SEQUELS... what happened after the 'to be continued...'
SEQUELS... what happened after the 'to be continued...'Two years after Madhavan starred in Amazon Prime Video's breakthrough original, Abhishek Bachchan became the new face of the sequel of BREATHE. Amit Sadh reprised his role of Kabir.Madhav Mishra and Nikhat Hussain returned to help a new hapless client find justice in Criminal Justice: Behind Closed Doors (Disney+ Hotstar)Is it India's answer to Sex and the city? Not sure, but the awesome foursome of Amazon Prime Video returned with the sequel, Four More Shots PleaseThe dons were back as the much-awaited Mirzapur 2 (Amazon Prime Video) returned this year as new additions were brought to the warring factions.Lockdown stories and anthologies - A match made in confinementAn interesting anthology shot during the lockdown, but not based on it, was Aha’s AddhamNetflix made its foray in Tamil with Paava Kadhaigal, a four-part anthology directed by Vetri Maaran, Gautham Menon, Sudha Kongara and Vignesh ShivanAmazon Prime Video's Putham Pudhu KAalai was shot and released during the lockdown. It was directed by Sudha Kongara, Gautham Menon, Rajiv Menon, Karthik Subbaraj and Suhasini Mani RatnamSurvival Stories, a Malayalam anthology that released in YouTube, dealt with the pervading sense of being trappedAnother Amazon Prime video anthology, Unpaused (Hindi), aimed to tell stories of hope during the bleak timesThe Malayalam experimental film, CU Soon (Amazon Prime) was one of the first films to be headlined by a superstar - Fahadh FaasilVoot Select’s The Gone Game, a tight four-episode series that ended with the promise of a sequel, was another stellar lockdown story.Saving India… one series at a timeWe've seen Uri...and now, we see Avrodh, on Sony LIV.Crackdown, fronted by Saqeeb Salim, is a campy espionage thriller that is streaming on Voot SelectSpecial OPS is Hotstar's answer to AMazon Prime Video's The Family Man. IT had Kay Kay Menon heading quite a talented ensemble castComedy is a serious businessNetflix's Hasmukh was a story on what if a stand-up comedian is forced to become a serial killer... for.. laughsHoneymoon (Aha) is a fun take on a young couple (Arranged marriage) trying to consummate their marriage and understand each other betterSandwiched Forever (Sony LIV) is a neat show that's reminiscent of the Dekh Bhai Dekh era with laughter tracks and family-friendly humour.Once streamers decided to concentrate on regional fare, comedy was explored more and we got content like Triples (Disney + Hotstar) and Time Enna Boss (Amazon PRime Video)Small towns, big storiesThe soundtrack of Bandish Bandits (Amazon PRime Video) by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy became chartbusters and opened up a new avenue for Indian content - the musicalsNetflix's Chaman Bahaar is what I'd like to call a socio-political-romcom.The year kickstarted with Jamtara, a gritty series on the phishing mafia, and a bunch of newcomers took OTT by stormPanchayat (Amazon) is a nice, harmless fun story set in a small town where the characters are much more livelier than the happenings, and that is exactly the USP of such a show.So was Rasbhari, a small town story that had layers of magical realism... or did it???Crime pays… and how!A Simple Murder was a worthy addition to the interesting shows that came out of the Sony LIV stables.Voot Select's Asur too, which was a solid serial killer mystery fronted by Arshad Warsi and Barun SobtiAmazon's Paatal Lok shook up the audience like very few series before it managed to doThe underrated Netflix series, She, gave us the powerhouse talent i.e. Aaditi Pohankar, who also made an impressive turn in AashramA no-nonsense wife turning into a life of crime due to circumstances... Hmmm, Sushmita Sen aced the titular role in Disney+Hotstar's Aarya, a crime thrillerAnother hit from Sony LIV that saw a quaint little town and a powerful family implode from inside when a freak murder happensStories of people we thought we knewWe had Netflix's Masaba Masaba, a semi-fictional series starring real-life mother-daughter duo Neena Gupta and Masaba GuptaThe glam-sham of Bollywood was consumed in absolute merriment through Netflix's 'orchestrated reality' show Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives.A cultural upheaval of sorts happened with Netflix's Indian MAtchmaking that got Indians from all over find their humour through meme-ing the Netflix show. It also lead to some important discussionsStars can be created on OTT while telling real-life stories, and one such star was Pratik Gandhi in Sony LIV's The Scam 1992.'Settling' for OTT - Here are some movies that made it into our homes due to the shutting down of theatres because of a certain you-know-whatSufiyum Sujatayum - Malayalam - Amazon PrimeLaxmii - Hindi - Disney+ HotstarDil Bechara - Hindi - Disney+ HotstarFrench Biriyani - Kannada - Amazon PrimeGulabo Sitabo - Hindi - Amazon PrimeMiddle Class Melodies - Telugu - Amazon PrimeMookuthi Amman - Tamil - Disney+ HotstarSoorarai Pottru - Tamil - Amazon PrimeV - Telugu - Amazon Prime VideoKa Pae Ranasingam - Tamil - Zee5