Tag: prime video

Fallout Games Surge as Prime Video TV Series Helps Drive Close to 5 Million Players in a Single Day

Fallout games have seen renewed interest since the release of the Fallout TV series on Amazon Prime Video earlier this month. Just as the show has received acclaim and attracted new viewers to the world of Fallout, new and returning players have been flocking to the role-playing games from Bethesda. Now, the studio has confirmed that Fallout titles have received almost five million players in a single day, including one million in Fallout 76 alone.

The official Fallout X account posted the milestone early Wednesday, thanking one million players who tried out Fallout 76 in a single day. “Thank you to the over one million of you who adventured with us in #Fallout76 in a single day…,” the post read. Additionally, close to five million players have been registered across all Fallout games in a single day, Bethesda said in a follow-up post.

Fallout 76 also broke its all-time peak concurrent player count on Steam recently. With the success of the Fallout TV series, players have flocked to the game to experience its post-apocalyptic wasteland first-hand. Fallout 76 is currently the 23rd most played game on Steam, with 31,547 active players at the time of writing, according to SteamDB. The game has gone past its previous all-time peak this week, registering a new peak of 73,368 concurrent players.

Fallout 4 is faring even better. The 2015 RPG is currently the ninth most played game on Valve’s service, beating popular titles like Grand Theft Auto 5, Destiny 2 and Baldur’s Gate 3. At the time of writing, Fallout 4 has 62,738 active players, with a 24-hour peak concurrent player count of 120,870.

These numbers only reflect Fallout players on PC, with PlayStation and Xbox platforms also likely experiencing a surge in player numbers. PS5 and Xbox Series S/X consoles are set to receive more Fallout 4 players soon, too. Earlier this month, Bethesda announced that Fallout 4 would get a free next-gen update on PS5 and Xbox Series S/X on April 25.

Starting tomorrow, players on those consoles will get native game applications, with new features like Performance mode and Quality mode settings, stability improvements and bug fixes. The next-gen update for Fallout 4 will support higher resolutions and up to 60fps performance. Some new Fallout 4 features and improvements are also arriving on PC, PS4 and Xbox One.

Last week, Fallout 4 also became Europe’s best-selling game following the launch of the TV series. According to a report from GamesIndustry.biz, sales of the RPG jumped 7,500 percent week-on-week across the continent.

It’s worth noting that both Fallout 4 and Fallout 76 are available to play for free to PS Plus subscribers on PlayStation and the entire Fallout series is available at no additional cost to Game Pass members on Xbox and PC.

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New OTT Releases This Week: Rebel Moon Part 2, Article 370, All Indian Rank and More

The biggest release for this week undoubtedly has to be Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon Part Two: The Scargiver, a direct sequel to the sci-fi thriller Rebel Moon, where a group of warriors attempt to wage a war against the tyrannical Motherworld and save what is left of their home planet. Synder has already planned for four more movies from the franchise.

On the home front, Manoj Bajpayee’s sequel crime thriller Silence 2 seems to be the only new major release. However, we have Yami Gautam starrer Article 370 and Varun Grover’s All India Rank to balance. While the former is a highly political drama based in Kashmir, Grover’s latest explores the lives of JEE aspirants enrolled in Kota’s coaching centres.

However, if you are in the mood for a no-brainer, we recommend Prime Video’s reality television series Going Home with Tyler Cameron, in which the American television personality enters into the home renovation space and starts his construction and home renovation company after the sudden demise of his mother.

Those looking for something hilarious should watch British-Irish comedian Jimmy Carr’s latest Netflix special, Natural Born Killer. In it, he candidly discusses the audience’s taking offence at almost everything, whether it is jokes on gun control, religion, cancel culture, or consent.

Documentary lovers could go for Our Living World on Netflix, which takes one to the hidden corners of the Arctic, Amazon, and more where wildlife exists. From the rhythm of their everyday lives to the impact of climate change, explore the best-kept secrets of nature with this documentary series.

K-drama lovers can watch Chief Detective 1958 on Hotstar, which follows a detective and his team. The crime thriller serves as a prequel to the series Chief Inspector.

New episodes are also dropping this week for Sony Liv’s courtroom drama  Raisinghani vs Raisinghani and Adrishyam – The Invisible Heroes, based on the life of intelligence officers, and historical drama Shōgun and pirate heist series Lootere on Hostar.

Top OTT Releases This Week

Here are the top OTT releases of the week worth binge-watching.

Rebel Moon — Part Two: The Scargiver

When: Now Streaming

Where: Netflix

Now that danger has re-surfaced in the form of Admiral Atticus Noble (Ed Skrein), an enemy that seemed to have been defeated in Rebel Moon, Kora and other warriors must come together and wage a war against the brutal forces of the Realm. Meanwhile, the warriors and Kora are forced to face the troublesome demons of their past. While the tyranny of the Motherworld continues to unleash, albeit any traces of mercy whatsoever, unbreakable bonds are forged, heroes emerge, and legends are made.

Article 370

When: Now Streaming

Where: Netflix

Yami Gautam is essaying the role of an intelligence officer from Kashmir tasked at the Prime Minister’s office with combating terrorism and corruption in the country. As a Kashmiri Pandit and a first-hand victim of corrupt political leadership and terrorism in the valley, Gautam’s character has an emotional connection with this newly assigned duty.

The film stirred controversy because of its convenient theatrical release during the elections. The political thriller still runs in theatres in some parts of the country. The film is directed by Aditya Dhar, who earlier helmed Vicky Kaushal starrer patriotic drama Uri: The Surgical Strike.

