5 entertaining offerings on Indian OTT platforms this week

(Image credit: OTT)

A comedy caper with sporting undertones, a legal drama over marital issues with accent on humour, a science fiction with some philosophy thrown, a love series that is laced with lust and passion and a comic show suffused with local Tamil nuances. This is broadly what we have in this week's recommendations on the OTT platforms. As you can see, this is as broad-based as it gets. There is something on offer for every kind of viewer. What more, they are in Hindi, Bengali and Tamil. Again, that is quite a spread.

Do check them out:

Tiki-Taka

Director: Parambrata Chattopadhyay

Cast: Emona Enabulu, Parambrata Chattopadhyay, Ritabhari Chakraborty, Saswata Chatterjee

Synopsis: Tiki Taka immediately rings a bell about the short, staccato-rhythmed delightful passing-style football made famous by the Spanish team. This film --- released in Bengal and Hindi --- seems to carry that same cadence and fun spirit. This film is directed and produced by that talented Parambrata Chattopadhyay who also plays an important role in the movie. Mainstream Hindi film-watchers will remember him as that helpful cop in Kahani. Tiki-Taka, titled Khelechi Ajgubi in Bengali, is about a Senegalese footballers who comes to West Bengal and gets caught in a comedy of errors. This is the second such comic caper this season after French Biryani that was released recently.

Language Hindi, Bengali

Platform: Zee5

Release date: September 11, 2020.

Wakalat From Home

Director: Rohan Sippy

Cast: Sumeet Vyas, Nidhi Singh, Kubbra Sait, Gopal Datt

Synopsis: Last week it was the Malayalam film C U Soon. This week it is Wakaalat From Home. We are talking about film/series shot remotely over digital devices during the lockdown. The scenes were shot by the actors themselves on their personal cameras while the scenes were played out on Zoom calls. This 10-episode series is about a legal drama centred on a divorce proceedings involving a young couple. The accent is fun and sentiments. The comedy is edgy but relatable. Gopal Datt and Kubbra Sait as the advocates, we hear, bring the roof down with their humorous lines and nonchalant acting.

Language: Hindi

Platform: Amazon Prime

Release date: September 10, 2020.

Cargo

Director: Arati Kadav

Cast: Vikrant Massey, Shweta Tripathi, Nandu Madhav, Konkana Sen Sharma, Ritwik Bhowmik

Synopsis: Suddenly science fiction seems to be in the scheme of things on Indian OTT platforms. Last week we had JL 50. Now Cargo, which is set on a spaceship named Pushpak 634A. This movie was premiered at the prestigious MAMI Film Festival. At another level, this is also a dark comedy and also involves the idea of reincarnation. The film mixes Eastern sensibilities with Western concepts in an adroit manner and serves a delectable dish. When past and future combine, it is usually a present for viewers.

Language: Hindi

Platform: Netflix

Release date: September 9, 2020.

Forbidden Love

Director: Priyadarshan, Pradeep Sarkar, Mahesh Manjrekar and Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury

Cast: Aahana Kumra, Chandan Roy Sanyal, Pooja Kumar, Ali Fazal, Omkar Kapoor, Patralekha, Harsh Chhaya, Raima Sen, Rannvijay Singha and Mahesh Manjrekar

Synopsis: This is a 4-parted web series, whose first two parts are released this week. The remaining two parts will be streamed later this month. The series is an anthology of four love stories that, as the title suggests, falls in the forbidden territory. They are not your run of the mill romantic capers. It involves love tales in all their dark, greyish glory. There is something attractive to things that are deemed forbidden. They involve passion, that emotion that is at core to many human lives. All four parts have different protagonists and characters, and are directed by four different directors.

Language: Hindi

Platform: Zee5

Release date: September 9, 2020.

Comicstaan Semma Comedy Pa

Director: Arjun Karthikeyan

Synopsis: This is the Tamil version of Amazon Prime's unscripted comedy series 'Comicstaan'. Streamed under the title 'Comicstaan Semma Comedy Pa', the show marks Amazon Prime Video’s foray into original content in Tamil. Prominent comedians like Praveen Kumar, Vidyullekha Raman, Karthik Kumar and Rajmohan will be mentoring and judging contestants over eight episodes to find the best in the Tamil stand-up scene. This is an eight-episode stand-up comedy series, and being in Tamil, it brings to the table a lot of local cultural nuances. Stay tuned for some loud laughs and giggles. A lot of new faces will doubtless mean a lot of fresh comedy.

Language: Tamil

Platform: Amazon Prime

Release date: September 11, 2020.

Aside from these, there are plenty of films, series and shows in multiple languages in India. You can also check them out on the, well, multiple streaming platforms in India.

Happy weekend viewing!