Content over the golden screen as well as silver screen is now being taken over by some great content over OTT platforms. These days there is no dearth of amazing Indian content over OTT platforms available at the click of a button right on our screens! The many recently released Indian web series’ have raised the ante when it comes to stupendous and admirable content being created in different genres. It’s the kind of content that makes you a couch potato, gets you glued—it is binge-worthy quality content! And because we’re spending most of our time at home these days, we have put together a list of 5 of our favorite Indian web series you’ve got to watch if you haven’t already!
1. Made In Heaven
Genre: Drama
Platform: Amazon Prime
Made in Heaven certainly has to be one of the best Hindi web series ever made, more so because it is so relatable. It’s a portrayal of friendships, betrayal, passion, and ambition. What’s amazing is how the series captures the essence and tries to display progressive India and yet succeeds in portraying the deep-rooted regression, hypocrisy, and pretense through the various carved out wedding stories. It is a story of Tara Khanna and Karan Mehra who are the modern-day Delhi-based wedding planners.
With its 9 episodes, the series lets us experience 9 different weddings and lets us enter the lives of the bride and the groom and their families. It’s amazing how every wedding has a meaningful message for us towards the end—and it’s beautiful enough to hit you! The clever and stunning depiction of how every wedding seems to be all hunky-dory on the surface and yet so much happens behind the curtains leaves you spellbound. The power-packed performance by the cast is just a cherry on the cake. Sobhita Dhulipala, the lead female protagonist, has a sense of sartorial style every woman would want to have! The guest actors make the characters real in every sense, delivering outstandingly. The opening credit titles are real wedding scenes filmed by ‘The Wedding Filmer’ that only makes it all the more real. Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti have done such a brilliant job that you can’t and shouldn’t miss watching this.
My favorite episode is “The Price of Love” starring Shweta Tripathi as Priyanka Mishra. Tell me yours!
2. Delhi Crime
Genre: Drama, Crime (Based on a real story)
Platform: Netflix
Netflix Original Delhi Crime is a series based on the gruesome and spine chilling gang rape that happened in Delhi in 2012. The series is based on police files and is presented to the audience from the police point of view. The events in the storyline are gripping. Shefali Shah plays DCP Vartika Chaturvedi and deserves an award for an absolutely stellar performance! She and her team track down 6 culprits in 5 days and the very journey is showcased in the series. It’s a hardcore police procedural narration with an extremely strong emotional core. Definitely a must-watch because it’s full of powerful performances and terrific dialogues that leave you in thoughts. It’s always wonderful to watch such a powerful portrayal of women and Delhi Crime gives you that in a pure sense!
3. Yeh Meri Family
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Platform: Netflix, TVF Play
Set in the summers of 1998, this family drama told from the eyes of a 12-year-old boy is something you’d love to watch with your whole family. This TVF original Hindi web series is gold, especially if you’re a 90s kid. The story will let you take a delightful trip down the memory lane making you relive the golden period of your millennial life! The 12-year-old protagonist kid Harshu is shown to be a rebel yet is so loving. The set-up of a typical middle-class small-town Indian household is relatable to every letter! The character sketch of everyone is apt and makes you fall in love with them. Every episode captures the essence of a relationship—between Harshu and his mother, father, brother, sister, best friend or crush! Mona Singh and Akarsh Khurana do a commendable job at playing Harshu’s mom and dad. The character sketch of Harshu’s best friend Shanky is savage. The series is funny, delightful yet pulls your emotional strings. If you love your family, there’s no way you wouldn’t love this beautiful and simple comedy-drama web series which is a perfect family show!
4. Panchayat
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Platform: Amazon Prime, TVF Play
A TVF original, Panchayat is a comedy and drama web series with a premise of a young engineer who takes up the job of a secretary in a small town in Uttar Pradesh succumbing to the lack of a better city job. Jitender Kumar plays the lead protagonist Abhishek Kumar who’s hoping to get back to city life with a better job and is prepping for the ubiquitous exam CAT. Most of you will find it relatable…umm, been there done that!
It is a simple story rooted in reality, based on the lives of people living in the Indian hinterland. The characters doing the daily chores and living the mundane life is also so beautifully showcased that you are hooked on to the show before you know it. The principle roles played by Jitender Kumar, Raghubir Yadav, Chandan Roy, and Faisal Malik is going to be etched in your hearts for a long time. They prove their mettle delivering simple dialogues with so much panache acing the local dialect and diction. Even with limited screen time, Neena Gupta’s character makes pertinent points and touches the heart. The setting of the village is beautiful and the show is not loaded with any melodrama. It is fun to watch the completely exasperated Abhishek stuck in the village of Phulera with its people who not only exude warmth but are unfailingly loving and faithful towards him! In a way, it’s a simplistic ode to our favourite Swades. Watch for yourself, if you haven’t yet!
5. Paatal Lok
Genre: Crime, Thriller
Platform: Amazon Prime
Paatal Lok produced by Anushka Sharma can certainly be termed as one of the best Indian web series ever made. Once you watch it, you’d pretty much believe it. The audience has to take a bow to the actors who’ve done such a stupendous job—the entire cast, not even one person disappoints. Jaideep Ahlawat outshines himself in the role of Inspector Hathiram—what a brilliant portrayal of the role, simply deserves an award. Neeraj Kabi playing the role of a flamboyant and liberal journalist also deserves a mention! The show is not just backed up by a powerful and intriguing storyline but by a very talented bunch of cast who’d make the show unforgettable for you.
The writers have captured the essence of the middle-class household in North Delhi, the world of Indian journalism, and lets the audience dive into the lives of the criminals as well as the daily hustle of the police. The beauty of the show is the compelling build-up, and a fast-paced, honest and real story-telling. It provides perspective and changes the narration in a way that you are forced to see that the lines between right and wrong are so blurred—and you end up questioning—is anyone truly evil? Go watch and figure for yourself.
Have you already watched any of these series? Then let us know in the comments below what you thought of them!
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