2023 has been a year of consolidation for streaming services. All those eyeballs gathered by circumstance during the pandemic, translated to some of the finest storytelling and promise the format seems designed for. Netflix finally produced a consistent slate of shows that engaged, entertained and fascinated, while PrimeVideo and Disney+Hotstar continued lean, hit-making streaks of their own. While theatrical releases indicate a return to the trained designs of the larger-than-life narratives, albeit in different packaging, it's streaming where maybe the boldest, most radical stories are being told. Here is our pick of 10 best streaming shows from 2023, in no particular order.
Also read: From The Romantics to Jubilee, why Bollywood is on a nostalgia trip in 2023
True to its name, Kohrra is deep, unsettling and melancholic in a way few shows labelled with gritty and thrilling tags are. It sets out as a procedural before dissolving into the thicker coating of love and everything it inspires, from lust to disdain. It boasted some of the finest character writing done in recent times (Sudip Sharma clearing his own previous high bar) and two exceptional performances by the leading duo of Suvinder Vicky and Barun Sobti.
Vikramaditya Motwane’s studious, slow-paced ode to the golden years of post-independence cinema is the kind of prestige project you’d hope to see more of. Jubilee won’t offer you low-brow thrills or gainful twists, but it was hypnotic to look at and awe-inspiring to deconstruct. There probably isn’t another show made with as much love and commitment on the list. In Sidhant Gupta, it also gave us a new name to reckon with.
Of all the ways the Bhopal Gas Tragedy of 1984 could be recreated, the path that this pacey, clattering and ultimately humbling show took was enthralling. Not only did it sort of flip the lens we have seen this grim tragedy through, it also offered a new manifesto for the portrayal of reluctant heroism. Kay Kay Menon was expectedly excellent but Babil Khan’s raw, unhurried performance somewhat stole the limelight.
The prolific Raj and DK returned to streaming with an on-brand crime caper set in urban India. Farzi pretty much retraced the tropes of the rise and fall of the anti-hero, but the creators know how to pepper their stories with enough oomph, grunge and goofiness to make it stand apart from the rest. They simply know what ‘entertainment’ looks and feels like. Shahid Kapoor’s debut on streaming felt as gripping as Vijay Sethupathi’s first collaboration with a Hindi project.
Also read: 'Farzi', 'Gulmohar' and the return of Amol Palekar to our screens
Easily the most unorthodox premise on display this year, Kaala Paani is precisely what this streaming format exists for. To transport you to a place, a sub-culture, in a way that even a literal visit maybe cannot yield. Set in the Andaman and Nicobar islands, this sprawling tale examines how people become in the face of a crisis. It’s without a doubt, the standout genre-tweaking exercise of the year, lifted by terrific performances and controlled direction.
Recreating tragedy is no easy task, but Netflix’s Trial By Fire offered grim realism without the cake of escapist victories. Even elusive highs, felt like shattering lows in a show that really could not have summoned any more earnestness and honesty the way it did in the performances of Rajshri Deshpande and Abhay Deol. It’s final episode, is a crushing spectacle to behold and grieve.
The Night Manager (Disney+Hotstar)
Easily the most stylish show on the list, The Night Manager is one of the few adaptations of an internationally acclaimed limited series that felt justifiably localised in its concerns. More than anything else, it was perfectly cast as a sophisticated pageant of sensually evocative men and women doing questionable things in exotic locations. For once, Aditya Roy Kapoor looked more than just the sum of his handsome frame. Anil Kapoor, on the other hand, was as casually charismatic as is humanly possible.
Contrary to twisty, gruesome thrillers, Dahaad is a subversive comment on the very nature of societal deprivation. Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti’s slow-burn serial killer drama doesn’t offer cathartic reveals as much as it offers the gradual unpeeling of a blinding socio-cultural fold. Vijay Varma delivered one of the most unsettling performances of the year, in a show that has to be absorbed as a cultural document as opposed to case file.
The breakout and maybe epochal show of the year returned young-adults to screens where their presence had been relegated to background-hogging brothers and sisters. Messy, stylish and bold, Class was like watching the clouds of banality get electrified by the substance of rage, anger and rebellion. In a year in which young-adult stories made a resounding comeback, Class will stand tall as the one that started it all.
School of Lies (Disney+Hotstar)
Avinash Arun’s School of Lies was maybe the most complex of all the stories we’ve seen this year. To enter a young adult space, and talk about generational abuse, the culture of bullying with an air of despair and existentialism hanging over, is a pitch no studio exec in this country would approve. Or at least you’d think they wouldn’t. It’s a near miracle that something as sobering, and unnerving as School of Lies was even made, thanks to Arun and those haunting performances by a mostly young cast.
Honourable mention:
Cinema Marte Dum Tak (Prime Video)
To every '90s cinemaholic, the world of B-grade cinema is a treasure trove of diminished but essential cinematic heritage. The fact that someone sitting in Mumbai thought of unearthing these gems, the ridiculously devout people behind them and the tragedy of living on art’s many forgettable shelves, felt reassuring. As an act of preservation alone, this cinematic sojourn was charming and maybe even redemptive. It’s everything a cinema fan hopes for.
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