All posts tagged: amazon original

Call Me Bae Review: A Riches-to-Rags to Success Story With Ananya Panday In It

Published by Webster

There are films that run on extensive research and make you introspect, and then there are others that don’t have an ounce of practicality and make it to the audience’s guilty pleasure watchlist. Prime Video’s latest original series, Call Me Bae, falls into the latter category. It is essentially the story of an uber-rich Bella “Bae” Chowdhary, who has been disowned by her family and is now trying to restart her life from scratch in Mumbai. Sounds familiar? Well, that’s because we have seen the storyline millions of times across genres. Call Me Bae heavily borrows elements from similar works done in the past, including Schitt’s Creek, 2 Broke Girls, and Sonam Kapoor’s Aisha. It would remind you of Kareena Kapoor Khan’s fashion-conscious Poo from Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham…, or Legally Bloonde’s sorority queen-turned-Harvard-educated-lawyer Reese Witherspoon on more than one occasion— the classic trope of a seemingly air-headed girl who, turns out, is a genius! Storyline Panday’s character is disowned by her uber-rich family after she is caught cheating on her husband If I were …

Panchayat Season 3 Review: Still Entertaining, but With More Political Spin

Published by Webster

TVF seems to be harbouring the secret magic formula for creating shows that feel like a warm hug. The same fuzzy feeling inhabits the third season of Panchayat, TVF’s social comedy series that began in 2020. The new season features beautiful writing, nuanced performances and, to my surprise, a more realistic portrayal of rural India, surpassing the already high bar that Panchayat set in its previous two seasons. It’ll make you smile, cry, laugh, contemplate, and probably google the government’s Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana! What makes this season stand apart is that the rose-tinted glasses come off this time. The protagonists still share the warm camaraderie, but we get to discover their tumultuous individual arcs, along with their emotional baggage and crises, making room for a paradigm shift. Political rivalries intensify, and their consequences become more threatening. If I were to give it straight, Panchayat’s third season bursts several glossy bubbles of utopian fantasy and gives hard-hitting reality checks. Sanvikaa’s story arc gets more screen time as compared to previous seasons We see Prahalad Chacha …

Dil Dosti Dilemma Review: Prime Video’s Latest Series Is So Sugary That It Might Give You Diabetes

Published by Webster

Teenage years usually bring a raging volcano of confusing emotions, new aspirations, dilemmas, self-doubt, and much more. And that’s precisely what Prime Video’s latest original series Dil Dosti Dilemma tries to tap into. The series features a young girl called Asmara (Anushka Sen) as its protagonist; a typical teenager from an uber-rich family, whose entire existence revolves around her best friends’ validation. She wears fashionable clothes, speaks vogue, loves to shop and party, and is embarrassed by any aspect of her reality that might not align with the carefully crafted persona of a classy girl that she has built for herself. She gets embarrassed by uncool gifts from her grandparents and can’t seem to share her real emotions in front of her equally pretentious friends. When her mother realises that Asmara might have grown into an entitled, thankless adult who has lost all respect for her roots, she decides to cancel her two-month-long trip to Canada and send her to her grandmother’s house in a small town instead, as a punishment. Revathi Pillai’s character is …

Fallout Review: Prime Video’s Violent Post-Apocalyptic Video Game Adaptation Is Surprisingly Human

Published by Webster

Imagine a world where 219 years have passed since a horrific nuclear explosion and a select group of humans is now living inside safe and luxurious underground vaults — well-cultured havens where life is as dreamy as it can be. It’s like having a manual to living a simple life in tunnels — besides the oddity of having images of the real world being screened with a virtual projector. Outside these vaults, everything is bizarre, scary, risky, radiated, chaotic, gory and unpredictable — in short, the world is now an absolute nightmare. You can catch radiation illness, fall prey to giant cockroaches, be hunted down by mutated humans or forced to sell your teeth for money. Fasten your seatbelts, for this is just the beginning! Welcome to the fascinating universe of Prime Video’s Fallout, a post-apocalyptic show based on the popular video game series of the same name. Although it is set in the same universe, the show isn’t based on a particular game from the franchise; rather, it incorporates major themes and elements from …

Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya, Parasyte: The Grey, and Others on Netflix, Prime Video, Hotstar and Sony Liv

Published by Webster

Sadly, there are no major Indian originals for this week. Sony Liv’s middle-class family drama Family Aaj Kal seems to be the only option for those looking for Indian titles. It is set in a typical middle-class family where the daughter falling in love with a cab driver sets the family in panic mode. On the other hand, plenty of international titles are hitting the screens this week, including K-drama Parasytes: The Grey, Scoop, and How to Date Billy Walsh. In Parasytes, you’ll see extraterrestrial creatures sucking off life from humans to increase their power. Scoop will take you back to BBC’s infamous interview in 2019 with Prince Andrews, in which he was questioned about his relationship with a sex offender. Prime Video’s How To Date Billy Walsh will do the tricks if you are in the mood for something with high-school romance. For young ones, Hotstar is dishing out the animated musical comedy Wish, in which a young girl wishes on a star, unaware of what’s in store. Many post-theatrical OTT releases are lined …

Top OTT Releases This Week: Ae Watan Mere Watan, Lootere, Fighter and More

Published by Webster

This week, we have a piping hot buffet of new digital releases across genres. We have two Indian originals, post-theatrical releases, a high-budget sci-fi saga, and Marvel Studio’s hit series making a return. One of the major releases of the week is Sara Ali Khan’s Ae Watan Mere Watan which will take you to the pre-Indepence Bombay. Khan is seen playing the celebrated freedom fighter, Usha Mehta. While the gallant leader dedicated her entire life to India, this Amazon Original will take you to the Quit India Movement, when the college-going Usha started an illegal radio station to broadcast messages from prominent leaders from various secret locations. Next in Line is Hansal Mehta’s Lootere which will revolve around a cargo ship hijacked by Somalian pirates in Africa. The show gives a refreshing break from repetitive plotlines in crime thrillers and will keep you guessing what comes next. Netflix’s 3 Body Problem is another big-budget release of the week. It offers an impressive cocktail of cultural, social, and scientific conundrums. Marvel Studios also have a big …

Your Binge Watch Guide for the Weekend: From Indian Police Force to The Bequeathed

Published by Webster

Get ready for chills and thrills during your binge-watch session this weekend, with almost all the major releases this week having elements of suspense, action, and mystery. Amazon Original Indian Police Force undoubtedly tops the charts, with it being the only Hindi original OTT release for the week. It follows a group of dedicated police officials who are trying to track down terrorists responsible for serial blasts in Ahmedabad and Delhi and harbouring similar nefarious plans for the rest of India. If you are in the mood for something eerie, go for Turkish drama Kübra, in which a man starts receiving intel and warnings from an unknown account on an online friendship portal. Next in line is a martial arts fighter in Sixty Minutes, who races against time in this action flick to reach his daughter’s birthday party while facing dangerous criminals, with her daughter’s custody at stake. From the creators of popular Korean zombie thriller Train to Busan (2016), comes another mystery in the form of The Bequeathed, in which a college professor inherits …