The rate at which OTT platforms are coming up with new shows, new seasons and new films is nothing short of astounding. The home viewer is spoilt for choice, as almost every genre is being showcased in multiple languages. Here's our pick of shows to watch, as the monsoon brings relief from sweltering heat in many parts of the country:
July 1
Dhaakad (ZEE5)
Genre: Action
In a gender stereotypes-breaking role, Kangana Ranaut plays an action hero in Dhaakad. The film didn't do well at the box office, but the action looks good - as does Arjun Rampal in the role of the ultra-bad villain. The film is getting a digital release, and will stream exclusively on Zee5.
Stranger Things 4: Volume 2 (Netflix)
Genre: SciFci, Horror, Thriller
Currently the No. 1 show in over 80 countries, Stranger Things was created by the Duffer Brothers, Matt and Ross.
In Season 4, Volume 2, the super kids - the Hawkins gang - return to the Upside Down, to fight Vecna and defeat him once and for all. The epic showdown between Vecna and Eleven is what everyone is waiting for! (Be warned, at 2-plus hours, some of the episodes in Season 4, Volume 2 are longer than most Hollywood feature films.)
The cast remains the same as the earlier volume released in June 2022, and will have Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Noah Schnapp, Sadie Sink, David Harbour, Winona Ryder and others.
Netflix has announced that there might be a Season 5, which will be the finale.
The Terminal List (Amazon Prime Video)
Genre: Political thriller
Based on Jack Carr's bestselling debut novel The Terminal List: A Thriller, this series tells the story of a Lieutenant Commander James Reece. The Navy Seal (Chris Pratt) discovers that the highest levels of the government are behind the deaths of his team. The thriller also stars Taylor Kitsch, Constance Wu, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Riley Keough, Patrick Schwarzenegger and others.
Moonfall (Lionsgate Play)
Genre: Science fiction, adventure, action drama
Do you love apocalypse films and sci-fi? Then, this might to be the perfect bet. A conspiracy theorist K.C. Houseman (John Bradley) discovers that the moon is knocked out of its orbit by a mysterious force and humanity has just a few weeks left before complete annihilation. A NASA executive and former astronaut Jo Fowler (Halle Berry) is convinced she can save all, but only Brian Harper (Patrick Wilson) and Houseman believe her and go with her on a space-mission.
Directed by Roland Emmerich, the film also stars Michael Peña, Charlie Plummer, Kelly Yu, Eme Ikwuakor, Carolina Bartczak, and Donald Sutherland.
Kung Fu Panda: The Paws of Destiny - Season 2 (Amazon Prime Video)
Genre: Action, Comedy, Animation
Po comes back with his unique teaching techniques in season 2, which is touted to have 13 episodes. This season, the Emperor calls the panda kids, Four Constellations, to the Forbidden City, where they face an epic battle.
Shut Up Sona (Zee5)
Genre: Documentary, Drama
Bollywood singer Sona Mohapatra has always been known for her outspokenness. In 2019, a documentary film Shut Up Sona was made on the Bollywood playback singer's life. Directed by Deepti Gupta, this documentary went on to win the National Film Award for Best Editing. The film is about the singer's fight for an equal space in contemporary India.
Samrat Prithviraj (Amazon Prime Video)
Genre: Action, War, Historical drama
Directed by Chandra Parkash Dwivedi, the Akshay Kumar starrer will stream on OTT after its average stint at the box office. This is also Miss World 2017 Manushi Chhillar's Bollywood debut.
July 3
Operation Romeo (Netflix)
Genre: Thriller
Directed by Shashant Shah, Operation Romeo is a remake of the Malayalam film Ishq Not A Love Story (2019) and released in theatres on April 22. The romantic thriller stars Sidhant Gupta, Vedika Pinto, Sharad Kelkar, Bhumika Chawla, Kishore Kadam and others.
July 4
Odd Squad - Season 3 (Netflix)
Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Live-action
Made for early elementary school children, this educational show is about two agents Olive and Otto who use mathematics to investigate oddities in their town.
