The news from the cinema industry across the country is many new movies have decided to wait out and release in theatres as many of have started to allow patrons, albeit in moderate numbers. And also the festival season peaks next week.
Considering all that, the new releases on Indian OTT platforms this week are a bit low key. But that is not to say they are uninteresting. We are particularly kicked up about Aamis, an Assamese movie — and this is the first Assamese production that is making it to our weekly recommendation list.
In our picks, there’s the Amitabh Bachchan starrer Chehre, the intriguing web series on esports (yes, you read it right) Clutch, the Tamil film Lift and the series on the Indian tennis duo of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, Break Point.
Clutch
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Quick Details
Director: Manuja Tyagi
Cast: Vishal Vashishtha, Ahsaas Channa, Saurabh Ghadge, Pratiek Pachauri, Tirth Joisher
Language: Hindi
Platform: YouTube
Release date: Oct 1, 2021.
Synopsis: Set in the world of gaming, Clutch captures the essence of passionate gamers and the ups and downs they face in wanting to compete for eSports tournaments. It is a story of a man, who left professional gaming to follow a stable career path, but returns to his first love, gaming, by setting up a team to compete in a major eSports tournament, and takes them to great heights. In that sense, it is a typical sports redemption story. But the backdrop is interesting and unique.
Actress Ahsaas Channa said, “Gaming has been my love and of course, when the opportunity came, I had to grab it. Clutch is a project very close to my heart, given that it will show the world the unspoken excitement, and fun we gamers have in eSports. The team has done a fantastic job and cannot wait to share this with the audience.”
The first episode of Clutch releases October 1 with a new episode every week on Dice Media’s Youtube and Facebook channels.
Chehre
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Quick Details
Director: Rumi Jaffery
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Emraan Hashmi, Krystle D’Souza, Rhea Chakraborty, Annu Kapoor, Raghubir Yadav
Language: Hindi
Platform: amazon Prime Video
Release date: September 30, 2021.
Synopsis: The movie is believed to be unofficial adpatation of the 1956 German novel A Dangerous Game by Friedrich Dürrenmatt. Apparently, it had earlier been attempted in Kannada as Malle Nilluvavarege (2015). The movie had a theatrical release last month. It is a thriller that features four very old men living in an antique house in the middle of nowhere with a strong man who cannot speak and a maid who looks after their needs. All of them are experts in different departments of justice. And they have a mission – to punish ‘criminals’ through their trial as they believe that these ‘guests’ have been freed by the justice system.
It is an interesting premise, and with the legend Amitabh in it, there is an even more attraction to it.
Aamis
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Quick Details
Director: Bhaskar Hazarika
Cast: Lima Das, Arghadeep Baruah, Neetali Das, Sagar Saurabh, Manash K Das
Language: Assamese
Platform: SonyLIV
Release date: Oct 1, 2021.
Synopsis: As we said, this is the first Assamese movie to feature in these columns. But it comes with solid reputation. It had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival where it was nominated in five categories in the festival’s “International Narrative” section. It was also screened at Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival in 2019, Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles and the San Francisco International South Asian Film Festival in 2019.
It is a story of obsessive love that leads to chaos and complications.
The tale is about a woman paediatrician, who is trapped in a loveless marriage and the mundane tasks of domesticity. Her joyless existence transforms with the entry of a young student who is researching food habits and the use of various kinds of meats in the cuisine of the Northeastern part of the country. But the twist in the plot is about when this meat fetish crosses a threshold.
Break Point
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Director: Ashwini Iyer Tiwari and Nitesh Tiwari
Cast: Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi
Language: English
Platform: Zee5
Release date: Oct 1, 2021.
Synopsis: For decades, Indians have celebrated the country’s biggest tennis heroes who made India proud by winning many iconic matches and have also speculated about their much public split. However, for the first time, the speculation will be put to rest as Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi get candid and honest about their bromance and breakup and tell the world – what happened, how it happened and why it happened. Break Point, the 7-episode series, will not only construct their epic tennis matches but also deconstruct their relationship, both on and off the court.
It is a telling narrative on their friendship, brotherhood, partnership, belief, hard work and ambitions which made them one of the most feared doubles pair during the late 1990s, and ranked world number 1 in the year 1999. But it also throws light on their bitter breakup and how they couldn’t hold on to their meteoric rise. At core, it’s a tale of two friends who had planned for success.
Lift
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Director: Vineeth Varaprasad
Cast: Kavin Raj, Amritha Aiyer
Language: Tamil
Platform: Disney+ Hotstar
Release date: October 1, 2021.
Synopsis: The film’s release had been delayed because of the pandemic. And now the producers have chosen to release it on OTT directly. It is a horror thriller with the makers equating it to the levels of Evil Dead, which is a well-known film in the genre. Maybe a tall a claim. The premise of the film is interesting. It is about two person getting trapped in a lift. The makers of Lift claim it to be the Evil Dead of Tamil cinema. Kavin, the hero of the film, was a Bigg Boss Tamil contestant. A song from the film, Inna Mylu, sung by actor Sivakarthikeyan has already clocked in over 30 million views on YouTube.
There also other movies like Shiddat, Friendship, and Orey Bammardi releasing this week. So, have entertainment-filled weekend.