Thursday, January 20, 2022

4 New Hindi Web Series On 4 Different OTT Platforms 🙂

The year 2022 has kick-started with 4 new Hindi web series - Kaun Banegi Shikharwati, Ranjish Hi Sahi, Human and Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein on ZEE5, Voot, Disney+ Hotstar and Netflix respectively.

All of them are overall nice and starkly different in content. So, if you are a Hindi web series enthusiast, then you have much to binge watch and enjoy!

Here is some factual information and my take on these web series -



1. Kaun Banegi Shikharwati (7 Jan 2022)

Channel: ZEE5
Genre: Drama Comedy
No. of Episodes: 10
Average Duration: 30 minutes
Cast: Naseeruddin Shah, Lara Dutta Bhupathi, Soha Ali Khan, Kritika Kamra, Anya Singh, Raghubir Yadav, Cyrus Sahukar 

Plot: "When an elderly maharaja (played gamely by Shah) is targeted for tax evasion, he concocts a harebrained scheme with the assistance of his right hand man (Yadav) to reunite his four estranged daughters."

Review: It's one of those series that is beautiful and pleasant in all the frames. Throughout the series the aforementioned four sisters compete against each other in games supposedly designed around 'navras' (nine basic emotions) which mostly appear uninteresting and poorly scripted.

The movie has two acting stalwarts - Naseeruddin Shah and Raghubir Yadav, out of which the latter has definitely scored above the former!

Amongst the sisters, Soha Ali Khan has performed the best.



2. Ranjish Hi Sahi (13 Jan 2022)

Channel: Voot
Genre: Drama
No. of Episodes: 8
Average Duration: 40 minutes
Cast: Tahir Raj Bhasin, Amala Paul, Amrita Puri, Zarina Wahab

Plot: "A maverick film director gets drawn into an extra-marital affair with a superstar changing his life; his marriage with his first love spirals as he's torn between two worlds. Set in 70s Bollywood.

It is reportedly based on the controversial love affair of Parveen Babi and Mahesh Bhatt (who is the creator here)."

Review: Would you discuss the quality of a crop if the method of cultivation is faulty in the first place?

Similarly, is it right on the aforementioned creator's part to portray a mixed character (read mostly grey) of a yesteryear popular heroine but project himself holier than thou, clearly not exposing even the basic widely known truths about his life, like his second marriage?

And that too when the concerned heroine is no more alive to defend herself or give her side of the story!

All one can say is that, though the series has good casting, art direction and vintage feel, it lacks an authentic story.



3. Human (14 Jan 2022)

Channel: Disney+ Hotstar
Genre: Thriller
No. of Episodes: 10
Average Duration: 45 minutes
Cast: Shefali Shah, Kirti Kulhari, Ram Kapoor, Seema Biswas, Indraneil Sengupta, Vishal Jethwa, Aditya Srivastava

Plot: "Shefali Shah and Kirti Kulhari play doctors in this medical thriller which looks at the messy, scary world of drug trials. After a pharmaceutical company tries to “fast-track the development of a new drug despite lethal side effects”, Dr Saira Sabharwal (Kulhari) finds herself at odds with the woman she has idolised, Dr Gauri Nath (Shah)."

Review: It's a well made series portraying in detail the various elements involved in a drug trial scam, both in terms of institutions and people alongwith their respective role, answerability, greed, state of awareness and helplessness.

Shefali Shah and Kirti Kulhari are the lead protagonists and the mentor-protégé doctor duo of the series. Both have been styled well and have put forward quite good performances.

However, Shefali Shah seems to have overdone it a bit, both in terms of wardrobe and acting, fulfilling more of her desire of becoming a sensuous Bollywood heroine rather than sticking to her character in the series.

Others artists have also performed well.

Further better performance is expected from Ram Kapoor.



4. Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein (14 Jan 2022)

Channel: Netflix
Genre: Thriller
No. of Episodes: 8
Average Duration: 40 minutes
Cast: Tahir Raj Bhasin, Shweta Tripathi Sharma, Anchal Singh, Anant Joshi, Saurabh Shukla, Arunoday Singh, Brijendra Kala

Plot: "Relentlessly pursued by a powerful politician’s daughter who will do anything to make him hers, a man slips down a dark, risky path to reclaim his life."

Review: It's a thriller with beautiful frames and few comic moments, best of which are brought by Anant Joshi who plays the protagonist Tahir Raj Bhasin's best friend.

The series is both innocent and gruesome in it's approach and at times the scenes appear unnecessarily lengthy.