For the OTT platform, August was a nightmare. Bracketing the start and end of August, barring a brilliant bio-click on Rajamouli in the Modern Masters series from Applause Entertainment at the beginning of the month, and Angry Young Men a month-end look-see at the Salim-Javed’s hyphenated legacy, August on OTT was barren bleak and at times repugnant.
Jio Cinema’s Cadets at month-end was so mawkish and oafish that I wondered whether it was mocking the military services. I simply switched off. Awful all around Cadets, and also Shekhar Home (what on earth is that title supposed to do to Sherlock Holmes?!) on Zee5 and Disney+Hotstar’s Life Hill Gaya, brought shame to the OTT platform.
Is this the kind of fare fair to the consumer? Or to the reputation of the actors involved? I can understand Divyendu Sharma’s anxiety to move ahead of Mirzapur. But Life Hill Gaya?Bhai, main to hill gaya!
An actor of KK Menon’s stature found himself struggling in August with two non-starters the defective detective drama Shekhar Home and the fatigued underworld crime glorifying Murshid.
The actor of the month on OTT is Vijay Verma in Netflix’s taut and tactile IC 814. Verma is one of those rare actors who knows how to use confined space, like the plane cockpit. Anubhav Sinha’s streaming debut had a cast of veterans shining in a well-written thriller. Just being able to tell an oft-told story of the Kandahar hijacking without seeming stale is an achievement.
Ironically, two of the better web series in August were on Zee5, the armpit of the streaming platform gave us the watchable Gyarah Gyarah, a time-travelling police procedural which didn’t leave us jetlagged. The series could have done with some tightening around the edges. But it was fun.
On the other end of Zee5 was the unexpected Malayalam series Manorathangal, an exquisite anthology of M T Vasudevan Nair’s stories. Every story needed to be watched carefully for its nuances and filtered emotions. To release them all at once was a huge mistake. One every week was more like it. To release them on Zee5? Let’s give the platform the benefit of the doubt.
As for the two original feature films on OTT Phir Ayee Haseen Dilruba and Ghudchadi, let’s just say, thank God they were not released in movie theatres. Taapsee Pannu’s follow-up to the Haseen Dilruba saga was soggy limp and worse of all, incoherent.
Amazon Prime gave us lots of fun and adventure in Follow Kar Lo Yaar and Rings Of Power Season 2, though in monstrously contrasting ways. On one end, there was a silly airheaded social media influencer who takes herself so seriously, it is hilarious. On the other end, there was Lord Of The Rings saga being extended into another season of epic fun.
Thank God for the world of make-believe.