Without a doubt, our adored OTT platforms have a vast library filled with titles from diverse genres. It is about to get even bigger with many new original shows and movies coming to the fore with the coming year. There is nothing like being glued to the screen for a couple of hours and unwinding post a tiring day, and only a good suspenseful thriller can accomplish this feat, and there is no shortage of those on our OTT platforms today.
While cinema or a show, if well made, is wholly consuming, one can argue that thrillers as a genre are naturally more engaging when, say, a romantic drama or a coming-of-age movie. And at a time when we need some ‘distraction’ more than ever in our lives, many of us are in search of a good, suspenseful story and that is exactly where we come into the picture.
From high-flying shows like Cartel to potential OTT Filmfare contenders, the best of OTT is yet to come. Amid many original shows, a few thrillers deserve a watch and are thoroughly listed below for your consideration.
1. Aranyak – Netflix
The star-studded recent Netflix release ‘Aranyak’ is a show that revolves around political ploys, personal agendas and a beastly myth where all of these surfaces as two mismatched hill station cops navigate a web of suspects after a puzzling murder. The creators of the show are Charudutt Acharya and Rohan Sippy. It stars industry big wheels such as Raveena Tandon, Parambrata Chatterjee and Ashutosh Rana. Have we not given you enough reasons to binge on the show already?
2. Cartel – ALTBalaji
This show has been the ultimate bigwig on ALTBalaji this year. It stars big names such as Rithvik Dhanjani, Tanuj Virwani, Divya Agarwal, Monica Dogra, Samir Soni, Supriya Pathak and other 137 actors. The series is an action drama with its core set in a family. The show primarily revolves around The Angre family and four other Crime Lords based in the different areas of the city. Khan, Anna, Gajraj, Angre, and a mysterious bookie-cum-movie producer are the low-profile mafias in the city of dreams. For years, these five powerful gangs have survived the underworld without a fuss only due to one iron lady, Rani Mai, now on her deathbed. So what happens next is a story that will keep you glued to the screen!
3. Mumbai Diaries 26/11 – Amazon Prime Video
Mumbai Diaries is another suspense thriller web series to watch out for. Directed by Kiran Rao, it’s a medical thriller series that runs in a hospital’s emergency room. The challenges faced by the medical staff at the hospital and other first responders across the city of Mumbai while dealing with a crisis of immense magnitude such as a terrorist attack, is beautifully shown in the series. In this war, the fixing ones are the most broken to save lives and heal others. It has been the most engaging Hindi web series this year so you do not want to miss it. It stars Mohit Raina, Shreya Dhanwanthary, Tina Desai, and Natasha Bharadwaj.
4. Hostages – Disney+ Hotstar
Directed by Sudhir Mishra, ‘Hostages’ is one of the most brilliant Hindi thrillers on Disney+ Hotstar, keeping you at the edge of your seat. Based on the Israeli show of the same name, the show ‘Hostages’ revolves around a surgeon who is faced with a tough predicament when her family members are held hostage and the only way to save them is by participating in the assassination of a key political figure. The Disney+ Hotstar original features Tisca Chopra, Ronit Roy, and Parvin Dabas so go indulge right away!
5. Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Case – Sony Liv
Scam 1992 was one of India’s finest in recent years. Directed by Hansal Mehta, this Sony Liv special takes us on an epic journey of Bombay in the late 1980s and all through the nineties. Harshad Mehta is a stockbroker who wants to make it big, but this drive makes him bend the laws to his advantage until one day when the law catches up to him. Starring Pratik Gandhi as Harshad Mehta, Shreya Dhanwanthary as Sucheta Dalal, Anjali Barot as Jyoti Mehta and Kavin Dave as Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, Scam 1992 makes for a riveting watch and is one of our favourites so far.
Sometimes disturbing and sometimes intriguing, the above-listed thrillers are extremely addictive shows that all thriller aficionados should see. Until the new year brings in more of these thrillers on our OTT platforms, these are some thoroughly curated shows that viewers can check out right away.
Go binge on these shows today to experience a thrilling joyride!
