Updated on: 03 July, 2020 11:32 AM IST |
Asur, Panchayat, Paatal Lok: Five Best Web Shows of 2020 so far
Clearly, a winner, hands down. ‘Paatal Lok’ was a compelling investigative drama that neatly checks in social and religious divides, parent-child dynamics, child abuse, alternative sexualities, evolving responsibilities of the media, animal love and mythology. It can be a handful but creator Sudip Sharma cooks up a meatball of a show that boasts some of the best performances seen in a while on web. Led supremely by Jaideep Ahlawat, Neeraj Kabi and Abhishek Banerjee, ‘Paatal Lok’ satiated our long-standing hunger for a binge-worthy Indian show.
Season 2 of the much-loved ‘Four More Shots Please’ brought us a juicy popcorn fest that many of us are guilty of watching and re-watching, this lockdown season. In all honesty, most of us vicariously lived our summer vacations in Istanbul and Udaipur, thanks to the ladies. The friendship was stronger, the arcs tighter and thankfully, the men weren’t just mere eye candy, this season. Like it or hate it, it’s certainly hard to ignore this show. Streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
Directed by Deepak Kumar Mishra and produced by The Viral Fever, ‘Panchayat’ is a social satire on the life of an engineering graduate who becomes the Secretary at the Panchayat of a remote village, owing to lack of better job opportunities. Brought to life by an ever-dependable lot of actors including Jitendra Kumar, Neena Gupta, Raghubir Yadav, Chandan Roy and Faisal Malik, ‘Panchayat’ takes us to an India that remains oblivious to our woke sensibilities. Streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
Coupling forensic science and Indian mythology, ‘Asur’ is a deliciously taut thriller enacted by a spectacular cast featuring Arshad Warsi, Barun Sobti, Anupriya Goenka, Ridhi Dogra and Sharib Hashmi. Directed by Onir Sen, the show will keep you intrigued with its cliffhangers in every episode. Streaming on Voot Select.
Created and helmed by Soumendra Padhi, the National-Award winning director of ‘Budhia Singh: Born to Run’, Jamtara starred lesser known faces barring Amit Sial and scripted a compelling show centered upon phishing scams, a rampant menace that dictates young lives in Bihar’s Jamtara district. What makes the show stand out is that it does not deploy the use of sex or violence to tell the tale; a leeway Indian makers are guilty of misusing in the name of creative freedom. Streaming on Netflix.
With the ongoing pandemic shutting down cinema halls across the country, the web has come to our rescue and we cannot be more thankful for the existence of digital platforms than now. The first half of 2020 introduced us to newer shows or revived existing shows for a second season. We take a look at the best five that came our way in the first half of the year.
