Though this year turned out to be really challenging for all of us, thanks to the pandemic and the subsequent lockdown that lasted for months, a medium that kept everyone entertained and engrossed during the tough times was OTT. The Indian web space offered some great content to the audience. As 2020 comes to an end, you can spend the New Year’s eve enjoying the best of digital shows that released this year. Here’s what we recommend:
Special Ops
Starring Kay Kay Menon as Himmat Singh, Special Ops is a promising series. It’s created by Neeraj Pandey and Menon is, inarguably, the show stealer. The series shows Himmat Singh as a RAW officer, who draws similar patterns in terrorist attacks and is convinced that a single person is behind all the attacks. His task force team of five agents living in various parts of the world work towards catching the mastermind.
Paatal Lok
Produced by Anushka Sharma, Paatal Lok is a crime thriller that features talented actors like Jaideep Ahlawat, Abhishek Banerjee, Gul Panag, Neeraj Kabi, Swastika Mukherjee and Ishwak Singh. The show has already bagged several awards, besides winning the audience’s hearts. It’s based on The Story of My Assassins by Tarun Tejpal.
Scam 1992
Directed by Hansal Mehta, Scam 1992 is about the major scandals that shook India and are remembered as some of the most notorious crimes of the country. It features Pratik Gandhi, Shreya Dhanwanthary and Sharib Hashmi in the lead roles. Based on Harshad Mehta’s securities scam, the show draws you completely into the world of share market in no time.
Aarya
Featuring Sushmita Sen as the protagonist, Aarya is certainly a binge-worthy ride. It’s a crime drama based on the Dutch drama series Penoza by Pieter Bart Korthuis. The layered characterisation, Sushmita’s screen presence and the smart use of old Hindi film music are some of the key USPs of this one.
Bandish Bandits
Starring Ritwik Bhowmik as Radhe Rathod, Shreya Chaudhry as Tamanna Sharma, Naseeruddin Shah as Pandit Radhemohan Rathod and Atul Kulkarni as Digvijay Rathod, Bandish Bandits is a musical romantic drama series. It’s a love story that comes with rage and a mix of Indian classical and western music. While music was an integral aspect of the show, Bandish Bandits stood strong because of its story. Composers Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy earned a lot of appreciation for their music.
Panchayat
Actor Jeetendra Kumar impressed the audience, yet again, with his simplicity and relatable portrayal of Abhishek Tripathi. Panchayat chronicles the life of an engineering graduate, played by Jeetendra, who joins as a Panchayat secretary in a remote village, Phulera, in Uttar Pradesh due to lack of better job options. The simplicity of this show is its USP. Panchayat has a strong star cast, including Raghubir Yadav, Neena Gupta and Chandan Roy.
Asur
A combination of mythological fiction and thriller, Asur is set in the backdrop of Varanasi. It follows the story of Nikhil Nair, played by Barun Sobti, a forensic expert who returns to the CBI to solve a case involving a dangerous killer. The series also stars Arshad Warsi as Barun’s former mentor Dhananjay Rajpoot. The series revolves around serial killings.
Ms. Soumya Vajpayee
Senior Entertainment & Lifestyle Journalist
