The OTT boom in the past 2-3 years has drastically altered India’s entertainment scenario, something that most of us have been majorly thankful for during the lockdown. Amid a slew of pulp, controversy-based reality shows, and the hackneyed Indian TV serials, we were really up for a huge disappointment in the past decade, a slump that has duly been compensated by some remarkable shows and movies on the OTT platforms.
From Sacred Games to Four More Shots, we finally have the kind of Indian web shows that have an international appeal. And it’s a matter of great pride, that the appreciation has started reflecting in International award shows as well. The 2020 Emmy nominations were announced recently and three of the recent Indian web series have claimed coveted spaces in various categories.
While Four More Shots and Delhi Crime have respectively been nominated in the Best Comedy and Best Drama categories, Arjun Mathur has been nominated for Best Performance by an Actor category for his powerful performance in Made In Heaven. That said, nominations or not, all three of these shows are indeed exceptional and have managed to have a huge impact on the audience owing to their relatability factor. Here’s what makes them truly special:
Four More Shots
Following the journey of four BFFs in Mumbai, this is a show about female bonds, the experiences & challenges faced by the contemporary urban women, and the ever complicating nuances of modern love. Through a fun albeit intense plot, the show takes us through the stories of Damini Rizvi Roy (Sayani Gupta), Umang Singh (Bani J), Anjana Menon (Kirti Kulhari), and Sidhi Patel (Maanvi Gagroo) as they navigate their individual lives while supporting each other in the journey.
Four More Shot‘s 3rd season is currently into making and the show has been especially celebrated for how it explores the subject of female desire as it manifests in our everyday lives and the bond shared by these women. Also, the show is quite a watch, like literally, for it has given us some of the best fashion moments in a web-series. It is now up for competition against the UK’s Back to Life, Israel’s Fifty, and Brazil’s Nobody’s Looking.
Made In Heaven
Made In Heaven is a show that brilliantly uncovers the facade of the Indian wedding industry and shows that more often than not, marriages aren’t really made in heaven. Given that Zoya Akhtar, Alankrita Srivastava, and Reema Kagti’s genius has gone into the making of the show itself speaks volumes for Made In Heaven. The show’s second season is currently into making and while there is so much going on in this Arjun Mathur and Sobhita Dhulipala starrer, the former definitely steals the show. Arjun Mathur as Karan, in this Amazon Prime show, is flawless. You can literally live his life through the character and all its emotional ups and downs. We doubt if anyone has ever played a gay character in Indian entertainment better than him.
In fact, in addition to the entire wedding planning theme, the show stands out for its portrayal of gay relationships. Yes, there is a constant fight against the societal norms but there also is passion, poignancy, and longing, an angle that is seldom portrayed with the intricacies that Arjun Mathur and the cinematography bring to the story. When it comes to LGBTQIA love stories and portrayal of same-sex scenes in India, we have almost never watched anything as organic. Clearly, Arjun Mathur absolutely deserves the nomination and more.
At the Emmy’s, he’d be competing against Raphael Logam from Impuros, Guido Caprino from 1994, and Billy Barratt in Responsible Child.
Delhi Crime
Gut-wrenching, hard-hitting, and every bit intense, Delhi Crime is based on the 2012 Nirbhaya gang-rape case. The Netflix show follows South Delhi’s DCP Vartika Chaturvedi, who attempts to hunt down the six culprits as she fights poor infrastructure, red-tapism, and crushing public pressure along the way. The show’s second season is currently into making. Shefali Shah as the no-nonsense police inspector yet again proves her acting prowess.
However, it is the realistic recreation of the heinous crime and how it shocked the country is the real USP of the show. Delhi Crime also takes it a notch further by making a subtle comment on the current political and social milieu of the country. This is a show that was long overdue and it’s made with that cognizance and sense of responsibility. At the Emmy’s, the show would be competing against Germany’s Charité 2, Criminal UK, and Argentina’s The Bronze Garden.
Previously, India has been represented at the Emmy’s by Radhika Apte, Sacred Games, Lust Stories, Inside Edge and The Remix have represented India at the International Emmys as nominees. This year, the Emmy award ceremony will be held on November 23 and well, it’s high time we got all those babies home. Many congratulations to all the nominees!
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