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By Joginder Tuteja
The weekend has gone but it had quite a few offerings on the OTT medium as Live Telecast [Disney+Hotstar], Crashh [ALT Balaji and ZEE5], and Namaste Wahala [Netflix] came in quick succession. Live Telecast was the biggest of them in all in terms of the budget since Kajal Aggarwal lead from the front. With an established actress like her leading the show on the web series, all eyes were on how horror-drama debut.
As it turned out though, the response wasn’t really great. Though the concept of the show was interesting, what with a reality TV angle coming in, the execution was such that there wasn’t much to cheer about. The reviews for the web series haven’t been great and there is not much buzz amongst the audience either, both before the release and now post that as well.
Crashh arrived on ALT Balaji & ZEE5 and is one of those rare shows with a family set up to it. With a mix of emotions and drama filling in the narrative, Crashh turned out to be a clean entertainer that makes for a brisk watch. Though there aren’t any known names attached to the web series with largely newcomers featuring in there, it makes for a pleasant viewing while also reminding one of yesteryear film Yaadon Ki Baaraat which was again about sibling ‘lost & found’ phenomenon. This one impresses well.
Namaste Wahala arrived on Netflix with practically zero promotion, which was rather surprising since the concept of an Indian man [Ruslan Mumtaz] in love with a Nigerian girl [Ini Dima-Okojie] was rather unique. The core idea of two people from different geographical and social backgrounds time and again makes for an interesting watch and even Namaste Wahala has its moments. The film is of course not a must-watch in the offering. However, given the Valentine’s Day season, one can catch it for an easy watch without any expectations.
Coming soon
Though there have been a few films to arrive on the OTT medium in the last few months, one of the biggest ever that is releasing soon is Drishyam 2. One has to credit Amazon Prime for bringing some of the best entertainment from the South industry, as evidenced by Madhavan’s Maara a few weeks back. Now they have managed to pull off a big one with Drishyam 2 arriving straight on their digital medium while skipping the theatrical release. A pleasant surprise since the theatres are open now, but the makers still chose to go for the OTT premiere.
Drishyam has stayed on to be a cult success over the years and now with director Jeethu Joseph spinning a story that continues from where it ended, Drishyam 2 is set to be all the more engaging. Of course, there are huge expectations from the suspense drama that Mohanlal, Meena, Ansiba Hassan, Esther Anil, and Asha Sarath reprising their roles from the first part. The promo has unfortunately not been impressive, which means it will boil down to the overall content that the film as a whole has to offer.
Another release of the week is Dev DD2, a web series that is a follow up to the successful first season. Arriving on ALT Balaji and ZEE5, Dev DD2 is basically a ‘masala’ outing for the OTT platforms where Asheema Vardaan reprises her role of a free-spirited woman who was rather candid when it came to her needs, desires, and sexuality with an ‘I don’t care a damn’ attitude. The first season had come at a time when the OTT world was still shaping up but with added popularity of the medium, the second season should fetch all the more eyeballs.
Release dates
Drishyam 2 – Amazon Prime – 19th February
Dev DD2 – ZEE5 – 20th February
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