5 picks for your weekend watch on Indian OTT platforms

(Image credit: OTT)

As ever, our weekend pickings on Indian streaming platforms for your viewing was a challenging exercise. It is always difficult to decide on what to leave out, as in the Indian context, the options across languages can be many.

This week we have settled for an interesting web series and four films (two in Telugu, and one each in Hindi and Malayalam). Then again, we have been broad-based in our selection as we want our choices to appeal to a large cross section of the viewers. There is an offering for every kind of viewer.

So here goes our list of offerings on Indian OTT platforms this week:

JL 50

Director: Shailender Vyas

Cast: Abhay Deol, Piyush Mishra, Ritika Anand and Pankaj Kapur

Synopsis: A web series with such a stellar cast gets recommended for that fact alone. And to add to it, JL 50 is a sci-fi series --- something which is not all that regular in the Indian scenario. Another interesting sidelight that this was originally made as a movie and is now spun off as a web series. The story is a typical, time-tested, er, time travel but the kicker comes through the idea of Indian mythology too. And that is an alluring combo. Science is mythology for some. Mythology is science for some. When these two meet, the resultant product is bound to be charming.

Language: Hindi

Platform: SonyLIV

Release date: September 4, 2020.

Maniyarayile Ashokan

Director: Shamzu Zayba

Cast: Jacob Gregory, Anupama Parameswaran, Krishna Sankar, Shine Tom Chacko, Sudheesh, Sreelakshmi

Synopsis: When one of the leading actors of Malayalam, Dulquer Salmaan, who has shown a fine talent for picking up interesting scripts in his own career, puts his money on a movie, it is bound to be get talked about. Maniyarayile Ashokan released three days back, and has got a positive feedback. It is a story about an ordinary person's dream of having a beautiful wife. But he is bogged by an inferiority complex. It is an every-day elevated by realism and humour that Malayalam cinema has become rightly famous for.

Language: Malayalam

Platform: Netflix

Release date: August 31, 2020.

Atkan Chatkan

Director: Shiv Hare

Cast: Lydian Nadhaswaram, Amitriyaan, Sachin Chaudhary, Yash Rane, Tamanna Dipak, Aayesha Vindhara

Synopsis: When Lydian Nadhaswaram, a young Indian pianist who won the CBS talent show The World's Best, was chosen to be the main lead in this Hindi film it was always going to be a musical-oriented subject. Added to that is the fact the double Oscar winner AR Rahman is presenting this film. Lydian, by the way, learnt his music at Rahman's conservatory in Chennai. Atkan Chatkan is about a kid who wants to be a musician. How the indigent youngster overcomes the odds is the backbone of the story. Well known percussionist "Drums" Sivamani has handled the music of the film.

Language: Hindi

Platform: Zee5

Release date: September 5, 2020.

Nenu Na Neshtam

Director: Srinivas Thimmaiah

Cast: Shivraj K R Pete, Samyukta Hornad, Govinde Gowda, Rockline Sudhakar

Synopsis: This movie is a dubbed version of the eminently lovable Kannada movie Naanu Matthu Gunda that released earlier this year. Quite simply, it is a warm relationship that an autorickshaw driver strikes with a dog that he chances upon by accident. It is a warm, slice-of-life story and was described as one of the best Kannada movies in man-animal relationship. The interesting highlight is the dog (a Labrador) dubbed its own 'voice' for the film.

Language: Telugu

Platform: Aha

Release date: September 4, 2020.

V

Director: Mohana Krishna Indraganti

Cast: Nani, Sudheer Babu, Jagapathi Babu, Nivetha Thomas, Aditi Rao Hydari

Synopsis: One of the big ticket releases down South, this was made for theatres, but is releasing on Amazon Prime. This is the 25th film in the career of the young and impressive Nani, and he is reportedly playing a character with negative shades --- a first in his career. Sudheer plays an IPS officer, and the cat and mouse game between him and Nani is perhaps the highlight of this gritty action thriller. A cop in pursuit of a dangerous criminal is a genre that will never go out of fashion.

Platform: Amazon Prime

Language: Telugu

Release date: September 5, 2020.

The mix for this week's viewing is again interesting as there is variety. Romance, humour, action, science fiction, sentiments. That is the beauty when you pick offerings across languages. It is sure to make your weekend interesting.