All India Rank

When: Now Streaming

Where: Netflix

National Award-winning lyricist Varun Grover lays bare an unsettling side of the coaching centres in Kota, the mecca for all engineering enthusiasts, with the story of a 17-year-old Vivek (Bodhisattva Sharma) who has just been admitted here. He hails from a typical middle-class family, which has all their hopes of a better life thrust on his young shoulders, who are expected to crack the competitive exam with flying colours and be admitted to IIT, the most prestigious engineering college chain in India.

Grover has beautifully captured the everyday lives in these hostels and, of course, the aspirations, dreams, fears and the smallest nuances of emotional turbulences faced by the students. The film marks Grover’s directorial debut and makes a decent attempt at decoding why Kota might be a hotpot of so many students committing suicide each year.

Silence 2: The Night Owl Bar Shootout

When: Now Streaming

Where: Zee5

Manoj Bajpayee reprises the role of ACP Verma from Silence in this sequel film. While he dealt with a high-profile murder case in the first part, he is at the cusp of uncovering a heinous crime racket this time, as he attempts to catch hold of a man who killed 10 people in a bar. He still quotes poetry, wears rowdiness on his sleeves, and has a complex persona. Although Bajpayee has aced the role, the film doesn’t seem to offer much opportunity for the refined actor to flaunt his talent.

See You in Another Life

When: Now Streaming

Where: Hotstar

See You in Another Life follows the story of a teenage drug peddler who ends up trafficking explosives used in the terrorist attacks across various train stations in Madrid in March 2004, causing more than 193 deaths. The intriguing thriller is based on Manuel Jabois’ book featuring an actual interview with a teenage boy called Gabriel Montoya Viday, who was also the first person convicted for the attacks. The six-episode-long mini-series attempts to explore the psyche of similar young people besides the obvious execution of the attack in totality.

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Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya, Parasyte: The Grey, and Others on Netflix, Prime Video, Hotstar and Sony Liv

Sadly, there are no major Indian originals for this week. Sony Liv’s middle-class family drama Family Aaj Kal seems to be the only option for those looking for Indian titles. It is set in a typical middle-class family where the daughter falling in love with a cab driver sets the family in panic mode. On the other hand, plenty of international titles are hitting the screens this week, including K-drama Parasytes: The Grey, Scoop, and How to Date Billy Walsh. In Parasytes, you’ll see extraterrestrial creatures sucking off life from humans to increase their power. Scoop will take you back to BBC’s infamous interview in 2019 with Prince Andrews, in which he was questioned about his relationship with a sex offender.

Prime Video’s How To Date Billy Walsh will do the tricks if you are in the mood for something with high-school romance.

For young ones, Hotstar is dishing out the animated musical comedy Wish, in which a young girl wishes on a star, unaware of what’s in store.

Many post-theatrical OTT releases are lined up for the week, including Miss World 2017 winner Manushi Chillar’s patriotic drama Operation Valentine and the heist thriller Farrey (set in a high school).

New episodes for Hotstar’s pirate-heist drama Lootere are set in Somali and Shogun.

On the international shore, you could go for The Fable — where a hitman has taken a year-long hiatus from killing – or the superhero manga series Go! Go! Loser Ranger in which a foot soldier steps up to make a change once and for all.

With that, here are the top OTT releases of the week.

Top OTT Releases This Week

Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya

Where: Prime Video

When: Now Streaming

National Film Awardee Kriti Sanon (Mimi) plays a robot in this light-hearted rom-com, who goes by the name SIFRA, short for Super Intelligent Female Robot Automation alias. She is being tested in the U.S. for her ability to behave like a human.

As part of the testing, Dimple Kapadia’s character invites her nephew Aryan (Shahid Kapoor) to the States and introduces SIFRA as a normal person to him. Oblivious to her real identity, Kapoor falls for the robot—as expected—kickstarting a complicated romance.

The film has plenty of peppy and romantic songs!

Parasyte: The Grey

Where: Netflix

When: Now Streaming

In Yeon Sang-ho’s Parasite, mysterious creatures from outer space start living off humans to gain power. As humans start getting murdered and outnumbered by parasites, they must come together and wage a war to save humanity.

Meanwhile, a few characters are pulled in opposite directions as parasitic forces try to take over their human side. Get ready for plenty of gut-wrenching scenes and thrills in this sci-fi thriller.

The show is a live-action adaptation of Hitoshi Iwaaki’s manga. Jeon So-nee, Koo Kyo-hwan, and Lee Jung-hyun are seen playing pivotal roles.

Scoop

Where: Netflix

When: Now Streaming

In 2019, BBC did a controversial interview with Prince Andrews in its programme Newsnight, in which the British Royal was questioned extensively about his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who had died in custody three months earlier.

Philip Martin’s Scoop gives a detailed account of how the BBC landed this infamous interview. It focuses primarily on booker McAlister, played by Billie Piper, who used to wrangle interviews for Newsnight. The rest of the team’s contribution isn’t extensively covered.

The movie version of the interview is the same as the actual one. A special shout-out to the makeup artist for the actors’ uncanny resemblance to their counterparts.

Scoop has been adapted from a memoir by Sam McAlister and can be streamed in more than 15 languages.

Family Aaj Kal

Where: Sony Liv

When: Now Streaming

Meher hails from a typical middle-class family and finds herself at a tricky crossroads when she falls for Gaurav (Prakhar Singh), a cab driver. Her family – comprising of her mom (Sonali Sachdev), dad (Nitesh Pandey), and brother (Aakarshan Singh) – is shocked at this discovery and is dead against the same. How the traditional values clash with the idea of this kind of romantic relationship forms the crux of the series.

If the plotline reminds you of Raja Hindustani, don’t bother. The series isn’t half as melodramatic as the Aamir Khan starrer and is a light-hearted take on opposition of such kind of a relationship, besides the fact that Karisma Kapoor (Murder Mubarak) was uber rich in the film and Apoorva is as middle-class as she can be!

