OTT watch: Whodunits, shoddy remakes & crackling Delhi Crime season 2

Young girls on a highway go missing in the Bollywood thriller Hit-The First case; the Delhi police are on the track of the ruthless masked Kachha Baniyan gang in the capital in Shefali Shah’s Delhi Crime, season 2 and then there’s inspector Vikrant Rona, with loads of swag who lands in a village to solve a series of mysterious deaths.

These are some of the new whodunit fares, currently streaming on OTT channels.

Hit-The First Case, streaming on Netflix, with the inimitable Rajkummar Rao and Sanya Malhotra, is disjointed and highly disappointing. It is actually a remake of a 2020 Telugu film by the same director. A young woman disappears, and an ace-cop Vikram from the Homicide Intervention Team (HIT), played by Rajkummar Rao (who works hard to keep pace with a senseless script), is investigating the case. The hitch is that he suffers from severe mental health issues and in the middle of his work, he can just collapse in a heap or go into extreme panic mode if he sees fire. (that has something to do with a girl he presumably loves who is set on fire in front of him. But we know nothing more even after the movie ends!).

There are many suspects behind the girl’s disappearance, and the film ambles along as the cops seem to catch the wrong person each time. Vikram is also invested in the case since his girlfriend (Sanya Malhotra) too has gone missing. Sanya Malhotra’s role is limited to canoodling with Vikram or giving some inane orders in her office as a forensics expert.

The climax is a complete let-down, and the audience has to struggle to make sense of the “motive” behind the kidnapping and the killing. The only question to ask is why an intelligent actor like Rajkummar Rao signed up for a remake of a bad South Indian film?

Akshay Kumar’s Cuttputlli too lands this weekend on Disney+Hotstar, which is a remake of the 2018 Tamil film Ratsasan. (tedious, to say the least) A sub-inspector sets out in pursuit of a mysterious serial killer who targets teen school girls and murders them brutally. Initial reviews are calling it a middling film, and one slammed it, saying it is like a “cold dish” served on a platter. Can Akshay Kumar stay away from South films for a while now?

Also read: From ‘Sleeping with the Enemy’ to ‘Darlings’, films on domestic violence take a new path

Delhi Crime- season 2

Here’s a whodunit that continues to sizzle. Delhi Crime season 2 is a life-saver and is as watchable as Season 1. The actors in the series are all in top form and don’t let slip their guard realising the legacy they have to maintain. The series starts without much ado as the deputy commissioner of police Vartika Chaturvedi (Shefali Shah) gets down to police work as a spate of murders of elderly couples in Delhi’s posh south district terrorises the capital.

There’s pressure on them from their higher-ups, and they have to deal with challenges stemming from their own interpersonal relationships. As the police gets on the job, the modus operandi suggests the return of the dreaded Kachcha Baniyan gang active in the 1990s. But, there is more to this crime than meets the eye.

Based on Moon Gazer, a chapter from ex-top cop Neeraj Kumar’s book Khaki Files, this five-episode series is riveting. The performances by Shefali Shah, Rasika Duggal, Anuraag Arora and Gopal Datt as the sub-inspectors, and Sidharth Bhardwaj as the SHO, and a cameo by actor Tillotama Shome keep the series bristling. It also brings to light the shortcomings of the police force and, at the same time, their diligence and devotion to duty; the political nexus and its consequences; the media’s obsession with breaking news and there is some social messaging thrown in about the treatment of denotified criminal tribes.

In the whodunit genre, Delhi Crime-2, streaming on Netflix, tops the list of binge-able shows.

A super cop

Kannada superstar Sudeep’s Vikrant Rona is a whodunit as well, with a runaway plot which is anchored by a solid actor and terrific production values. While the film did not excite the critics by and large, this pan-Indian film ostensibly did well at the box office. It is a dark fantasy thriller that is set in the fictional village of Kamarottu, located in the dense jungles of Karnataka.

Also read: OTT: Jhanvi Kapoor in Nayanthara’s role, furry love, and Nithyananda’s shenanigans

Sudeep (Vikrant) plays an inspector who comes to Kamarottu to solve the mystery of deaths, including those of the children in the village. They are somehow related to a family who died by suicide after being accused of stealing jewellery from the local temple. But who is committing these murders? Will Rona crack this tough case? The film, which is an unholy mix of genres, is also a supernatural and horror movie. Besides being a children’s film! Check it out if you have the patience.

Epic fantasy saga

Meanwhile, the much-awaited and highly-anticipated epic fantasy saga, an ambitiously mounted series, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, starts streaming on Amazon Prime video this weekend. Set thousands of years before JRR Tolkein’s The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, it is a magnificent, magical and mystical return to Middle-Earth.

The series captures the major events of the era like the rise and fall of Númenor, the rise of forged powers and more. With the first two episodes dropping on the streaming platform on September 2, the series fits as seamlessly into Peter Jackson’s cinematic universe of The Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films and richly taps into Tolkien’s fantastical world. The series begins with the words, “Nothing is evil in the beginning. And there was a time when the world was so young there had not yet been a sunrise. And even then, there was light.” Which in a way conveys that hope, and even life, often stem from the darkest of spaces.

The Rings of Power is dense with lore and characters. The show’s first two episodes are entirely devoted to setting up its characters, locations, and various story strands. The sprawling, larger-than-life visuals — the series has been shot in New Zealand — emphasise the kind of money Amazon Prime Video must have spent. The Rings of Power’s first season reportedly cost $465 million. At the end of its $1 billion, five-season run, it will be the most expensive show ever made. Pencil this one in your diary.

A gentle love story

Neeraj Madhav and Aparna Balamurali (remember her in Soorarai Pottru?) star in Malayalam film Sundari Gardens. It is about a geeky, sprightly librarian ( a divorcee ) who lives with her mother. Her placid life gets disrupted with the arrival of a down-to-earth, gentle English teacher, Neeraj, in her school, and she falls for him. But will she be able to overcome her personal challenges, forget her past and embrace new beginnings? There’s also Lekha (Lakshmi Menon), who makes up the third in this love triangle. The film, directed by Charlie Davies, has got mixed reviews.

Hot Recommendation: Expedition Borderlands With Levison Wood & Ash Bhardwaj on September 8 lands on Discovery+ on September 8. A four-part docuseries that delves into the lives and culture of people residing on both sides of the border of India and Pakistan, it  brings to light their unique and shared histories, heritage and traditions.

A former British army officer and explorer Levison Wood embarks on a journey of places on the India and Pakistan borders with travel writer Ash Bhardwaj. The two unravel the cultural nuances of the places as this “unforgettable” journey helps the intrepid duo to try and understand the people who have so much in common yet are so divided.

“The border regions are home to resilient and affectionate civilians who welcomed us into their homes and lives”, said Levison. The series will show the two immerse themselves in people’s everyday lives while travelling to some remote and off-beat locations like Tyakshi, Turtuk, Nubra valley, Dras, Kargil, Teetwal, Gurez in India and Lahore, Peshawar, Khyber Pass, Nowshera, Taxila, Skardu, Khaplu in Pakistan to gain an authentic understanding of the local culture and tradition.