– Made in Heaven (Amazon Prime, Series)
From the makers of Gully Boy comes Made in Heaven. Zoya Akhtar, Alankrita Shrivastava (director of Lipstick Under My Burkha), Nitya Mehra (director of Baar Baar Dekho) and Prashant Nair direct. MIH is about Tara Khanna (Sobhita Dhulipala) and Karan Mehra (Arjun Mathur) – two wedding planners in India, planning the big day(s) for the ultra-rich and moneyed.
Tara comes from the middle class but is now married to tycoon Adil Khanna (Jim Sarbh), and Karan is gay in an India which only recently overturned the draconian Section 377. Every episode is a new wedding, different people, religions, mindsets, and via these varied scenarios the story deals with a myriad of social issues. The fabulous star cast includes Kalki Koechlin and Shashank Arora (whom you might remember from the gorgeous Titli).
– Mirzapur (Amazon Prime, Series)
Mirzapur is the story of two brothers Guddu (Ali Fazal), who’s all brawn and Bablu Pandit (Vikrant Massey), who’s all brain. Sons of an honest lawyer in a small town, the brothers, through a series of unfortunate incidents, start to work for Akhanda Tripathi (Pankaj Tripathi)and his son Munna (Divyendu Sharma, of the Pyar ka Punchnama films), the criminals who rules over Mirzapur.
This series is the poor cousin to “Gangs of Wasseypur”. The genre is about the same, with Mirzapur being even more violent and gory. It is still pretty binge-worthy because it ramps up very quickly, is fast-paced and has a spectacular cast.
– Delhi Crime (Netflix, Series)
Delhi Crime is based on the Nirbhaya case, where a woman was gang-raped and fatally tortured in a moving bus in New Delhi. Shefali Chaya is Vartika Chaturvedi, DCP South, the woman in charge of the investigation. This Season of Delhi Crime follows Vartika and her crack team of police officers as they pursue the 6 perpetrators. Rajesh Tailing, Rasika Duggal, Adil Hussain (of English Vinglish fame) are among the superb cast.
– Soni (Netflix, Feature Film)
Soni (Gitika Vidya Ohlyan) is a young policewoman in Delhi. She is honest, hard-working and passionate about her job. Her work is appreciated by her superior Kalpana (Saloni Batra), but Kalpana herself is called to task when the frustrated Soni sometimes let loose.
This hard-hitting film is a character study of Soni and Kalpana as they wage war on crimes against women and the entrenched patriarchy. They still have to do it within their limits, and Soni comes very close to crossing hers. The film’s tone is set by the audio we hear in the background – there is always news or the radio playing, the newscasters detailing out these crimes or spewing PSAs exhorting women to be cautious and safe. A similar technique was employed in the short “That Day After every Day”.