Also, if you are wondering if the show has the same vibes as Gullak (since both are from Sony and are set in middle-class families), don’t keep your hopes too high.

How to Date Billy Walsh

Where: Prime Video

When: Now Streaming

Amelia (Charithra Chandran) and Archie (Sebastian Croft) have been best friends since childhood. Like all typical teenage love tropes, one of them—that’d be Archie here—is hopelessly in love with the other but hasn’t dared confess yet.

Things take an interesting turn when a new foreign exchange student named Billy Walsh enters the high school, and Amelia starts fancying him. As she turns to her best friend, like always, for advice on the matter, Archie tries his best to give her the wrong advice to keep the two away.

As luck would have it, his tactics bring Amelia and Billy Walsh closer instead. Will Amelia finally recognise Archie’s love for her or find her Prince Charming in Billy?

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Top OTT Releases This Week: Ae Watan Mere Watan, Lootere, Fighter and More

This week, we have a piping hot buffet of new digital releases across genres. We have two Indian originals, post-theatrical releases, a high-budget sci-fi saga, and Marvel Studio’s hit series making a return.

One of the major releases of the week is Sara Ali Khan’s Ae Watan Mere Watan which will take you to the pre-Indepence Bombay. Khan is seen playing the celebrated freedom fighter, Usha Mehta. While the gallant leader dedicated her entire life to India, this Amazon Original will take you to the Quit India Movement, when the college-going Usha started an illegal radio station to broadcast messages from prominent leaders from various secret locations.

Next in Line is Hansal Mehta’s Lootere which will revolve around a cargo ship hijacked by Somalian pirates in Africa. The show gives a refreshing break from repetitive plotlines in crime thrillers and will keep you guessing what comes next.

Netflix’s 3 Body Problem is another big-budget release of the week. It offers an impressive cocktail of cultural, social, and scientific conundrums.

Marvel Studios also have a big release in the form of X-Men’ 97 which is a revival of sorts for the long-running hit show, X-Men: The Animated Series. However, whether the show sets the stage for other live adaptations is yet to be confirmed. Another major release by Marvel lined up for release this year is Wolverine & Deadpool.

Besides the ones listed below, Netflix’s biography film Shirley is also a good binge-watch option for the weekend, which brings from the page of American history the rivetting tale of Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman to be elected to the United States Congress.

True crime documentary enthusiasts could watch Netflix’s Homicide: New York, in which investigators, officers, and detectives discuss some of the most notorious murder cases.

With that, here are the top OTT releases of the week that we recommend.

Ae Watan Mere Watan

When: Now Streaming

Where: Prime Video

During the Quit India Movement of 1942, a young college student in Bombay recognised the power of radio and started an illegal secret radio station to broadcast messages from Mahatma Gandhi and other prominent leaders across India, with the help of a few amateur radio operators.

While this endeavour lasted only three months, it played an important role in India’s struggle for Independence.

In this biopic, Sara Ali Khan plays the college student Usha Mehta, who later emerged as an important figure in Indian history. The film will tell you in detail how the rebellious freedom fighter started and continued to operate this station from various undisclosed locations and the various challenges she faced.

The fact that she was a Gandhian and her father, a judge under the British Raj, opposed her actions is also portrayed.

Fighter

When: Now Streaming

Where: Netflix

Fighter is a visually striking patriotic drama about a few fighter pilots of the Indian Air Force who have vowed to protect their nation against all threats and dangers. Among these valiant officers are Hrithik Roshan, Deepika Padukone, Karan Singh Grover and Manushi Chillar, headed by squadron leader Anil Kapoor. Hrithik’s character is a rebel who doesn’t shy away from bending the rules when it comes to justice, an attitude that doesn’t sit well with Anil Kapoor’s squadron leader, putting the two at loggerheads with each other in almost every scene.

If you find yourself amazed at the mannerisms of a few characters coming off as too professional, that’s because those are real-life Indian Air Force cadets bringing a slice of their everyday lives to the silver screen. You’ll also find plenty of references to the 2019 Pulwama attack, the 2019 Balakot airstrike and the 2019 India–Pakistan border skirmishes.

Since Fighter has used the same cinematographic techniques as Dune and other James Bonde movies, it offers plenty of jaw-dropping aerial action sequences, some of which are likely to remind you of Tom Cruise’s Top Gun: Maverick.

Lootere

When: Now Streaming

Where: Hotstar

Hansal Mehta’s (Scam 1992) will take you to the Somalian waters where a cargo ship with an Asian crew gets hijacked by Somalian pirates. The ship is owned by Vikrant, a nicotine-addicted businessman of Indian origin who has a lot more on stake than what appears at the surface and is desperately counting on it being retrieved. Rajat Kapoor plays the captain of the ship and delivers a fine performance.

The eight-episode-long show will give you a taste of crime, corruption, and dark secrets harbouring in African waters, with a special focus on Indian businessmen established there for decades. Get ready for thrill, knotty twists, a flavour of dark murkiness of the crime world.

The first two episodes have been released, and the other eight will be out every week. Shot in Hindi, Lootere can also be streamed in Telugu, Tamil, Bengali, Marathi, Malayalam, and Kannada.

3 Body Problem

When: Now Streaming

Where: Netflix

3 Body Problem is a Sci-Fi drama adapted from Chinese engineer-author Liu Cixin’s novel of the same name, which serves as the first in the Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy.

The show begins with an astrophysicist witnessing her father’s public execution during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Cut to the future, she is taken to a secret radar base by the military. Meanwhile, in the present, a lot of strange unexplained phenomena are happening – many physicists committing suicide, prominent research being discovered as wrong, and all the stars blinking on and off!

