TLI Staff
The year-end comes with a lot of excitement and some of the best movies, web series premieres and announcements. As a Christmas treat, there was a lot to devour in digital space from Anurag Kashyap-Anil Kapoor starrer AK vs AK (fictional series with real characters), Hotstar Special Criminal Justice: Behind Closed Doors, Amazon Prime Video’s Coolie No. 1, remake of David Dhawan’s 1995 potboiler among others.
A few announcements, trailers for the big releases next year also kept the excitement level high this week. Like the trailer of Aravind Adiga’s Manbooker prize winning novel The White Tiger is finally out and Netflix Mockumentary Death to 2020 will hopefully give the rightful farewell to the ridiculous year 2020 was. Also, first Filmfare OTT awards were announced where Paatal Lok, Panchayat, The Family Man, and Raat Akeli Hai won big.
Here’s a roundup for the web series news this week:
Netflix unveils The White Tiger official trailer
Based on the Man-booker prize winning novel The White Tiger, authored by Aravind Adiga, the film will be released on big screen in select theatres and on Netflix on January 22, 2021. Starring Adarsh Gourav in the titular role and Rajkummar Rao and Priyanka Chopra in central roles, the film is narrated from the perspective of Balram Halwai who comes from a rural and financially poor background and goes on to become a successful entrepreneur.
Netflix’s The White Tiger has been written for screen and directed by Ramin Bahrani. Aravind and Ramin’s friendship goes way back, with Aravind having dedicated his novel to Ramin when it was first published. The film is executice-produced by Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Ken Kamins, Paul Ritchie, Prem Akkaraju, Ava DuVernay and Sarah Bremner.
Balram Halwai (Adarsh Gourav) narrates his epic and darkly humorous rise from poor villager to successful entrepreneur in modern India. Cunning and ambitious, our young hero jockeys his way into becoming a driver for Ashok (Rajkummar Rao) and Pinky (Priyanka Chopra Jonas), who have just returned from America. Society has trained Balram to be one thing — a servant — so he makes himself indispensable to his rich masters. But after a night of betrayal, he realizes the corrupt lengths they will go to trap him and save themselves. On the verge of losing everything, Balram rebels against a rigged and unequal system to rise up and become a new kind of master.
Carrying baggage of the 90s, Coolie No. 1 gets massive thumbs down
David Dhawan returns with the remake of his 1995-hit Coolie No. 1, starring Sara Ali Khan and son Varun Dhawan this time but forgets to contextualize the script as per today’s times. The film has unnecessary over-the-top drama a characteristic of a Dhawan film, but misses the spontaneity and rhythm of the veteran filmmaker. Remaking your own film is a temptation that makers should resist. Keeping in mind the growing intolerance among today’s viewers for poor and senseless content, it is not an exaggeration to say that Coolie No. 1 is a huge disappointment.
Criminal Justice: Behind Closed Doors gets rave reviews
Pankaj Tripathi’s Madhav Mishra returns to defend an alleged killer once again in his inimitable style. The sequel series of Criminal Justice–that starred Vikrant Massey in the lead—has Kirti Kulhari as the protagonist who admits to killing her husband Bikram Chandra (played by Jisshu Sengupta). While people around them know the couple and their teenage daughter as a perfect family, behind the closed doors it is far from it.
Before the year ends, time for ‘Death to 2020’
Releasing on December 27 (Sunday), Death to 2020 is a mockumentary that centres around the events of the year 2020 affected largely by COVID 19. Made by creators of Black Mirror Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones, it has fictional characters but weaved around real events.
“Death to 2020 features fictional characters discussing real events in a bombastic mockumentary, but quite a bit sillier than that makes it sound. It felt like an apt format for Netflix, which is known for high-end documentaries, but also like a good opportunity to create a different kind of comedy special that deals with the year head-on while also showcasing some brilliant performers. I don’t love the word ‘satire’ but there’s some of that here, alongside some angry jokes, and some goofy jokes,” says Brooker of the format and tone of Death to 2020.
Adding, “And hopefully viewers will find at least one joke to their liking — because let’s face it, in 2020, any laugh you can emit, no matter how fleeting, is a small but precious victory.”
Death to 2020 is created, executive produced by Brooker and Jones, and produced by Alison Marlow and directed by Al Campbell and Alice Mathias.
Filmfare OTT awards were announced and the winners were:
Best Series: Paatal Lok
Best Director (Series): Avinash Arun and Prosit Roy (Paatal Lok)
Best Series (Critics): The Family Man
Best Director (Critics): Krishna DK and Raj Nidiomoru for The Family Man
Best Actor in a Drama Series (Male): Jaideep Ahlawat for Paatal Lok
Best Actor in a Drama Series (Female): Sushmita Sen for Aarya
Best Actor in a Drama Series (Critics): Manoj Bajpayee for The Family Man
Best Actress in a Drama Series (Critics): Priyamani for The Family Man
Best Actor in a Comedy Series (Male): Jitendra Kumar for Panchayat
Best Actor in a Comedy Series (Female): Mithila Palkar for Little Things Season 3
Best Actor in a Comedy Series (Critics): Dhruv Sehgal for Little Things Season 3
Best Actress in a Comedy Series (Critics): Sumukhi Suresh (Pushpavali Season 2)
Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Drama Series (Male): Amit Sadh for Breathe Into the Shadows
Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Drama Series (Female): Divya Dutta for Special OPS
Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Comedy Series (Male): Raghubir Yadav for Panchayat
Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Comedy Series (Female): Neena Gupta for Panchayat
Best non-fiction original (Series/Special): Times of Music
Best Comedy (Series/Special): Panchayat
Best Film (Web original): Raat Akeli Hai