Indian web series make for an ideal watch on slow days at work, when you’re sick, and/or on public holidays. Since the episodes are generally shorter in duration, they don’t demand a serious commitment from viewers in terms of time. No wonder, they are so popular among the attention deficient youth of the digital age.
But there’s a rare joy in seeing the characters of the series come to life, with each episode. As we wait for the episodes with bated breath, they grown on us. Then there are international streaming services that drop all the episodes, at once for us to devour.
Indian web series may not be as intense as the international ones yet, but some of them are boldly going forth, and exploring the medium. Here’s a list of the 3 Indian web series that should be on your watch-list in 2018.
The Ministry
Amazon India’s original series titled The Ministry is a political satire about the crippling Indian bureaucracy. Irrfan Khan will be essaying the role of a washed-up, narcissistic Bollywood actor who has been appointed as a ‘placeholder’ culture minister. Gursimran Khamba, one of the founders of the comedy collective All India Bakchod, is the show’s creator, and has previously worked with Khan on the parody, Every Bollywood Party Song that went viral.
I am looking forward to this great collaboration with Amazon and AIB – both have content that makes me very excited to work with them. It will be a great experience to be working on this show which will be very topical and funny and will release globally on Amazon Prime Video.Irrfan Khan
On the face of it, it seems that The Ministry will be a lot like the American series, The Brink. However, with AIB’s talent for writing topical humor, it stands to be seen. The show premiers in early 2018.
Sacred Games
Vikram Chandra’s bestselling novel that garnered critical acclaim, Sacred Games, will be the first Netflix original series that will be made in India. The novel, set in Mumbai, explores the city’s web of politics, organised crime, and corruption, pitting a jaded police officer against a deadly gangster.
The project is being produced by Phantom Films and is helmed by Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane, two of its key stakeholders. These filmmakers will invest their creative energies in eight, hour-long episodes with Saif Ali Khan, Radhika Apte and Nawazuddin Siddiqui in the lead roles.
The release date is yet to be announced.
Breathe
Starring R Madhavan and Amit Sadh, Breathe is Amazon's first trilingual thriller that will release in Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu simultaneously. Written and directed by Mayank Sharma, the series follows a series of murders of organ donors. Kabir (Sadh), a brilliant officer of the Crime Branch, starts putting pieces together of seemingly unconnected deaths that lead him to an unlikely suspect - the affable Danny Mascarenhas (Madhavan).
The teaser for Breathe will be out soon.
Which of these three Indian web series are you most excited to watch?
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