All in all, the show offers plenty of complex scientific problems, cultural challenges, extra-terrestrial dangers, and lots of suspense. The show has been adapted for television by Game of Thrones creators David Benioff, D. B. Weiss and Alexander Woo.

X-MEN ‘97

When: Now Streaming

Where: Hotstar

X-Men ’97 is a spiritual sequence to X-Men: The Animated Series, which ran on air from 1992-1995. The show picks up right after the events of the original series and introduces the viewers to a world where the X-Men leader, Professor X, is no longer in charge – leaving his proteges, Cyclops and Jean Grey, in charge.

The world still somewhat dislikes the mutant X-Men, who are anyway hell-bent on saving the world from all the dangers, irrespective of the bigotry they face on a daily basis.

Many actors from the original series have lent their voices, including Cal Dodd, Lenore Zann, George Buza, Catherine Disher, Chris Potter, Alison Sealy-Smith, Adrian Hough, Christopher Britton, Alyson Court, Lawrence Bayne, and Ron Rubin. The first two episodes have now been released, while the rest will be out every Wednesday at 12:30 pm IST.

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Top New OTT Releases This Week: Showtime, Ricky Stanicky, Maharani Season 3, Merry Christmas

Streaming platform releases this week include the biopic based on the life of an Italian adult film actor, dark secrets of the seemingly glamorous film industry, a fantasy adventure where a princess fights a fire-breathing dragon, an R-rated comedy, and a political thriller. The biggest Indian original this week has to be Disney+ Hotstar’s Emraan Hashmi starrer Showtime, where he is seen playing the son of a successful film producer. Another big Indian title to make its digital debut is Katrina Kaif and Vijay Sethupathi’s Merry Christmas, a crime thriller that actually begins as a romance. Here you’ll see the two strangers dealing with a dead body on the first night of their meeting.

For those looking for a no-brainer and entertaining light watch, we recommend Zac Efron and John Cena’s Ricky Stanicky, which is bound to make you laugh. Here you’ll meet three childhood friends who invent an imaginary Ricky Stanicky, whom they can use as a handy alibi and put the blame on for all their misconducts. Things take a hilarious turn when they hire a dimwit, washed-up actor to play Ricky when the families grow suspicious of his existence. John Cena has done an impressive job at playing this delusionally confident actor, who takes up this acting job too far.

For those looking for something from the pages of fantasy, Millie Bobby Brown’s Damsel could do it. She plays a dutiful princess whose wedding turns into a nightmare when she learns that she is actually a sacrifice brought in to settle the ancient debts to a fire-breathing dragon.

On the international shore, you could go for the K-drama Queen of Tears which follows a marital couple fighting fading romance in their marriage.

Some other notable OTT releases of the week are Hot Wheels Let’s Race, Full Swing Season 2, The Gentlemen, and The Reluctant Traveler with Eugene Levy Season 2.

Here are our picks for the top OTT releases of the week.

Best OTT Releases This Week

Supersex

When: Now Streaming

Where: Netflix

Supersex is a steamy biography of the popular Italian pornographic actor Rocco Siffredi. It narrates his journey from ordinary days to how he topped the adult film industry worldwide in no time.

The show starts with a sex convention where Rocco is announcing his retirement, making room for the rest of the series to be shown in flashback.

Get ready to explore the fame he experienced, the demons of his past, tumultuous relationships, and other personal anecdotes from his life, in this seven-part series.

The only Indian language in which the show has been dubbed is Hindi. Among the foreign language options are English, Portuguese, Czech, Spanish, French, German, Hungarian, Indonesian, Japanese, Polish, and Turkish.

Showtime

When: Now Streaming

Where: Disney+ Hotstar

The four-part series will take you to the underbelly of the other glamorous Bollywood film industry. The complex power dynamics, fierce competition, mistrust, and every other dark aspect are covered.

Emran Hashmi plays Raghu Khanna, the son of a successful film producer, whose inheritance comes under threat after his father’s demise. This is Hashmi’s second OTT project after Netflix’s Bard of Blood (2019).

Mouni Roy, Shriya Saran, Naseeruddin Shah, Rajeev Khandelwal, and Mahima Makwana can also be seen in prominent roles.

Merry Christmas

When: Now Streaming

Where: Netflix

On Christmas Eve of the 1980s, a man (Vijay Sethupathi) returns to Bombay from Dubai only to discover that his mother is no more. Drenched in his sorrow, he crosses paths with a gorgeous woman called Maria (Katrina Kaif), who got stood up on a date because she brought her daughter along. Romance sparks off and the two instantly hit it off. Everything was going rosy and the two ended up at her apartment. Soon suspense and crime take over when a dead body is discovered in the apartment. The film was filmed simultaneously in Hindi and Tamil.

Damsel

When: Now Streaming

Where: Netflix

Princess Elodie’s dream fairytale comes to a jerking halt when she realises that her marriage with a charming prince is a sham and that she has been welcomed by the royal family as a sacrifice to repay an ancient debt. Soon she finds herself trapped alone in a cave with a fire-breathing dragon. The rest of the film revolves around the damsel trying to make it out of the cave alive.

Maharani Season 3

When: Now Streaming

Where: SonyLiv

Rani Bharti is still in jail for the false accusation of attempting to murder her husband; not ready to apply for bail. The ambitious housewife-turned-politician decides to fight fairly for justice and strongly believes that the judicial system will prove her innocent. As ugly twists and turns take over, more drama unfurls in this political thriller exploring the dark underbelly of Bihar politics.

