The Friday Fury Is  Upon Us…What Will You Watch ?

The OTT platform is getting as crowded  on Fridays as the movie theatres used to be once upon a  time.The  boxoffice tussles were eventually resolved  with the big guns  spacing out their releases.  The buzz is that the major OTT platforms are  now in the  process  of  finding a solution to the  crowded  digital domain on Fridays. Until then, happy bingeing. Here’s what’s  in store tomorrow.

1. The  Great Indian Murder(Disney+Hotstar): Ajay Devgan serves as producer  on this murder mystery set in a upperclass high-rise  ambience. Devgan  has  left no stone  unturned to promote the  production as one  of its  kind. The  mystery at the  heart  of the  lengthy  series  is solved  beforehand  for anyone who  has  read  Vikas Swarup’s  novel. But  the producers are counting  on  the fact  that  not too many potential  viewers out there have read   the novel(Devgan hasn’t). With Tigmanshu Dhulia as director(when was  the last  time he  did something on a par with his  best , namely Pan Singh Tomar?)  we can  hope for some  tightly  wound suspense, at least.Also  the  accomplished  cast—Pratik Gandhi,Richa Chadha, Ashutosh Rana, Sharib Hashmi , Rahuvir Yadav, Paoli Dam—should  be an incentive, though some of these actors have not covered themselves  in glory with their  recent work on OTT.The  minus side: the  blood-splattered, suspense-soaked  saga  extends  into  9  episodes.  By the time you are done, you  may get murderous  thoughts yourself.
2. The Rocket Boys(SonyLIV): This is  a series admirably  strategized to  bring forth the evolution of India’s nuclear power  through  the  efforts of  its two pioneers Homi Bhabha and Vikram Sarabhai, played with  conviction and  sincerity by Jim Sarbh and Ishwak Singh; Sarbh is  particularly compelling as  Bhabha. The series spreading  into  8  parts  recreates a flavourful  ambience  , bringing back the  feel of the  Nehruvian era with an impressively staged dexterity. On   the minus side, how many of today’s  17-18 year old are  energized  by  the saga of  India’s atomic evolution , specially when the  series takes so long to get to the point? Abhay Pannu who has so far served as an assistant directors gets a big break  as  a full-fledged director while Nikhil Advani is the “presenter”  and “creator” along with Sidharth Roy  Kapur. The mind boggles at the  various  compartments that are  created to optimize  the  production budgets.
3. Looop Lapeta(Netflix): A crazy zany goofy fey  feature film that  casts  the ever-dependable Taapsee Pannu caught in a strange whirligig where  she gets three  different options to correct the mess made by her stupid boyfriend played by Tahir Raj Bhasin of whom we’ve been lately getting an  overdose on  OTT. The  fast-paced film exudes a very unusual energy never seen before. But  is   that  enough to  hold your attention? On the  plus side , this one is  over in less than two hours.