July 6
Control Z: Season 3 (Netflix)
Genre: Teen drama
Created by Miguel García Moreno, Carlos Quintanilla Sakar, Adriana Pelusi, Control Z, the Spanish series will be concluding this month (July 6, 2022) with Season 3. Starring Ana Valeria Becerril, Michael Ronda, Yankel Stevan and others, the story is about how a socially isolated but observant student Sofía, works to uncover the identity of the hacker who has been releasing students' secrets to the entire high school.
Hello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between (Netflix)
Genre: Romance, Teen Movie
Bestselling author of books for young adults, Jennifer E. Smith's book Hello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between has been made into a 1 hours 24 minute film starring Jordan Fisher and Talia Ryder. A coming-of-age teen romance, this one is about the protagonists Clare and Aidan making a pact to break up before college.
King of Stonks (Netflix)
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Thriller
Inspired by real events in the financial world, this mini TV Series is about narcissism, megalomania and double standards. Last month, this Sophia Burtscher, Altine Emini, and Andreas Döhler starrer, had its World Premiere at the Munich International Film Festival
Girl in the Picture (Netflix)
Genre: Mystery, Crime documentary
Netflix's newest documentary follows the true story of Sharon Marshall and her father, Franklin Floyd, who made his daughter’s life a living hell. Directed by Skye Borgman, this one is a powerful true-crime documentary.
July 7
Koffee with Karan Season 7 (Disney+Hotstar)
Genre: Talk show, comedy
Filmmaker, director, actor, Karan Johar’s popular chat show Koffee With Karan, that first began 18 years ago, will be debuting on Disney Plus Hotstar in this seventh season. This will be the first time that it will be out on an OTT platform and not on television. Karan’s show was the place where the ‘nepotism’ debate first began (Kangana Ranaut was one of his guests). And this season too, fans are expecting some sparks, some controversies and a truck load of fun. The teaser has Karan almost begging his reluctant film industry friends to make an appearance on his show.
Paka - River of Blood (SonyLIV)
Genre: Thriller
Writer-director Nithin Lukose's Malayalam film about two feuding families opened at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival. It stars Basil Paulose and Vinitha Koshy, among others.
July 8
Vikram (Disney+Hotstar)
Genre: Action, Thriller
Actor-politician Kamal Haasan's comeback film ‘Vikram’, a blockbuster, is all set to premier in four different languages – Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalamn on Disney Plus Hotstar. Director Lokesh Kanagaraj is hailed as someone who hasn’t given a flop after his film Vikram, high-octane, edge-of-the-seat action film, broke the milestone box office record. In the last five years, this is the first film to have made so much money, after ‘Baahubali 2: The Conclusion’. Apart from Kamal Haasan, the cast includes Vijay Sethupathi and Fahadh Faasil, Kalidas Jayaram, Narain and Chemban Vinod Jose.
Ranveer vs Wild with Bear Grylls (Netflix)
Genre: Reality TV, action adventure
This Ranveer Singh starrer, interactive adventure reality special, with a runtime of one hour ten minutes, is about helping the superstar and adventurer Bear Grylls, brave the Serbian wilderness to find a rare flower.
Modern Love Hyderabad (Amazon Prime Video)
Genre: Romance
Inspired by the famous New York Times column, Modern Love, this series is an anthology of six heart-warming stories of love and life that showcases the essence and ethos of modern-day Hyderabad. The episodes have been directed by talented filmmakers from the Telugu industry including Nagesh Kukunoor, Venkatesh Maha, Uday Gurrala and Devika Buhadhanam and features an eclectic cast including Nithya Menen, Revathy, Aadhi Pinisetty, Ritu Varma, Abijeet Duddala, Malavika Nair, Suhasini Maniratnam, Naresh Agastya, Ulka Gupta, Naresh and Komalee Prasad.
July 15
Persuasion (Netflix)
Genre: Romance, Drama
Films that are based on books are always looked at with a critical eye by book-lovers and going by the trailer and comments, this adaptation might not be taken too kindly by Jane Austen fans. Directed by Carrie Cracknell from a screenplay by Ron Bass and Alice Victoria Winslow, based on Jane Austen's novel by the same name, Persuasion stars Dakota Johnson, Cosmo Jarvis, Nikki Amuka-Bird, with Richard E. Grant, and Henry Golding.