Ricky Stanicky

When: Now

Where: Prime Video

Three childhood friends (Zac Efron, Andrew Santino, Jermaine Fowler) decide to blame all their misbehaviours on an imaginary “Ricky Stanicky”. From Halloween pranks to getting out of uncomfortable situations, Ricky Stanicky has been their ultimate saviour and cover-up for almost two decades. However, when their families finally become suspicious of whether such a man exists, the trio decide to hire a washed-up actor called Rod (John Cena), who does poor impersonations of celebrities, makes songs on masturbation, and performs in a shady club. The raging alcoholic flop actor takes this role of a lifetime too seriously and immediately steals the show. Get ready for lots of laughter in this light-hearted comedy by Peter Farrelly.

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Ae Watan Mere Watan Trailer Released: Sara Ali Khan Plays Freedom Fighter Usha Mehta and Runs a Secret Radio Station During the Quit India Movement

Prime Video has dropped a nearly three-minute-long trailer for Sara Ali Khan starrer Ae Watan Mere Watan, a political thriller based on the life of the freedom fighter Usha Mehta. The film is set in pre-Independence India’s Bombay of 1942 and particularly focuses on a secret illegal underground radio station started by Usha that operated for about three months during the Quit India Movement of 1942. The radio was used to broadcast recorded messages from Mahatma Gandhi and other prominent leaders across India. This was at the time when the British had banned all amateur radio licenses.

Ae Watan Mere Watan’s trailer breaks open with a few quick glimpses of young Usha determined to fight for the freedom of her country. This is followed by a tense group of people waiting for her radio’s first broadcast, setting the tone for the main theme of the film. The trailer clearly emphasises the importance of radio as a powerful weapon against the British.

Sara’s gutsy character is shown as full of patriotism, courage, determination, and rebellion, with an undying spirit of bringing a change. She is fully convinced that the British have impaired the Indians’ ability to think clearly, an idea also stressed in the gatherings she was a part of.

However, her ordeals are not supported by her father (Sachin Khedekar), a judge under the British Raj, who is clearly tense about her daughter’s actions, inviting trouble for him. Her idea is also ridiculed by what seems to be another student, who mocks her idea of bringing independence with the help of pamphlets. She is also warned by a motherly figure that the merciless British won’t spare her if she continues with her actions. Despite the opposition and challenges, Usha continues her fight for freedom with even more resolution.

The trailer has plenty of scenes where Indians can be seen protesting against the British and burning paper and other goods. Police brutality is also hinted at in some sequences, including the one where a baton is thrashing Sara’s character.

The cinematographers have attempted to create a vintage effect; the patriotic background score adds to it.

Synchroneities with Real-Life

Interestingly, Sara’s dialogue “This is our country’s radio, from somewhere in India” is inspired by the actual words spoken by Usha Mehta in her first Azar Radio broadcast: “This is the Congress radio calling on [a wavelength of] 42.34 meters from somewhere in India.”

The fact that Usha Mehta was a Gandhian in real life is also shown in the trailer in a few scenes where Sara Ali Khan is seen attending one of Mahatma Gandhi’s speeches and is seen echoing his slogan “Do or Die” while holding the Swaraj flag, during a protest. She is also spotted with a charkha (spinning wheel), a symbol of the Swadeshi movement that Mahatma Gandhi encouraged Indiana to use.

Halfway through the trailer, the British officials are seen panicking over the radio station, which functioned from different undisclosed locations in Bombay, plotting to shut it down at all costs and hang all those behind it. Like the trailer, in real life, Usha Mehta was caught and imprisoned. However, the gallant leader refused to give up or speak up against her people in the trials.

Ae Watan Mere Watan will premiere exclusively on Prime Video on March 21. Kannan Iyer (Ek Thi Daayan) directs.

For details of the latest launches and news from Samsung, Xiaomi, Realme, OnePlus, Oppo and other companies at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, visit our MWC 2024 hub.

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Poacher, Avatar the Last Bender, Screen Actor Guild Awards and More: New OTT Releases This Week to Binge Watch This Weekend

Although there is just one Indian-original release this week in the form of Alia Bhatt produced Poacher — based on illegal ivory poaching in India — we also have quite a few other big names from across genres. For starters, Netflix will host the Screen Actor Guild Awards live for the first time, touted as a grand experiment for the streaming platform. The awards will start streaming at 5:00 am (IST).

Another high-budget release is Avatar: The Last Airbender, a live-action adaptation of the popular series of the same name on Netflix. However, if you have followed the original series back in the day, chances are high that you might not be as impressed with the adaptation. The series has attracted mixed reviews from critics and ardent fans.

Next, we have the final season of Star Wars: The Bad Batch on Disney+ Hotstar, in which the eponymous Bad Batch’s limits are tested.

On the international shore, there is Through My Window 3: Looking At You, the final chapter of the Spanish romance trilogy. It follows the typical romantic dilemmas and the inability to move on after separation. If you haven’t already binged on the first two parts, you can find them both on Netflix.

If you have an appetite for documentaries, you could go for the new British crime docu-series Can I Tell You A Secret? which gives a bone-chilling insight into a serial cyber stalker who made the life of countless women a living hell. Another choice could be Apple TV’s documentary on football legend Messi, which follows him along the five World Cups.

For comedy fanatics, Netflix dished out another comedy special: Mike Epps’s Ready to Sell Out. Here, the American stand-up comic gets candid about his finances, romantic life, and hilarious street observations.

In case you are wondering about Netflix’s documentary on the Sheena Bora murder case, which was supposed to be released on February 23, its release has been halted after the CBI pleaded to the Bombay High Court. The series is likely to premiere only after it gets a green light following a special screening of the series for the Central Bureau of Investigation (are there many cuts and edits in store?).

Well, that’s all for this week, folks. Happy binge-watching!

