[Year in Review 2021] Here are top 10 Indian OTT shows we loved binge-watching

2021 was a difficult year on many counts, but one thing it did not lack was good entertainment. The year saw Indian OTT shows enjoying their moment in the sun, with many of them bagging International Emmy Award nominations. With mature content, engaged audiences, and longer show timings, and bigger budgets allowed creativity to flourish – whether in the domain of writing, acting, direction, cinematography, or music.

We thoroughly enjoyed binge-watching many of these shows – with many known faces of the Indian movie industry making their presence felt. In case you’re wondering which shows won our hearts, read on.

Here’s our pick of the top 10 Indian OTT shows of 2021:

Bombay Begums

Starring: Pooja Bhatt, Plabita Borthakur, Amruta Subhash, Shahana Goswami, Adhya Anand

The city of Bombay is run by a bunch of sassy women – or at least that’s what this show will let you believe. A menopausal CEO struggling to maintain power, a chawl-dwelling bar dancer willing to go any length to attain a better life for her son, a small-town girl waking up to the possibilities of her own sexuality, a child discovering herself through painful teen years – these women have nothing in common except their will to survive at any cost. The show is gripping and lays bare the seedy underbelly of Mumbai’s gender divide.

Streaming on Netflix.

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Aarya 2

Starring: Sushmita Sen, Virti Vaghani, Viren Vazirani, Ankur Bhatia, Vikas Kumar, Jayant Kripalani

A recreation of the Dutch drama series Penoza, this show is about Aarya Sareen – a doting mother and mournful wife who moonlights as a mafioso to exact revenge for her husband’s murder carried out by a drug cartel. Lauded for Sen’s tight performance in a tough role, the show was nominated for an International Emmy award in the Best Drama Series category. Season 2 delves deeper into Aarya’s relationships with her family members, and focuses on her children dealing with the death of their father. If you’re looking for an intriguing crime-thriller that is also surprisingly moving, this is a good bet!

Streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.

Special Ops 1.5: The Himmat Story

Starring: Kay Kay Menon, Karan Tacker, Vinay Pathak, Vipul Gupta, Muzamil Ibrahim, Meher Vij, Aftab Shivdasani

Inspired by a series of similar terrorist attacks which took place in different parts of India, this show revolves around Himmat Singh, a member of the Indian government’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and his team of five agents working to crack the case while facing clear and ever-present danger. The second season is a prequel to the first and charts Himmat’s career from when he first began confronting the baddies in the early 00s. The show is high on drama and truly binge-worthy.

Streaming on Disney+ Hotstar

Ray

Starring: Radhika Madan, Kay Kay Menon, Ali Fazal, Harshvardhan Kapoor, Manoj Bajpayee, Shweta Basu Prasad, Gajraj Rao

2021 was the year of anthologies and it also happened to mark the birth centenary of Indian cinema’s greatest star – Satyajit Ray. To pay ode to his genius, this four-part anthology series based on Ray’s short stories captures his beautifully fleshed characters, a spate of human vulnerabilities, and some bizarre events that make for great storytelling.

A man is deliberately led towards a nervous breakdown and subsequent mental disorder, a makeup artist mistakenly believes he can have anything he wants by changing his face, a harmless kleptomaniac must face the consequences of his actions, and a sparring actor-of-the-moment and trendy self-styled godwoman – there is a wide variety of characters on offer, making for compelling viewing.

Streaming on Netflix.

November Story

Starring: Tamanaah, Pujitha Devaraju, G. M. Kumar, Pasupathy, Vivek Prasanna, Aruldoss, Namita Krishnamurthy

This Tamil-language crime thriller is a true-blue edge-of-your-seat murder mystery. Anuradha Ganesan, played by Tamanaah, is an ethical hacker who works with the Crime Records Bureau. When her father – a celebrated crime novelist suffering from Alzheimer’s – is found at a murder scene with no memory of what happened, she makes it her mission to save him. Several twists and turns reveal a series of hidden secrets and keep the viewer hooked.

Streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.

The Family Man, Season 2

Starring: Manoj Bajpayee, Samantha Akkineni, Priyamani, Sharib Hashmi, Shreya Dhanwanthary, Sunny Hinduja

The family man who doubles up as a secret spy returns for another season of thrilling cop-and-robber chases. Severely affected by the incidents that took place in Season 1, the protagonist has given up his secret service career but feels compelled to join back out of sheer boredom of his regular desk job. Samantha’s stellar performance in the negative role makes her the star of the show. Manoj’s familial struggles are more real and hit closer to home than in the last season, keeping the viewer hooked.

Streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

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Sunflower

Starring: Sunil Grover, Ranvir Shorey, Mukul Chaddha, Radha Bhatt, Saloni Khanna, Shonali Nagrani

Mumbai’s apartment complexes hide a number of secrets – most are mildly disturbing but a few are downright shocking. When one of the penthouse-dwellers in Sunflower Apartments is found murdered, the local police embark on an earnest search for the killer, who seems to be someone from the building. Awkward protagonist Sunil Grover becomes the prime suspect while providing his signature entertaining laughs to an engaged audience.

Streaming on Zee5.

Candy

Starring: Ronit Roy, Richa Chaddha, Manu Rishi Chaddha, Gopal Datt, Nakul Roshan Sahdev, Riddhi Kumar, Mihir Ahuja

Yet another thriller makes it to our list! Candy is set in the fictional hill town of Rudrakhand where a student from an elite boarding school is found murdered and hanged in the woods. Officer Ratna Shankhawar and Professor Jayant Parekh team up to investigate the matter. They are up against child drug addictions, bullying, and other secretive behaviour. A satisfying climax rounds this mystery off well.

Streaming on Voot.

Grahan

Starring: Zoya Hussain, Wamiqa Gabbi, Anshumaan Pushkar, Pavan Malhotra

This compelling historical drama is based on the novel Chaurasi by Satya Vyas and follows two timelines. The first of these is in the present day where honest cop Amrita is assigned a case to investigate the long-standing 1984 anti-Sikh riots that took place in Bokaro, Jharkhand. And the second takes place in 1984 in the run-up to the riots. When Amrita learns her own father, a devout Sikh himself, is a prime suspect in the riots, she makes it her mission to understand what really happened and clear his name in the process.

Streaming on Disney+ Hotstar

Mumbai Diaries 26/11

Starring: Konkona Sen Sharma, Natasha Bharadwaj, Mohit Raina, Shreya Dhanwanthary, Tina Desai, Satyajeet Dubey, Mishal Raheja

Against the backdrop of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, the staff of Bombay General Hospital goes above and beyond the call of duty to attend to the victims pouring in. The show moves back and forth between the hospital and its staff, and the simultaneously occurring incidents at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, shown through the eyes of a journalist. Tie a medical drama with a terrorist plotline, and you have gold on your hands.

Streaming on Prime Video

Looking for more?

2021 saw many well-written and well-directed Indian web series, but there is little space to honour them all. Here are some honourable mentions that this post would be incomplete without:

Dhindora is Bhuvan Bam’s interesting YouTube series about a middle-class man who wins the lottery. Kota Factory, a YouTube and subsequent Netflix series, attempts to show the reality of students who run off to Kota to prepare for IIT admissions. Aspirants on Amazon Prime Video shares the story of three friends who aspire to join the Indian civil services. Maharani is SonyLIV’s political drama about an illiterate woman who cleans up the system when the reigns are unexpectedly handed over to her. Aranyak is Netflix’s cosy hill-station murder mystery that gets plenty of things right. Gullak, a feel-good series by SonyLIV, is a story about a small-town family with a big heart. Tandav is a political thriller on Amazon Prime Video with many plot twists that keep you on the edge of your seat.