Ex Stream Benefits: The Best And Beast On OTT In September 2024

September was a month of clutter on the OTT platform. It was almost like a pre-Puja bonanza sale: try one and get one free. Some of it was fairly stinky, but a lot of it was quite worthy of our attention. Netflix’s Sector 36 and Applause Entertainment’s Tanaav Season 2 led the bright pack this month. Both went into familiar territory. But what a definitive plunge into the familiar it was! There is not a moment in Aditya Nimbalkar’s outstanding crime chiller Sector 36 where the two principal actors Deepak Dobriyal and Vikrant Massey slip out of character. Although Massey has the meaty (pun) part, it is Dobriyal who proved his versatility . Their cat and mouse conflict imbues the plot with an unnerving immersive arc. If actors make or break a film, then Sector 36 stands tall as a crime drama for its two principal actors. Knives and chopping of meat occupy a large part of the narration in Sector 36.The crime chiller is not for the fainthearted. I found myself comparing Sector 36 with Netflix’s excellent crime drama Monster : The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story. Though it has been severely criticized by the real-life brothers for subverting the truth, there is a compelling urgent mood running through the series. The plotting is engrossing. And the performances are to die for. Like the first season, the second season of Tanaav is a beast of its own. Authentic in look and speech, Tanaav doesn’t look like an adaptation of the Israeli series Fauda. The terror contexts are smartly changed and localised. The characters do not waste time in allowing us to get to know them. Their jobs are well-planned from before. Amazon’s fluffy glam wham Call Me Bae was monstrously entertaining and insanely binge-worthy. What’s more, it didn’t make any concerted effort to seduce us into its storytelling. It broke all the rudimentary rules of the streaming business with content that is unapologetically formulistic and emphatically entertaining. The series is at once a jolt to the norm and a dishy visit to La La Land. Bhuvan Bam and Jaaved Jaffery battled it out in the second season of Disney-Hotstar’s Taaza Khabar which had nothing taaza about it .The time-‘travail’ theme was better handled in Zee5’s Gyarah Gyarah last month. This one seems to have nothing to say. Speaking of Zee5 the quality content is improving. Their two OTT releases in September Berlin and Love, Sitara were not exactly turn-around masterpieces, but they had their moments, especially Sitara. Director Vandana Kataria's first film Noblemen was a grim and shocking reminder of the depravity and intolerance that often underlines the well-aligned smooth operation of elitist educational institutions. This time in Love, Sitara is on less slippery ground. This sort of an emotionally evicted family trying to seek an anchor late in their lives, is not a tough directorial task. But it isn’t easy either, unless you have the right cast. Ms Kataria has the right faces. The culturally correct postures. But the actors and the Kerala location do not have the ingrained authenticity of Manoraganthal, the Kerala-based series is coincidentally also on the same digital platform Zee5. Berlin could have been less wordy more action-driven. But at least director Atul Sabharwal did not rely on shallow shock tactics to make his spy thriller thrilling. There is a concerted effort here to design a cerebral spy drama, a desi compact John Le Carre, if you will. Kookie Gulati’s long-delayed feature film Visfot wasted three talented actresses Sheeba Chadha, Priya Bapat and Riddhi Dogra. Whatever advantage Fardeen Khan accrued from his brief appearance in Sanjay Bhansali’s Heeramandi was forefeited in Visfot. Jio Studios’ Khalbali Records, directed by Devanshu Singh, wasted Amit Trivedi’s elaborate comprehensive music score in a chaotic plot. Jio Studios’ Jo Tera Hai Woh Mera Hai has a winsome slice-of-life feel to it. Amit Sial and Paresh Rawal are actors who never fail a script, even if the script fails them. This one had its moments. But nothing to write home about.