Poacher

When: Now Streaming

Where: Prime Video

Poacher is a gripping thriller drama about illegal elephant ivory poaching grappling the green lushes of South India. Here you’ll find a group of Indian Forest Service officers, NGO workers, police constables and Good Samaritans risk their lives for the cause. The series is a fictionalised account of true harrowing incidents. The show comes from Emmy Winning Delhi Crime’s creator Richie Mehta. Alia Bhatt has co- produced.

Avatar The Last Airbender

When: Now Streaming

Where: Netflix

If you remember Nickleodeon’s mega-hit show, you already know what this new release is about. Like the original animated version, the live-action adaptation is based in a world where some people, titled Avatar, have the superpower to manipulate one of the four elements—water, earth, fire or air—through “bending”. Gordon Cormier plays the 12-year-old Aang, a prodigious Airbender who has just discovered that he is the new Avatar, and he must now master all the four elemental powers, to save the world from the Fire Nation’s tyranny. Be prepared for a lot of special effects and impressive moves in this eight-episode-long series.

30th Screen Actor Guild Awards

When: February 24

Where: Netflix

Netflix has long been trying to delve into the live-streaming sector. The platform made its debut in the field with sports events and recently bought rights for the streaming of WWE RAW.

Screen Actor Guild Awards could kick start a new avenue of expansion for the platform. The event will honour the best achievements in film and television performances for the year 2023. While last year the ceremony was broadcast on Netflix’s YouTube channel, it is the first that Netflix will be streaming an event of this kind.

Some of the major films nominated across categories are Barbie, Maestro, Rustin, Oppenheimer, Killers of the Flower Moon, The Color Purple and more. Among web series are Succession, The Morning Show, The Last of Us, Barry, and The Bear, among others.

Constellation

When: Now Streaming

Where: Apple TV+

Imagine you are an astronaut returning to the Earth after a major accident in space. But now a lot of pieces of your life are missing. Scary, isn’t it? Noomi Rapace steps into the shoes of this devastated astronaut in Apple TV’s latest psychological drama Constellation. All she has are broken memories and alarming findings to uncover the truth.

Star Wars: The Bad Batch Season 3

When: Now Streaming

Where: Disney+ Hotstar

The third season picks up shortly after the end of Season 2, with Omega (Michelle Ang) still under the grasp of the Empire. A lot of cliffhangers of the previous seasons are to be answered in this one.

The two new interesting terms introduced in the series are M-Count (microscopic life forms that reside in all living cells) and Project Necromancer, which revolves around securing Palpatine’s resurrection.

While this might be the final season for Star Wars: The Bad Batch, the first three episodes that the platform dropped today have confirmed multiple connections of the series with other Star Wars movies and shows, including Mandalorian. New episodes will air weekly until the conclusion on May 1, 2024.

Through My Window: Looking at You

When: Now

Where: Netflix

In case, you haven’t seen the first two parts, Through My Window films have a girl named Raquel as their protagonist, who is hopelessly in love with her neighbour Ares, whom she admires from her window. Ares, by the way, is oblivious to her existence, let alone her feelings. Things take an amusing turn when he starts reciprocating, despite his family’s protests.

Raquel and Ares went on their separate ways in part 2, but can’t seem to be able to move on in their lives. In this instalment, the duo is seeing other people, while struggling with the burning memories they share. Like a typical rom-com, when the two again cross paths, emotional turmoil is inevitable. Tune in to find out if they re-unite.

For details of the latest launches and news from Samsung, Xiaomi, Realme, OnePlus, Oppo and other companies at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, visit our MWC 2024 hub.

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Sony Pictures Launches Add-On Streaming Channel on Amazon Prime Video in India

Prime Video has entered a distribution agreement with Sony Pictures Television (SPT), a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE), to launch an add-on subscription on the streamer for viewers in India.

Sony Pictures – Stream will offer SPE’s movies and shows on Prime Video Channels and its subscribers for an add-on introductory annual subscription of Rs. 399.

“We are delighted to launch Sony Pictures – Stream, a new Prime Video Channel curated specifically for our customers in India.

“The collaboration allows Sony Pictures Entertainment to make their vast and beloved library available in India at a single destination, reaching customers across the length and breadth of the country via Prime Video Channels,” said Vivek Srivastava, head – Prime Video Channels, India.

Sonika Bhasin, Vice President – South Asia, Sony Pictures Television, said with the partnership with Prime Video, Indian audiences can have access to content from SPE’s extensive library of award-winning films and critically acclaimed television series.

“Additionally, in celebration of the 100th Anniversary of Columbia Pictures, a part of Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony Pictures – Stream spotlights the studio’s history and incredible film legacy by offering customers an incredible array of films from the studio’s beloved vault spanning the decades,” Bhasin added. 

Last year in December, it was reported that Amazon would start incorporating advertisements within Prime Video soon.  Amazon Prime users in the US reportedly received communication from Amazon informing them that the standard Amazon Prime plan would show ads while streaming movies and TV shows. The company had initially announced the move in September last year and had stated that it would go into effect in early 2024. 

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From Dunki to Love Storiyaan: Here Are the Top 5 OTT Releases of the Week

The weekend is here and so are our binge-watch recommendations for the top OTT releases of the week. If you were expecting a lot of romance-themed releases for Valentine’s week like us, be prepared to be disappointed. There is only one major Indian original release for the week – Karan Johar’s Love Storiyaan, which is about six unique love stories, where love breaks free from the shackles of societal and cultural norms. Shah Rukh Khan’s box-office hit Dunki made its OTT premiere on Netflix on January 15, without much of a pre-buzz. It’s a heartwarming comedy by Rajkumar Hirani, which revolves around the subject of “donkey” path to entering a country illegally. Since the process is quite prevalent in the Indian state of Punjab, Hirani has rightly centred the film there. The Kerala Story has also finally been released on Zee5 after weeks of speculation. The controversial film chronicles alleged mass religious conversion of Hindu and Christian women in Kerala.

