A city translated through the languages of love
Modern Love (Mumbai)’s greatest realization lies in the offering of the city’s palette: an architectural marvel in the Sea Link, an underlying bedrock in Thane, a warm enclosure in cutting chai. The city is steeped in the love its characters exude towards themselves and others. By Raunaq Saraswat
A Mature Portrayal of Science and Sensibility
SonyLIV web series Rocket Boys is a rare exception among recent dramas, where an entertaining story of post-Independent India also holds up a mirror of truths. - By Atulya Pathak
The ‘Secrets’ beyond a compelling Indian true-crime series
In House of Secrets: The Burari Deaths, Leena Yadav moulds the story about a tragedy into an active question of self-reflection for the larger society. - By Atulya Pathak
TVF’s continuing ‘Aspiration’ as the voice of India’s Youth
With coming-of-age series Aspirants, streaming platform The Viral Fever continue to tell stories close to the heart of the Indian youth, serving as an evolving meme of our times. By Raunaq Saraswat
The Long, Dark Chai-Time of the Soul
The Disney+ Hotstar series OK Computer (2021) is an uneven but entertaining show, swimming in the ambitious territory of mystery, comedy, science fiction, and philosophy, all in an uniquely Indian setting. By Karan Madhok
The Next Episodes: The Best Indian web series in a year of OTT excellence
The diversity of Hindi-language web series over the calendar year was truly remarkable, featuring shows that thrilled, entertained, and pushed forward Indian storytelling more than ever before. From Paatal Lok to Aarya, and Scam 1992 to Panchaayat and beyond, Jamie Alter picks ten of the very best.
Beyond Rom-Com: Finding the Unexpected in MISMATCHED
With characters that explore complexities of LGBTQ and Disability issues, Netflix’s new coming-of-age web-series takes baby steps into bringing a diversity of representation into the mainstream. - By Atulya Pathak
Blood Spilled and Blood Shared
Season 2 of Prime Video’s hit show Mirzapur continued its debauchery of gore, lust, back-stabbings, and politics from the UP/Bihar belt. But at its core, the series is an exploration of fathers and sons, of expectations and fallouts, of family lost and family found. By Karan Madhok
Scandal, Sex, and Skeletons: Aashram and the predictable villainy of on-screen godmen
The MX Player web-series Aashram (2020) follows a similar blueprint in tackling India’s fascination with seductive, flawed godmen—mysticism, sex, violence, and masala—without daring to truly examine the deeper roots of society’s discontents. - by Harshita Murarka.
The Sacrifices of Matrimony in A Suitable Boy
Mira Nair’s limited series, A Suitable Boy—based on Vikram Seth’s novel—reveals even with changing times, many of our approaches to arranged marriage in India have remained the same. By Nidhi Choksi Dhakan.
Sima Auntie’s Inconvenient Arrangements
Superfluous, dispensable, and restricted, Netflix’s Indian Matchmaking is as (Un)necessary as arranged marriage itself. An analysis into the flaws of the docu-series—and the deeper flaws it exposes in contemporary Indian culture. By Harshita Murarka.
Transcendence or trap: The pitfalls of Imtiaz Ali's SHE
Aiming for transcendent commentary on female sexual power, the Netflix series SHE fails in providing true agency to its heroine, falling instead in a powerless trap - Sabah Virani writes.