JUbilee
Set in the burgeoning but increasingly murky world of Hindi cinema in the ’50s, Vikramaditya Motwane expertly crafted a tale of human ambition and unbridled nostalgia, peppering this Prime Video series with real-life references, Easter eggs, well-known anecdotes and unmistakable allusions. A giant homage to the cinema of that time and characterised by excellent mise en scene, Jubilee’s sprawling narrative, intertwining the politics of the trade with the socio-economic dynamic of the period, was a win, as also were the performances — solid acts from Prosenjit, Aditi Rao Hydari and Wamiqa Gabbi, a cast-against-type Aparshakti Khurana and a scenery-chewing turn from Siddhant Gupta.
Dahaad
Sonakshi Sinha aced her digital debut and an unnerving Vijay Varma gave us goosebumps galore. Created by Reema Kagti and Zoya Akhtar, Dahaad scored as an unsettling thriller, intense police procedural, engaging character study and a scathing social commentary. Set in Rajasthan, the Prime Video series presented a story about a serial killer in a society where crime was intrinsically intertwined with caste. Dahaad scored in its world-building and boasted compelling, well-rounded acts from Sonakshi, Gulshan Devaiah and Sohum Shah. And Vijay Varma, as the man who kills without remorse or penitence, showed us once again why he is counted among our best.
Trial By Fire
An unspeakable real-life tragedy was made curiously personal by this outstanding Netflix series. Bringing to life the Uphaar fire tragedy which claimed several innocent lives, Trial By Fire traced the horrific events and the many years that followed it in a remarkably restrained manner but didn’t pull any punches in showing how the battle for justice in this country is long-drawn, bitter and exhausting. At the heart of the story, which brought on wide-eyed horror in its final episode as it trained its eyes on that fateful day, was a stellar act from Rajshri Deshpande whose character started her quest for justice as a mother but ultimately became a crusader, supported by a subtle but powerful turn from Abhay Deol.
School of Lies
Intense and immersive, School of Lies, streaming on Disney+Hotstar, remained a consistently engaging slow-burn thriller, unspooling a web of lies, deceit, abuse and murder as it looked at the bleak underbelly of life in a boarding school. Avinash Arun Dhaware delivered a masterclass in storytelling and atmospherics, with the show examining the anatomy of lying and loneliness and looking at the toxicity of forced authority and the fallout of swept-under-the-carpet mental health. Sharp writing and deeply felt performances from Nimrat Kaur, Aamir Bashir and especially the younger actors were the pillars that School of Lies was built on.
Scoop
Spearheaded by an excellent Karishma Tanna, Hansal Mehta’s Scoop functioned as a reminder of what journalism — characterised today by the lack of both sensitivity and sensibility — ought to be. Based on the real-life J Dey murder case in which his fellow crime reporter Jigna Vora was considered complicit and spent time in prison, the Netflix show was well-researched, compellingly written and efficiently acted and didn’t sugarcoat its bitter truths. Strong supporting acts from Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub and Harman Baweja took it a notch higher.
Farzi
Shahid Kapoor’s first step into streaming was courtesy of this Raj & DK series on Prime Video that took a look at the lesser-explored world of counterfeiting and pitted Shahid’s ambitious con man against a deliciously oddball act from Vijay Sethupathi. The Raj & DK staples of quirky situations, high-stakes drama and deadpan humour defined Farzi, which proved to be a binge-worthy watch. With a total viewership of 37.1 million, and growing, Farzi is currently the most-watched Hindi series of all time.
Guns & Gulaabs
Raj & DK delivered their second winner of the year with this off-centre retro template of gangsters running amuck in the Indian heartland, but cheekily turned it on its head, giving us a series tinged with grit and gore, but far more imbued with comedy, romance and sheer madness. The ’90s milieu not only evoked nostalgia but also contributed substantially to the fabric of the story, which was distinguished by the kind of quirk that the makers are known for.
Rajkummar Rao, Dulquer Salmaan and especially Adarsh Gourav were superlative in their complex parts, but the series well and truly belonged to Gulshan Devaiah’s unhinged killer-for-hire. The cherry on the cake? The final episode, an 82-minute edge-of-the-seat finale, was a batty ride that promises much more. Season 2 has just been announced.
Kohraa
For many, the best Hindi series of 2023, Kohrra truly deserves all the praise it has got. Randeep Jha, who also co-directed Trial By Fire, built a narrative which not only delved deep into solving a murder but also proved to be an incisive look at the socio-political fabric of Punjab. Suvinder Vicky and Barun Sobti led an as-good-as-it-gets cast. The effectively crafted narrative smokescreen is aptly summed up by the title, with the evocative and immersive storytelling, distinguished by a certain grimy authenticity, elevating Kohrra beyond a mere police procedural.
Kaala Paani
Tense, thrilling and timely, this apocalyptic series captivated from the get-go and was quite unlike anything we have seen on the Indian screen lately. Not afraid to touch upon big themes and carry them successfully to fruition, this survival story hit hard with its brutal look at the dark side of human nature in a post-pandemic world. Beautifully bringing together the many moving strands of its sprawling plot and functioning as a cautionary tale as well as a commentary on how our actions in the past and present will impact our future, this Netflix series had many a moment that remains indelibly etched in our minds.
The Railway Men
It was a superb year for Netflix whose first venture with Yash Raj Films resulted in the winner called The Railway Men. Powerfully and poignantly recreating the Bhopal gas tragedy that took place nearly four decades ago, and telling the story of that catastrophic night through the heroics of four ‘railway men’, the series brought out both the horror of the tragedy and the human face of the circumstances that followed, propped up by captivating performances from Kay Kay Menon, R. Madhavan, Divyenndu and Babil Khan and an equally efficient supporting cast.