Among other post-theatrical releases are Prabhas starrer action-drama Salaar (Hindi dubbed version) and the Sci-Fi adventure film Dune, which follows a noble family that becomes embroiled in a war for control over the galaxy’s most prized asset. The sequel, Dune Part Two, is slated for release on March 1, by the way.

If you want to give new international releases a try, you could go for Polish comedy Kill Me If You Dare, German heartfelt drama The Heartbreak Agency, Japanese suspense show House of Ninjas, or the second season of the Jordanian teenage drama AlRawabi School for Girls.

For those looking for fresh comic content, Taylor Tomlinson’s third Netflix Special Have It All is now out. Here, Taylor speaks of her life post-breakup and addresses the age-old question: Can you have it all? However, I feel her previous two specials were way more entertaining than this one, which fails to recreate her previous style (or it’s probably because I was fangirling a lot on her prior stand-ups and had way too high expectations from her next endeavours).

For documentary enthusiasts, Netflix’s Einstein and the Bomb should do it. This docu-drama will take you inside the tortured mind of Einstein after he fled Germany. Get ready for a lot of archival footage and tonnes of melodrama.

Well, that’s all folks. Happy binge-watching!

The Kerala Story

Where: Zee5

When: Now Streaming

One of the most controversial releases of 2023, The Kerala Story, is now available to stream on Zeee5. Here, you’ll see Adah Sharma playing a nursing student brainwashed into converting to Islam, along with two of her friends. How she ends up joining the Islamic State, becomes an ISIS terrorist and lands up in an Afghanistan jail makes the crux of the story.

The film initially received a lot of backlash after it claimed that around 32,000 Hindu and Christian girls were involuntarily mass converted to Islam between 2016 and 2018, without solid proof. The promotional material was later taken down when the claims could not be backed by facts. The film stirred a lot of debates in the newsrooms, though.

Dunki

Where: Netflix

When: Now Streaming

Four old Indians in London who are terribly homesick and want to revisit their homeland but aren’t having any luck with the British Embassy. Desperate to get back, they seek help from Hardy Singh (Shah Rukh Khan), an ex-army man who helped them arrive in London in the first place via the illegal “Donkey” route – a phenomenon where people enter a foreign country illegally via multiple stops in other countries.

In Dunki, you’ll find funny scenes of people parroting English speeches to IELTS exam centres, emotional highs, and a sweet yet incomplete love story. Dunki made its Netflix debut on February 15, without much of a pre-buzz. The film marks Rajkumar Hirani’s (3 Idiots, Sanju) first collaboration with Shah Rukh Khan.

Love Storiyaan

Where: Prime Video

When: Now Streaming

Karan Johar’s Love Storiyaan was released on Prime Video on Valentine’s Day. The series brings to the platter six unique love stories, where romance triumphs over all socio-political odds.

Here you’ll meet a trans couple, cross-border lovers, the brimming romance of a Dalit activist and an Adivasi advocate, a love saga from Bangladesh’s Liberation Movement in 1971, two radio jockeys from rival stations falling for each other, and an unlikely couple facing opposition from their daughters.

The anthology series is inspired by stories from the Instagram handle India Love Project, where you’ll find love stories “outside the shackles of faith, caste, ethnicity & gender.”

Salaar: Part 1 – Ceasefire (Hindi version)

Where: Hotstar

When: Now Streaming

While the Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil and English dubbed versions of this Prabhas starrer are already streaming on Netflix, the Hindi dubbed version made its OTT debut on Hotstar just now. In Salaar you’ll see a gang leader vowing to fulfil a dying friend’s wish by battling rival gangs. If you are a fan of South Indian action flicks, Salaar is a good choice to consider for your weekly binge-watch – packed with violence.

This is me… Now: A love story

Where: Prime Video

When: Now Streaming

If you have an appetite for Hollywood gossip, chances are that you are aware of Jennifer Lopez’s controversial love life. The American actress has been married four times. She is currently married to Ben Affleck, whom she remarried in 2022, almost two decades after their breakup.

In this one-of-its-kind documentary, you’ll walk through Lopez’s love life through her eyes. This is Me… Now is releasing alongside her first studio album in a decade, which has been titled the same.



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Bhakshak, Captain Miller, The Marvels and More: Here Are the Top OTT Releases This Week to Binge Watch

While last week was a little light in terms of Indian titles, this week’s OTT releases are flooded with films and Web series of Indian origin. Firstly, we have Netflix’s Bhakshak, where a local reporter in rural Bihar tries to expose the harrowing reality of an orphanage where young girls are abused. The film, based on a real-life incident, depicts political indifference and backing to the people involved.

Another Indian original comes in the form of Lantrani, a heartwarming collection of three stories based in small towns and villages. A brainchild of three national-award winning directors, Lantrani will give you a taste of the simplicity and absurdity of life in small pockets of India, where people do weird things to survive. The film can be streamed free of cost on Zee5.

Two big South Indian productions — Mahesh Babu’s Guntur Kaaram and Dhanush’s Captain Miller — have also had a post-theatrical Netflix release this week. While the former explores the relationship of a rowdy man and his mother, who abandoned him and re-married years ago, Captain Miller takes place in pre-Independence era, where a small tribe is facing oppression at the hands of both the British, as well as the upper caste.

Netflix has also dropped two new interesting documentaries. In Lover, Stalker, Killer, you’ll meet a mechanic who took to online dating for casual relationships and instead found an obsessive woman who would well… love, stalk and probably kill. Raël: The Alien Prophet will introduce you to a French man who started a UFO-inspired religion, which soon spiralled into a controversial cult.

