TLI Staff
New Delhi: Netflix has captured the hearts of the Indian viewers in a very short span of time and has probably altered their viewing habits forever. The monthly plans of the global streaming giant are increasingly becoming more affordable for Indians and this is the reason why we are spending more time on Netflix than ever before.
A bevvy of Netflix India originals being released almost every month are keeping the interest of the viewers in the streaming platform alive. Sacred Games changed the ball game for Netflix in India as the series helmed by Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane and its characters remained the talking point for TV series buff ever since its release. Saif Ali Khan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Pankaj Tripathi, Kubbra Sait, Surveen Chawla, Kalki Koechlin and many other talented stars comprised the cast of the popular series.
Sacred Games was just the beginning for many more brilliant series to come from Netflix’s stable as many noted filmmakers and big stars collaborated in projects with superb storylines with edge of the seat twists and turns.
Be it Ghoul, Selection Day, Delhi Crime, Little Things or Leila, Netflix’s stellar line-up made sure viewers were kept entertained throughout the year.
Here’s a list of most popular series of 2019 released by Netflix India.
1. Sacred Games S2: Viewers were waiting for the second season with bated breath after the humongous success of the first season. The series was based on Vikram Chandra’s novel of the same name. Season 2 takes off from where the first season left and shows how Sartaj Singh continues to find clues to save Mumbai from a nuclear attack even as his personal life is in mess. New characters Ranveer Shorey, Kalki Koechlin and Pankaj Tripathi who played Guruji turn around the story and give the series a nail-biting finish.
2. Bard of Blood: Based on the espionage novel of the same name authored by Bilal Siddiqui, the series directed by Ribhu Dasguota revolved around an ex-RAW agent Kabir Anand (Emraan Hashmi) who’s recalled from his new life as a Shakespeare professor in Panchgani to save his country and is sent on a covert mission with analyst Isha Khanna (Sobhita Dhulipala) and another undercover agent Veer Singh (Vineet Kumar Singh) to rescue four RAW agents captured in Balochistan.
3. Delhi Crime: Based on the horrifying Nirbhaya rape case, the series was praised among Indian as well as international media for its daring content. The series follows the story in the aftermath of the gang rape, where Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Vartika Chaturvedi (Shefali Shah) is tasked to find the culprits, responsible for the assaults and death of the female victim. Directed by Richie Mehta, the series starred Shefali Shah, Rasika Duggal, Adil Hussain and Rajesh Tailand is key roles.
4. Sex Education: Socially awkward teenager Otis Milburn is ambivalent about sex, despite, or perhaps because of, his mother being a sex therapist who is frank about all aspects of sexuality. After inadvertently assisting the school bully with his sexual performance anxiety, Otis sets up a sex advice business with Maeve—a confident but vulnerable classmate—to educate their fellow students in how to deal with their own sexual problems. The British teen comedy-drama web series created by Laurie Nunn stars Asa Butterfield, Gillian Anderson, Ncuti Gatwa, Emma Mackey, Connor Swindells, and Kedar Williams-Stirling.
5. Leila: Leila, based on Prayaag Akbar’s novel of the same name is a scary reminder of what future might hold for us if we don’t make amends. Helmed by Deepa Mehta, the six-episode series stars Huma Qureshi, Siddharth, Rahul Khanna in key roles and is set in an imagined world, Aryavarta, where purity is a law and the motto is peace by segregation. It follows the story of Shalini, who tries to find her missing daughter in a totalitarian regime in near future.
6. Stranger Things Season 3: The third season of the series opens in the summer of 1985, on a much happier note than the previous two seasons as the kids have now bloomed into teenagers and are romancing, hanging out and making merry like never before. Will feels left out because of his friends Mike, Eleven, Dustin, Lucas’ shifting priorities. Chief Jim Hopper is conflicted over Eleven and Mike’s budding relationship, while Joyce considers moving out of Hawkins for better prospects, leaving the state of the children’s friendships and her own relationship with Hopper in the air. However, strange power fluctuations trigger Will’s awareness of something otherworldly, and Eleven and Max sense something is off about the town’s residents, and despite having closed the portal to the Upside Down, fears that they are all still in danger from it.
7. Typewriter: Typewriter is about a haunted house and a haunted book that stir the imagination of a group of young, wannabe ghost hunters, and a dog, determined to capture the ghost that plagues the notorious home in their neighbourhood in Goa. When a new family and their captivating daughter move into the haunted home, the crew finds it difficult to balance the demands of school and chores with the renewed urgency to capture the neighbourhood ghost before it is too late. The series directed by Sujoy Ghosh stars Purab Kohli, Palomi Ghosh, Sameer Kochhar, Aarna Sharma, Mikhail Gandhi, Palash Kamble, and Aaryansh Malviyain key roles.
8. Little Things Season 3: Better and more relatable than Season 2, Little Things Season 3 is able to weave its magic again with Dhruv and Kavya’s relationship evolving as Dhruv moves to Bangalore for six months and Kavya finds herself lonely for the first time in many years. The series goes into flashback and delves into the early relationships of Dhruv and Kavya.
9. The Witcher: Set in a medieval world on a landmass known as the Continent, The Witcher follows the story of solitary monster hunter Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill), sorceress Yennefer of Vengerberg (Anya Chalotra), and princess Ciri (Freya Allan), who find their destinies tied together. The first season is based on The Last Wish and Sword of Destiny, a collection of short stories that precede the main Witcher saga. The first season explores formative events that shaped the three lead characters, prior to their first encounters with each other.
10. The Spy: Limited series: The French espionage web television miniseries is written and directed by Israeli director Gideon Raff and Max Perry and is based on the life of Israel’s top Mossad spy Eli Cohen. The six-episode miniseries, released on September 6, 2019, on Netflix, was said to have been inspired by real-life events. It is based on the book L’espion qui venait d’Israël, written by Uri Dan and Yeshayahu Ben Porat. On Metacritic, it has “generally favorable reviews”.