2020 in review: Bollywood heads online to thrill with top shows, films

In a year dominated by COVID-19 realities all around us, one truth that emerged is that viewing patterns of audiences all over the world were in the for a change this year. With cinema halls closing down due to lockdown, streaming platforms became the primary source of entertainment. While the big screen will not go away, streaming services have come of age and redefined for good how we perceive entertainment from now on. Here’s a look at the genres and shows that created ripples in the Indian streaming space in 2020:

Anthologies: The year started with the spooky anthology ‘Ghost Stories’ (pictured), and the trend of stringing several stories together continued all through the year. Some of the noteworthy anthologies include, ‘Ludo’, ‘Unpaused’ and ‘Paava Kadhaigal’.

Direct to service releases: With the cinemas shutting down due to the coronavirus, movies ditched the traditional release route for the digital world. the Amitabh Bachchan and Ayushmann Khurrana-starrer ‘Gulabo Sitabo’ (pictured) started the trend, which continues to gain steam.

Female-driven stories: ‘Aarya’, ‘Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl’ (pictured), ‘Bulbbul’, ‘Bhaag Beanie Bhaag’, ‘Guilty’, ‘Four More Shots Please!’, ‘Hundred’, ‘Choked’, ‘Raat Akeli Hai’ — the list only keeps growing. Female-led narrative are the trend all over in the world of entertainment, and the web space has been particularly suseptible to the trend.

Docu-dramas: There was a dose of reality in the diverse fiction world of the streaming services, thanks to documentary films and series. The topics were varied — from kabaddi to a sneak peek into the ‘Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives’ (pictured).

Regional films and shows: Amid lockdown, regional content found a new and wide audience on streaming platforms in India, from Telugu, Tamil, Kannada to Malayalam. Regional cinema from the South, especially saw good response in the digital space. One such example was ‘Paava Kadhaigal’ (pictured) on Netflix.

While on stories, here are the top shows and movies that grabbed attention for being a little out of the league, in terms of idea and themes:

‘Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story’: Filmmaker Hansal Mehta captured the story of one of the biggest financial scams in the Indian stock market. The financial thriller emerged as a winner, making Gujarati actor Pratik Gandhi, who essayed the role of Harshad Mehta, an overnight star.

Panchayat: The hilarious satire series emerged as one of the sleeper hits while providing much-needed comic relief to the audience. It is about a young secretary of a Panchayat office in a village, and his journey of coping up with rural life. The series stars Jitendra Kumar, Neena Gupta, Raghubir Yadav and Chandan Sanyal.

Asur: Arshad Warsi made his digital debut with the show on a successful note. The crime thriller brings forward two opposing worlds against each other — the less explored world of forensic science and the world of ancient Indian mythology. Available on Voot Select, it also stars Barun Sobti, Riddhi Dogra and Anupriya Goenka.

Bad Boy Billionaires: India: The docuseries explores the greed, fraud and corruption that built, and ultimately brought down, the most infamous tycoons in India. Watch it on Netflix.

Bandish Bandits: The musical show, which launched Ritwik Bhowmik and Shreya Chaudhry, was a hit. It follows the story of two lovers from different musical backgrounds. The show, streaming on Amazon Prime Video, also features Naseeruddin Shah, Atul Kulkarni, Sheeba Chaddha, Rajesh Tailang and Kunaal Roy Kapur.

Dil Bechara: Sushant Singh Rajput’s last film premiered on the Disney+ Hotstar in July, and got a lot of attention. It was the official remake of 2014 Hollywood romantic drama ‘The Fault in our Stars’. Earlier this year, according to a report by TV viewership monitoring agency BARC (Broadcast Audience Research Council) and data measurement firm Nielsen, ‘Dil Bechara’ emerged as the top movie in the first week of release on a web platform, when it comes to the content viewed on smartphones.

Khuda Haafiz: With cinema halls shut owing to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, Khuda Haafiz went for a direct-to-web release. It stars Vidyut Jammwal and Shivaleeka Oberoi. After the success of the first part, the makers have announced the second chapter of the story, and are planning to release it on the big screen.

Aarya: Sushmita Sen’s comeback show Aarya delved into how organised crime and betrayal runs deep in a family. It revolves around the protagonist Aarya Sareen, who is dragged into her husband’s narcotics business when her family is threatened after his death. The show will be back with a second season soon.

Paatal Lok: Actress Anushka Sharma’s debut web production ‘Paatal Lok’ opened to rave reviews. The show is about a police officer Hathiram who is on the lookout for four criminals — serial killer Vishal “Hathoda” Tyagi (Abhishek Banerjee), Tope “Chaaku” Singh (Jagjeet Sandhu), Kabir M. (Aasif Khan), and Mary “Cheeni” Lyngdoh (Mairembam Ronaldo Singh).

Serious Men: Nawazuddin Siddiqui was universally applauded for his role in the Sudhir Mishra directorial, Serious Men. The Netflix movie was an adaptation of Manu Joseph’s book of the same name. It narrates the tale of an underachiever who tries to make it big in Mumbai after discovering that his child could be a boy genius.

Four More Shots Please!: The show follows four unapologetically flawed women as they discover life while balancing friendship in Mumbai. The second season showed how they coped with their fears and insecurities. The show will be back with the third season soon.

Bulbbul: The period horror drama narrated the journey of a young girl named Bulbbul from innocence to strength, with the looming shadow of the legend of a ‘chudail’ [witch]. The story gives a positive spin to the term.