In terms of international titles, there is A Killer Paradox: a South Korean crime thriller where an ordinary man accidentally kills a serial killer; Ashes: an intimate psychological Turkish drama where a wealthy woman finds the lost excitement of her life in an unfinished novel; One Day: a British film where a boy and girl meet for the first time on their graduation night and part ways, after which their lives are portrayed on same date each year; and Alpha Males Season 2: a Spanish television comedy where the men are finding their patriarchal privileges to slowly dwindle.

If you are not in the mood to experiment and want to binge-watch something critics-approved, we recommend Abbott Elementary, whose third season dropped on Hotstar on February 7. It is a workplace comedy set in a Philadelphia public school where a group of dedicated teachers, and an oblivious principal, are determined to help their students succeed in life despite the many challenges. The show has so far won four Primetime Emmy Awards and three Golden Globe Awards.

If you are looking for new kid-friendly releases to binge-watch with your little ones, you can go for Dee & Friends in Oz, where a regular kid goes on a musical journey to save magic after being transported into the land of Oz by a mysterious key. Or you could pick Luz: The Light of the Heart, in which a young girl sets out on an adventure to find out the truth about her roots after being raised in Kaingang community all these years.

Sushmita Sen Starrer Aarya is also concluding this week with all four episodes of the third season’s second part (Aarya: Antim Vaar) dropping on February 9. Speaking of series concluding, Amazon miniTV’s Crushed is also wrapping up with its final season, releasing on the same day.

With that, here are the top five OTT releases this week. Happy binge-watching!

The Marvels

When: Now Streaming

Where: Disney+ Hotstar

The new leader (Zawe Ashton) of the Kree Empire is now on the search for a new planet after the present one becomes completely barren post Captain Marvel’s (Brie Larson) destruction of the Super Intelligence. However, she accidentally discovers one of the two legendary Quantum Bands instead, which is used to make space travel faster.

One thing leads to another, and soon Captain Marvel’s superpowers get entangled with those of Kamala Khan a.k.a Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani) and Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris). The trio must now find a way to master this “quantum entanglement” and come together to save the world. And if you are wondering whether the film has fan moments of Ms. Marvel and Captain Marvel, be assured; there are plenty!

The Marvels is the sequel to the film Captain Marvel (2019), a continuation of the television miniseries Ms. Marvel (2022), and the 33rd film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

The film could only be rented on Apple TV, Google Play and YouTube until now.

Bhakshak

When: Now Streaming

Where: Netflix

Bhakshak is an intriguing thriller based on the shocking real-life incident in Bihar, where minor girls were being abused in a shelter home. Here Bhumi Pednekar plays Vaishali Singh, a daring but struggling investigative journalist who similarly comes across an orphanage being run by a high-ranking figure. As her character keeps digging deeper into the case, the rotting reality of crime against women as well as that of the administrative and judicial shortcomings of our country keep coming to the surface. The gritty film by Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment can be streamed in Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu. Sanjay Mishra also plays a pivotal role.

Lantrani

When: Now Streaming

Where: Zee5

Lantrani is a collection of three stories from the heartland of India by National Award-winning directors. The screenplay comes from Durgesh Singh, who wrote the second and third seasons of Gullak.

The first story has Johny Lever playing a cop who finally lands an important job of taking a prisoner to the court after being stuck to a desk job for the first 25 years of his career. But when a few incidents change his perspective towards the accused, Lever’s character finds himself at a moral crossroads.

A schedule caste woman gets selected as a first-time member of the Sarpanch in the second story. However, when she realises that she doesn’t really have any real powers (umm because her crime is being a woman, that too in a lower caste), she and her husband — that would be Jitendra Kumar of Panchayat and Kota Factory fame — decide to sit in on a silent protest outside the DDO office.

The final story will take you back to the COVID-19 pandemic when a lot of products falsely claimed to offer protection against the virus. Here a defunct news channel finds hope during the pandemic in the form of its new potential sponsor – Covinaash, a hand sanitiser which claims to extend complete protection against the deadly virus.

Guntum Kaaram

When: Now Streaming

Where: Netflix

If you are a fan of Telugu action cinema and familial storylines, Guntur Kaaram could be your pick for the weekend. Here we see Mahesh Babu playing Ramana, whose mother (Ramya Krishna) abandoned him years ago (like Ramya’s another popular character in Baahubali: The Beginning) and remarried. When she decides to run for office, Ramana’s folks ask him to sign a document denying that he is her son. Our rowdy hero, however, refuses to officiate the termination of their relationship and confronts her and finds the real reason behind her leaving.

Although the film didn’t score exceptionally well in direction, screenplay and cinematography, Mahesh Babu’s performance was a hit amongst the cinephiles. Initially released theatrically on January 12, Guntur Kaaram can now be streamed on Netflix in Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, and Kannada.

Captain Miller

When: Now Streaming

Where: Prime Video

Imagine being born in a lower caste tribe and being oppressed your entire life. And when your people build a magnificent temple, that even the British have their eyes on, the king banishes them from entering it.

If even the slightest opportunity to earn respect, authority, and power comes along, wouldn’t you grab onto it desperately? This is precisely what Captain Miller’s Analeesan Eesa (Dhanush) does when he joins the British army.

It doesn’t, however, take him longer to figure out that the Westerners are just the bigger devil who wants him to be a part of their injustice. This is when Eesa a.k.a Captain Miller decides to quit the army and fight for the justice of his people in his own way.

Captain Miller was a box-office hit and enjoyed an aggregate rating of 89 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. If you are looking for a refreshing take on the freedom struggle, this makes for a perfect choice.

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