The rapid spread of the coronavirus has brought an extension of lockdown. It has confined people to isolate themselves at homes. With cinemas closed and blockbusters-in-waiting being postponed, most of our entertainment is coming from OTT platforms that are waiting to be discovered.
Here's an interesting mix to our recommendation of shows and movies that should be given a shot while munching on your favourite snacks.
Panchayat (Series, 2020)
Directed by Deepak Kumar Mishra and produced by TVF, Panchayat is based on Abhishek Tripathi, played by Jitender Kumar, a young graduate from New Delhi who takes up a government job as a Panchayat Sachiv (secretary) at Phulera village in Uttar Pradesh. The eight-episode long drama series is built upon how a city boy is adjusting to a life that works on a different rhythm. All the characters have been beautifully knit in the storyline that revolves around the village problems.
IMDb Rating: 8.9
Available on Prime Video
My Neighbor Totoro (Movie, 1988)
The 1988 animated film revolves around two young sisters living in a Japanese countryside. They befriend whimsical spirits in the woods near to their countryside home while they wait for their mother to recover from an illness. The movie is a heart-warming work of art that has come out from Ghibli Studios.
IMDb Rating: 8.2
Available on Netflix
Unorthodox (Series, 2020)
Unorthodox is a German-American drama miniseries, based on Deborah Feldman's 2012 autobiography - Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots. It is a story of a 19-year old Jewish woman who flees to Berlin from her arranged marriage and ultra-orthodox community to start a new life abroad. Learning about her pregnancy, her husband, along with his cousin, travel to Berlin in search of her.
IMDb Rating: 8.1
Available on Netflix
Killa (Movie, 2014)
The National Film Award winner for Best Marathi Feature Film 2015, Killa is a drama film directed by Avinash Arun. The movie is a coming-of-age story of an 11-year-old city boy. He struggles to cope up with the death of his father while adapting to his new surroundings after his mother gets a job transfer in a village in Konkan.
IMDb Rating: 8
Available on Prime Video
Pushpavilli Season 2
Pushpavalli is back with Season 2 with a crazy set of episodes. Start with Season One if you haven't watched it since this series is going to keep you hooked. Created by Sumukhi Suresh, in the previous season, she was obsessed with a guy and followed him to Bangalore. The second season picked up exactly where it left. This is that one series that will make you laugh and also fill your heart with anxiety.
IMDb Rating: 7.5
Available on Prime Video
Feel Good (Series, 2020)
The new Netflix show is a semi-autobiography-romantic series created and starred by Mae Martin. The six-part series follows the recovering addict and comedian Mae, a deeply personal story about the unique pressure to control her addictive behaviours, romanticism, gender and sexuality in this modern-day landscape. It was first premiered on Channel 4 in the UK.
IMDb Rating: 7.5
Available on Netflix
Asur: Welcome To Your Darkside (Series, 2020)
A spine-chilling crime thriller, directed by Oni Sen the series relies on the concept of spirituality and violence. Asur revolves around forensic science, ancient mythology, suspense, and serial killing activities, set in the backdrop of the mystical city of Varanasi. Starring Arshad Warsi, as former mentor Dhananjay Rajpoot and Barun Sobti as Nikhil Nair, a forensic-expert-turned-teacher, find themselves in a game of mouse and cat with a psychopath serial killer.
IMDb Rating: 8.5
Available on Voot
Ventilator (Movie, 2018)
This Marathi comedy-drama movie produced by Priyanka Chopra Jonas and written by Rajesh Mapuskar received the 2017 National Film Award for best director, sound mixing, and editing.
The head of the family of a huge Kamerkar clan - Gaja, goes into a coma and is put on a ventilator just a few days before Ganesh Chaturthi festival celebrations that they celebrate every year. The entire family comes to visit him in the hospital, which unfolds a bond of a beautiful journey of relationships, priorities, misunderstandings, and emotions that every family has.
IMDb Rating: 8
Available on Zee5
Special Ops (Series, 2020)
Created by the celebrated filmmaker Neeraj Pandey, Special Ops, an Indian espionage thriller series is based on real-life incidents. The series is laced with suspense and thrills that follows RAW officer Himmat Singh (K. K Menon), who is convinced that a single person is behind multiple terrorist attacks that draw similar patterns in every attack. The story is inspired by several espionage missions undertaken by India in the last two decades.
IMDb Rating: 8.7
Available on Disney Hotstar
12 Years a Slave (Movie, 2013)
A free-born American-African man living with his wife and two children in New York gets abducted and sold into slavery. This is based on the autobiography of Solomon Northup. Shipped to New Orleans along with others, he is told to adapt to life like a slave and not tell anyone that he is a freeman.
The film won three Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Adapted Screenplay.
IMDb Rating: 8.1
Available on Netflix, YouTube and Google Play
