Kajol, Saif Ali Khan, Mohanlal: 11 starry web shows, films to watch in 2021

With some of Indian cinema’s biggest stars heading to the small screen in 2021, streaming platforms have never had it so good than in this post pandemic era. Bollywood star Kajol is set to make her debut on Netflix, while Saif Ali Khan returns to the small screen with a new political thriller. Meanwhile, South Indian star Mohanlal is set to make his own splash on a streaming platform with a much-anticipated sequel. With 2021 starting with a lot of promise, we share our top picks to tune in to on a web platform near you very soon.

Tribhanga — Tedhi Medhi Crazy: Bollywood actress Kajol is set to make a much-delayed but highly anticipated debut on Netflix in January. Produced by her husband, film actor Ajay Devgn, the generational drama also stars Mithila Palkar and Tanvi Azmi. The film has been written and directed by film actress, Renuka Sahane, and chronicles the lives of a dysfunctional family, one of which is Kajol, who appears to play an Odissa dancer. The film drops on Netflix on January 15.

Tandav: Saif Ali Khan returns to the small screen after his critically-acclaimed ‘Sacred Games’. This political drama features an all-star ensemble cast that includes Dimple Kapadia, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Kritika Kamra, Sunil Grover, Sandhya Mridul, among others. The web series will also mark the digital debut of series director Ali Abbas Zafar, who is largely known for his Bollywood tentpoles featuring Salman Khan. The series drops on Amazon Prime on January 15.

The White Tiger: Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Rajkummar Rao lead this adaption of Aravind Adiga’s 2008 novel of the same name. The film stars Adarsh Gourav in the lead, who plays an ambitious Indian driver who employs his wit and cunning to escape from poverty and rise to the top. The film will release on Netflix on January 22.

Jeet Ki Zid: Bollywood filmmaker Boney Kapoor is also ready to make his web debut, albeit as a producer, with this drama starring actor Amit Sadh. After a fantastic 2020 with ‘Breathe: Into The Shadows’ Sadh plays an army officer in this drama, which also stars Sushant Singh and Amrita Puri. It will stream on Zee5 from January 22.

The Family Man Season 2: Manoj Bajpayee returns as the everyman whose secret role as a spy ended at a cliffhanger in season 1. The show marks the digital debut of South Indian star Samantha Akkineni, who said earlier that she has “broken a lot of rules with The Family Man 2, and really experimented with something extremely new.” Ahead of the show’s release, Bajpayee revealed a poster of the new season on his social media that shows a bomb being taped to a gift box. The timer on the bomb reads ‘2021’. No release date has been given for this Amazon Prime release, but fans expect it to drop around February.

Mumbai Diaries 26/11: After finding her footing in a Mumbai suburb in ‘Life… In a Metro’, Konkona Sen Sharma is back in the city life for a new series that is set against the backdrop of the November 26 terror attacks. The medical drama also stars Mohit Raina, Tina Desai and Shreya Dhanwanthary in lead roles, who play medical staff on that fateful night. The show, created by Nikkhil Advani, will premiere in March on Amazon Prime Video.

Made in Heaven Season 2: Actor Arjun Mathur announced late last year that he had started his preparation for the second season of the web series ‘Made In Heaven’. The actor plays Karan Mehra, a Delhi-based wedding planner, who works with Sobhita Dhulipala’s Tara Khanna. Created by filmmaker Zoya Akhtar, and also starring Jim Sarbh and Kalki Koechlin, the Amazon Prime series was set to start filming in April 2020 but was delayed due to the pandemic. Fans can expect the show to drop by mid-2021.

Broken But Beautiful Season 3: After the first two seasons with Vikrant Massey and Harleen Sethi in the lead, Sameera and Veer have stepped aside in the third series to allow Rumi and Agastya to take their story forward. Sidharth Shukla (pictured) and Sonia Rathee will feature in the new season of the hit series, which will soon stream on ALTBalaji.

The Test Case Season 2: If you loved the first season with Nimrat Kaur donning the uniform to play an army officer who takes on the system and it’s biases, you will love to see season 2, which will see Harleen Sethi take on the role of an officer and a test case. It will soon arrive on ALTBalaji but no date has been revealed as yet.

Drishyam 2: The highly anticipated sequel to Mohanlal’s ‘Drishyam’ is finally coming in 2021, with an Amazon Prime release and a teaser revealed on December 31. The sequel to the 2015 hit is the first mainstream Malayalam film to head to a streaming platform. Jeetu Joseph also returns to direct the film. While no release date has been announced, we can hope that it drops by March or April of this year.

Bombay Begums: The much-delayed series starrs Pooja Bhatt, Shahana Goswami, Amruta Subhash, Plabita Borthakur, Aadhya Anand. If you are in the mood for a women-centric drama, then it doesn’t get better than this. The series explore the lives of five women across generations who tackle personal crises and vulnerabilities. They find unexpected kinship in each other as they navigate life.