5 OTT offerings in India for this weekend viewing

(Image credit: Raj Narayan)

For our weekly recommendation column on streaming platforms in India, we generally broad-base our choices so that the interests of a wide cross section of audiences are covered. And this week, without us attempting to look for any variety, the releases in themselves slotted fine.

There is a brilliant love and loss tale from Malayalam, now available in a dubbed version in Telugu (Moothon). An intriguing series of love and crime that is on its second season (Poison). A story of greed and financial smarts that long ago captured the headlines of the country (Scam 1992). A morality play on social mores in an urban setting (Addham). If the previous series is helmed by three directors, our next recommendation for the weekend (Putham Pudhu Kaalai) is also an anthology handled by five top directors.

As we said, the five offerings ticks almost all the boxes in entertainment over streaming platforms in India.

Addham

Directors: Siva Ananth, Sarjun, Barath Neelakantan

Cast: Prasanna, Varalaxmi Sarathkumar, Kishore, Jayaprakash and Rohini Molleti.

Synopsis: This mini-series, handled by three different directors, tackles the idea of what is right and what is wrong, with the interesting tagline "morality is a changing goal post." Shot during the lockdown with considerable curbs on people and their movement, the three different stories convey the idea that morality is not exactly cast in stone. The stories, though directed by different persons, have been penned by Siva Ananth, who is a director in his own right, and is also the associate of ace director Maniratnam.

Language: Telugu

Platform: Aha

Release date: October 16, 2020.

Poison Season 2

Director: Vishal Pandya

Cast: Aftab Shivdasani, Raai Laxmi, Pooja Chopra & Rahul Dev

Synopsis: Poison season 1 was enjoyable, and it was only natural that the makers had a second season for it. But this time it has big screen actors Aftab Shivdasani and Raai Laxmi making their debuts on a web series. The story will have the usual element of crime and passion, glitz and glamour. The plot is said to be different from the first series, and revenge is believed to be the cornerstone of this story.

Language: Hindi

Platform: Zee5

Release date: October 16, 2020.

Moothon

Director: Geetu Mohandas

Cast: Nivin Pauly, Shashank Arora, Sudeep, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Sobhita Dhulipala, Roshan Mathew

Synopsis: This Geetu Mohandas (who is also a well-known actress) directed film has won a few impressive awards in the festival circuit. The Malayalam original, which is now dubbed in Telugu, has Nivin Pauly in the lead, and he is every bit impressive as Moothon (elder brother). The film is set in Lakshadweep and Mumbai, and interestingly the dialogues for the Hindi part have been penned by the ace director Anurag Kashyap. It is such tales and their enactment on screen that explain why we choose to watch movies. Gripping and moving.

Language: Telugu

Platform: Aha

Release date: October 16, 2020.

Scam 1992

Director: Hansal Mehta

Cast: Pratik Gandhi, Sharib Hashmi, Shreya Dhanwanthary Hemant Kher and Nikhil Dwivedi

Synopsis: This series, which is, as of now, the highest rated Hindi web series on IMDb, was released last week. And it has wowed everyone. The story is about Harshad Mehta, the stock broker who caught the nation's imagination in the early 90s with his rags to riches story, and his eventual fall due to greed and for gaming the system. The story, broken in real-life by the journalist Sucheta Dalal, is a sensational one. It is about human imagination that can spur growth as well lead to fall. A momentous event told brilliantly as a web series.

Language: Hindi

Platform: SonyLiv

Release date: October 9, 2020.

Putham Pudhu Kaalai

Directors: Sudha Kongara, Gautham Menon, Suhasini Maniratnam, Rajiv Menon, Karthik Subbaraj

Cast: Jayaram, Urvashi, Kalidas Jayaram, Kalyani Priyadarshan, M S Bhaskar, Shruti Haasan, Suhasini Maniratnam, Anu Hasan, Kathadi Ramamurthy, Komalam Charuhasan, Andrea Jeremiah, Gurucharan C, Leela Samson, Bobby Simha, Sharath Ravi, K Muthukumar

Synopsis: As directors, Sudha Kongara, Gautham Menon, Suhasini Maniratnam, Rajiv Menon, Karthik Subbaraj are among the top in Tamil now. And when their short takes become part of an anthology centered on the 21-day lockdown in March, you better take notice. And look at the cast, it is again very interesting and inspired. The five stories broadly cover hope, love, and new beginnings in the pandemic times. Just what the doctor ordered for the situation we are in.

Language: Tamil

Platform: Amazon Prime Video

Release date: October 16, 2020.

All in all, the five different fares will surely keep you engrossed so much so that the other popular stuff on digital screens now in India, the IPL matches, may even taken a backseat. Have a fun-filled viewing, folks!