about three years back at a time when TVF show concepts were at their prime. It was only after Season 2 was launched and there was a buzz around it, that I watched both the seasons back to back. Of course it was the fresh, grounded and yet fun writing of Season 1 that ensured that I hung around and also completed Season 2 in one go. However, as it happens with multiple series, Tripling Season 2 isn’t even quarter as good as Season 1. In fact, its pretty bad in my opinion!
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DELHI CRIME : When Humanity Fights Insanity
“This crime is not just heinous, its insanity!” – That is how DCP South Delhi Vartika Chaturvedi expresses her shock and agony over one of the most gruesome and inhuman acts of violence of this decade, and one where she is now in charge to nab the criminals before they go untraceable. Delhi Crime is the retelling of the infamous Delhi gang rape case of 2012 that had scarred the nation permanently, this time through the lens of case files of the Delhi Police, and trying to fit itself in the broader genre of a police procedural. Scratch the surface, and it aspires to unearth a lot more.
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MADE IN HEAVEN : Chronicles of Hell!
“Made in Heaven believes – the wedding should celebrate the couple. The theme should tell their story. Love. Birds. Roses & Skies. Pink & Blue. Blush & Sparkle. This is your wedding”
That is the world of dreams that wedding planners Tara Khanna (Shobhita Dhulipala) and Karan Mehra (Arjun Mathur) want to sell to their clients and see it through execution. These are no ordinary clients or no ordinary weddings. These are big fat and pretentious Indian weddings in the truest sense, where wedding budgets run in crores and the profit from each sale runs in lakhs. Doesn’t matter if it pushes even the super rich families to enormous debts, there are huge obsessive egos and obnoxious societal impressions at stake. Doesn’t matter if the planners themselves are ducking their lenders (including close families) every month, or are not able to take care of the legitimate asks of their backbone breaking loyal team thereby losing them, its the world of vulgar showbiz they are in and only glitter sells. And certainly doesn’t matter, if the dreams they sell of heaven are all executed through experiences of hell, and there is abundance of cruel and ugly mess hidden under the grandeur of beauty and heaps of wealth at every layer of society.
PAANCH PHORON : Spices of Life
Paanch Phoron (Five spice blend) is the latest offering in the bangla web series world of the Hoi Choi platform. 5 different directors tell 5 different stories to explore 5 different aspects of love, in a compact Season 1 of 5 episodes, each episode running between 30 to 45 minutes.
It may be good to acknowledge it outright that the trailer of the series practically does no justice to the series, I had almost rejected it through the trailer itself, but a few interesting casting choices led me to explore a couple of episodes, and given that I quite liked one of them, I decided to watch it all. Overall, its a mixed bag, but is still much more watchable than the average wannabe content of the bangla web series that we see on some of these platforms.
YOU : Who is the Monster?
The new Netflix original series You is one of those extremely problematic shows that glorifies a psychotic monster all throughout and romanticizes extreme emotional abuse and deceit in the garb of going to any extent for love. By deciding to tell the story from a neurotic stalker’s perspective where he firmly believes in his intent and tries to legitimize his extreme darkness every single minute without any sense of guilt till the very end, the makers end up with a chillingly dehumanized message of the lowest form!
THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL (Season 2) : Further adds to the Marvel!
“Comedy is often fueled by disappointment and humiliation. Now who the hell does that describe more than women?” – Says the truly marvelous Mrs Maisel in one of her stand up acts. This one statement, apparently funny, is just one of the many strong messages that this fantastic show subtly delivers through sharp satirical humor! The journey had started with the wonderful Season 1 itself, but The Marvelous Mrs Maisel Season 2 ups its game even more this time, just like the acts of Miriam ‘Midge’ Maisel have become wittier, bolder, and increasingly fierce this season. And its not just the sharpness of the satire or the pungent comedy that Amy Sherman-Palladino has improved this time around, Season 2 appears far more holistic because she invests in better writing for wholesome coverage of drama, and there are all-round moments of joy, pain, heartbreak, ecstasy, surprise and frustration all throughout the show.
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