This week, our top recommendations for new OTT releases pivot around legalities, close-knit relationships, and complex teenage emotions. For the first one, we have two big Hindi originals from JioCinema — Pratik Gandhi’s Dedh Bigha Zameen and Neha Sharma’s Illegal Season 3. In Do Bigha Zameen, Gandhi plays a loving brother who is trying to sell off an ancestral property to arrange dowry money for his sister’s wedding, only to discover that someone has illegally taken over it. On the other hand, Neha is reprising her role as a lawyer, who has now shed her once-cherished beliefs of idealism in Illegal Season 3. Both shows give a peek into the complex legal framework in India.
Next in line, we have Benedict Cumberbatch’s offbeat drama series in which he is looking for his missing son with the help of the monster who used to live under his bed. Cumberbatch, who is quite popular for his role as Sherlock, has once again done a brilliant job.
Another celebrated piece that’ll strike your emotional chords is Sweden’s A Part of You. In this, you get to witness the complex emotions of adolescence through the lens of an insecure teenage girl – who is forced to reinvent herself to fulfill her desires but might have to pay a hefty price for it.
Lastly, we have Prime Video’s B&B: Bujji & Bhairava, the animated prelude to the upcoming science fiction Kalki 2898 AD. The two-episode series shows the camaraderie and adventures of Prabhas’ character, Bhairava, and his robotic sidekick, Bujji. It serves as a marketing and publicity gimmick for Nag Ashwin’s high-budget drama.
Besides the ones that made it to this week’s final list, you could also go for Laapataa Ladies, which made it to Netflix’s Top 10 streamed movies this week both in India and globally.
Documentary enthusiasts could also go for Netflix’s Dancing for the Devil: The 7M TikTok Cult. In the limited docu-series, you’ll meet Miranda and Melanie Wilking, the two sisters who had millions of followers of TikTok and yet fell prey to 7M, a Los Angeles-based management company, which was later exposed as a cult. The documentary includes interviews from the Wilking family as well as other victims who fell prey to this cult and cut off ties with their families.
On the international front, you can go for the Spanish TV series Raising Voices, a touching teenage drama on sexual assault. Two best friends are living their regular, high-on-hormone lives when a mysterious account from their school uploads a rather cryptic image online with the caption, “This is me the day before I was raped,” — kickstarting the investigation.
Top OTT Releases This Week
Here are the new OTT releases that have made it to our top recommendations for the week. Happy binge-watching!
Dedh Beegha Zameen
When: Now Streaming Where: JioCinema
Anil (Pratik Gandhi) is a simple wheat seller who is excited about his sister’s wedding to a soon-to-be civil servant. He decides to sell off his ancestral piece of land to arrange for the dowry. Things take a shocking turn when an official takes illegal possession of it, infuriating Singh, who now decides to fight the corrupt system and get back what is rightfully his. The film is written and directed by Pulkit.
Illegal Season 3
When: Now Streaming Where: JioCinema
Ilegal follows an idealist lawyer, played by Neha Sharma, who is highly ambitious and harbours strong moral principles. In the last season, we saw her part ways with Juris Associates due to their conflicting ethical perspectives. While Sharma’s character would not compromise on ethics up until now, she now enters a morally grey area where she needs to bend her principles for professional growth. More of her personal life and emotional turmoil are shown.
Eric
Where: Netflix When: Now Streaming
Vincent is a grief-struck father and also a world-class puppeteer who is unable to cope with the sudden disappearance of his nine-year-old and is becoming incredibly distressed and volatile. He has somehow convinced himself that if he is able to bring ERIC – his son’s drawings of a blue monster puppet – to the television, his son will return. As everyone blames him for losing his mental balance, Eric is Vincent’s only hope.
A Part of You
When: Now Streaming Where: Netflix
Remember when you were 17, and the raging emotions would often make you feel like your heart was about to burst from your chest? This emotionally rich Swedish film will take you back to those times through its main character, Agnes, an emotionally troubled teenager who is envious of her elder sister – who is everything Agnes dreams to be. However, when a tragic incident happens, Agnes is shaken to the core and is forced to reinvent herself. Ironically, now that she is close to her dreams, is she happy with the price tag?
B&B: Bujji & Bhairava
When: Now Streaming Where: Prime Video
Kalki 2989 AD is touted to be one of the biggest high-budgeted Telugu films this year, with a stellar star cast of Prabhas (Baahubali), Amitabh Bachchan, and Deepika Padukone. The science-fiction films span over 6,000 years, starting from the ancient epic of Mahabharat and stretching all the way to the distant future of 2898 AD.
B&B: Bujji & Bhairava’s is a prelude to the film that sets the stage for the events of 2989 AD. Here, we meet a bounty hunter and a robot, both of whom are at the lowest points of their lives. As the unlikely duo crosses paths and becomes each other’s confidantes, a crackling story of ambition, adventure, partnership, and mainly friendship begins.