Don't Make Me Go (Amazon Prime Video)
Genre: Drama, Comedy, Adventure
A dramedy written by Vera Herbert, directed by Hannah Marks, this film is about the beautiful bond that is shared by a father and daughter. When John Cho, a single father finds that he has a terminal disease, he plans to pack in as much quality time as he can with his teenage daughter Mia Isaac into the time he has left to live and persuades her to go on a road trip.
July 20
Virgin River Season 4 (Netflix)
Genre: drama
Based on Robyn Carr’s series of novels of around 25 books, this story is about Melinda Monroe a nurse practitioner who moves out of the big city of Los Angeles to a small rustic town in Northern California. In the last season, it jumped to the top of the Netflix charts pulled in more than 1.4 million viewers in its first week. In this fourth season, Virgin River, starring Martin Henderson, Tim Matheson, Alexandra Breckenridge and others, will have 12 episodes instead of the usual 10.
July 22
The Gray Man (Netflix)
Genre: Action, Thriller
A CIA operative Court Gentry (Ryan Gosling), aka Sierra Six, has become the target and is being hunted by Lloyd Hansen (Chris Evans), a former cohort at the CIA, and a psychopathic adversary. Agent Dani Miranda (Ana de Armas) has his back and so has his handler Donald Fitzroy (Billy Bob Thornton). Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, this spy thriller is based on The Gray Man by author Mark Greaney. The cast also includes Ana de Armas, with Regé-Jean Page, Billy Bob Thornton, Jessica Henwick, Dhanush, Wagner Moura and Alfre Woodard.
July 27
High School Musical: The Musical-The Series Season 3 (Disney Plus Hotstar)
Genre: Musical, drama, teen romance
First released in 2019, the High School Musical: The Musical-The Series (HSMTMTS), went on to become one of the most-loved high school teenage dramas and Olivia Rodrigo (Nini) one of the lead actors, gained popularity. The HSMTMTS Season 3 will see the now globally successful pop-star, Olivia, as a recurring guest star. The eight-episode Season 3 had the cast and crew swap filming locations. To showcase the vibe of a summer camp, this season was shot in Los Angeles (earlier it was Salt Lake City) and will have ample campfire nights, and summer romances. The music as usual will be from Frozen, Camp Rock, and High School Musical. Recurring guest stars will be seen in HSMTMTS season 3 including Corbin Bleu. Ben Stillwell as Channing, cameraman for the docu-series about Camp Shallow Lake's theatrical production of Frozen, Aria Brooks as Alex, a sharp and smart eighth grader and brand-new Camp Shallow Lake camper and Liamani Segura as Emmy, a wide-eyed eighth grader and first-time auditioner at Camp Shallow Lake will be the new cast this season.
July 29
Uncoupled (Netflix)
Genre: Romance, Comedy
Darren Star, who created Sex And The City and Emily In Paris, has come up with Uncoupled. It is about a 40-something real-estate broker from New York whose long-time boyfriend moves out and he is left stunned. Starring Neil Patrick Harris, Uncoupled is about his character starting over and looking at going back to dating and being single.
Paper Girls (Amazon Prime Video)
Genre: Science Fiction, Drama, Action, Adventure
A science-fiction comic book series written by Brian K. Vaughan and illustrated by Cliff Chiang, Paper Girls is about four 12-year-old newspaper delivery girls. A few hours after 1988 Halloween night, they get caught up in a conflict between two warring factions of time travellers and have to save the world
The series stars Sofia Rosinsky, Camryn Jones, Riley Lai Nelet, Fina Strazza, Ali Wong, Nate Corddry and others.
July 31
The Wretched (Hulu)
Genre: Supernatural horror
Starring John-Paul Howard, Piper Curda, Jamison Jones, Azie Tesfai, and Zarah Mahler, this film had a limited theatrical release in May 2020. Written and directed by Brett and Drew T. Pierce, aka The Pierce Brothers (Deadheads), this one is about a teenager struggling to cope with his parents’ divorce when he finds himself locked in a battle with a thousand-year-old witch posing as the woman next door.
TBA
Meme Boys
Three boys and a girls are arrested from college for creating and sharing memes, in this slick Tamil show about the power of social media and why those in positions of power feel threatened by it.
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