As the months are passing by, we’re nearing the end of 2020 and hoping to have the pre-COVID conditions restored by 2021. With no hope of breaking our self-isolation this year, most of us have gone on a binging spree with the newest content being uploaded by OTT platforms consistently. This August was a good month of girl power as OTT platforms released some strong and exciting shows. From the biopic of the first Indian fighter pilot to the story of how a group of women in burqa round-up abusive men to deliver their own justice- we have seen the strength of a woman’s determination and will power. Here’s a list of all the shows that were much loved and watched by the OTT audience.
- Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl- This inspirational biopic of the first female pilot of the Indian Air Force has been premiering on Netflix and has been a subject of discussion as well as some controversy regarding the factual correctness of the incidents shown. The film shows how Gunjan Saxena (played by Janhvi Kapoor) overcomes many hurdles to establish her career in a male-dominated profession. She creates history and rescues hundreds of lives during the Kargil War.
- Bandish Bandits– This web series deals with a not-so-common topic of making traditional classical music of India palatable for a generation that loves remixes. The story is about an heir of a traditional and prestigious musical genre (‘Gharana’) of Jaipur, Radhe and a pop artist Tamanna. It showcases their ideological differences and how Radhe realizes that there’s more to music than what he was taught. They form a band called ‘Bandish Bandits’. This series becomes a must-watch due to its uncommon storyline and superlative performances by the cast.
- Lovecraft Country- This series follows the story of a novel with the same name by Matt Ruff. It shows how Atticus Freeman travels across the Jim Crow America in the 1950s to search for his father. His trip with his uncle George and friend Letitia is stained with racial tensions and they encounter xenophobia along with straight-up supernatural horrors.
- Chemical Hearts- Based on a novel by Krystal Sutherland, named Our Chemical Hearts, this story explores teenage love and grief. It revolves around a high school student, Henry meeting Grace who is a transferred student who is made the co-editor of the newspaper along with Henry. They soon develop a friendship that turns into a romantic relationship but Henry realizes that Grace is hiding a painful secret that might break them apart.
- Churails- This feminist vigilante show from Pakistan became a critic’s favourite right after its release. It narrates the story of four women- a wedding planner, a boxer, a lawyer and an ex-convict- whose paths cross and they decide to open an agency that catches and delivers their brand of justice to abusive men. They call themselves ‘churails’- a term used to demean women who didn’t fall under the norms of patriarchy and perform their operations under the disguise of a burqa store but soon realize that they were up against the strongest of Karachi.
