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Locke and keys, the latest web series is another addition to the thriller and mystery category by Netflix. The American supernatural horror drama is based on the comic book series Locke and Keys written by Gabriel Rodriguez and Joe Hill.

Spoiler Alert!

The story revolves around a mysterious and spooky house, the key house which is filled with magical keys and their key holes. The series begins with a misshaping when a person after receiving a phone call of a women commits suicide by stabbing himself, not with a dagger but with a magical key, which burns the interior of his body. The entire mystery behind the dreaded incident is disclosed gradually with the progression of the plot.

The intriguing beginning proves successful in filling the audience with curiosity and makes it unable for them to leave their watching seats. Two teenagers, Kinsy and Tyler along with their six year old brother, Bodey come out as the three central characters in the show. The intellect and the extraordinary problem solving efficiency of the six year old boy is questionable with respect to his age. In an age where an ordinary kid is unaware of the realities of the world, Bodey comes out as a co-life saviour of his family.

The story is a perfect plot for the people taking pleasure in watching magical, fantasy and supernatural related stuff. The three central characters along with their mother, Nina move to the key house after Nina’s husband (Rendel) gets murdered in their previous home. The ten episode long series in its every episode, like every other suspense filled Netflix series discloses one mystery while creating another for the next episode.

One thing which remains consistent in almost every episode is the discovery of a new key. Starting from the miraculous ‘anywhere key’ which if put in a door and opened leads you to the place you thought about in your head, to the ‘identity key’, revealed in the last episode which changes the identity of a person, irrespective of their gender.

Overall the first season of this new venture by Netflix is a good combination of mystery and thrill, which sees success in even touching the emotional corners of the heart. The family bonding and mutual support for each other in the times of distress, along with Bodey’s childish innocence moves the audience and leaves them with a deep excitement for the next season.

Feature Image credits: IMDb

Kriti Gupta

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Read the analysis of a powerful dystopian web series, The Handmaid’s Tale, to compare the contemporary authoritarian times with ones highlighted in the web series. 

The Handmaid’s Tale is an American dystopian web series based on Margaret Atwood’s novel. It revolves around the theocratic government of Gilead, where women have no purpose other than bearing off-springs, and men are the ones with all the authority. 

The makers of the show have released three seasons as of now, and these revolve around the lives of the ruling elite of Gilead. The authoritarian government of Gilead views fertile women as mere natal slaves who are allowed to play limited roles. These women, called the Handmaids, are assigned to the homes of the ruling elite and are subjected to ritualized rape which is called ‘the ceremony.’

The ritual is a monthly practice that continues until the handmaid conceives. After conceiving, the handmaid is treated fairly nicely by everyone to make sure that the handmaid does not escape with the child. If they fail to submit to their masters, handmaids are severely punished. The punishment for reading for women is a chopped-off finger.

The civil war in the United States resulted in the establishment of Gilead. Homosexuals, old, and handicapped women are sent away to work at sites with high nuclear radiations, which slowly kills them. The Marthas are cooks and housekeepers, just with one duty, and that is caring for the homes of the elite. Girls are forced to marry older men at a very young age. There are heavy restrictions on what the people of Gilead can wear.

The plot of the show is extremely compelling, and consists of a cliffhanger at the end of each episode. The protagonist of the show, June Osborn, is captured while trying to escape to Canadaand is assigned to the Waterford family as a handmaid.

The entirety of the show thrives on the emotions of gloominess, suffering, and faint hope. For most offenses, the punishment is death by hanging in public. The government is extreme in every action it takes.

Tejasvi, a student of Lady Shri Ram College says, “The show is so engaging, it almost feels like we are living this reality. The plot is unique and keeps you at the edge of your seat the entire time.”

Feature image credits- Glamour

Suhani Malhotra

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A political drama-thriller web series by the name Tandav has come under scrutiny after students expressed their distress with the shooting interfering in their day to day college life. A letter has been sent to the Delhi University’s (DU) Registrar with respect to the same as the shooting takes place at the Faculty of Law, University of Delhi.

In a strongly-worded letter by Amit Kumar Diwakar, student of the Faculty of Law, DU, on behalf of the students of the Law Faculty, brought into limelight how the shooting of a web series by director Ali Abbas Zaffar was causing great trouble to the students.

Diwakar registered a strong protest against the permission given for shooting on campus.

In his letter to the Registrar, he wrote, “…shooting for the web series… is creating a huge disturbance and affecting day to day affairs of the University including research, classes, library and movements of students in the campus”.

He also mentioned how the violation of various guidelines issued by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) as well as the Supreme Court of India are being violated for the purpose of shooting.

He put this issue ahead as a grave matter of concern and one which requires interference of higher authorities since there has been a violation of fundamental rights such as the Right to Privacy, along with the violation of the Rights of Persons with Disability Act, 2016 since disturbance has been caused in the movement of disabled persons such as the blind students in the campus.

Noihrit Gogoi, a student at Ramjas College, DU, comments, “I believe the key term here is ‘priority’. We enrol ourselves in a University like DU to engage ourselves in and prioritise an academic environment with, of course, some extracurricular activities. When elements outside of our University like shooting for a film, barges in and interrupts our regular college activities like, even as trivial as going to the library, it compromises the said priority, and that too without our consent while subjugating the ideal environment of a university.”

“Other practical problems like common paths being blocked, disruption in classes, and how many students complained that the film crew was extremely rude and unapologetic during the shooting of Kabir Singh in DU, are always a problem,” he added.

Tandav is one of the most exciting projects taken up by director Ali Abbas Zafar for which he took a year to work upon and will mark his entry into the digital space. The series is co-written by Gaurav Solanki who penned down the well-received film Article 15 which was released earlier this year.

Tandav will be majorly shot in Delhi and is centered around the idea of power corridors of Indian Politics.

The series is set to stream after its shooting is over on Amazon Prime Video in the upcoming year.

 

Feature Image Credits: DU Beat Archives

 

Amrashree Mishra

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The coming of Indian Web Series in the market has sure created a buzz by talking about things never discussed before. This comes with both positive as well as negative effects.

The ever-growing popularity of internet has led to the increase in the viewership of visual content. Several applications have been created in the recent times to cater to the market of visual media. The emergence of web series, in this respect, is perhaps the most prominent effect time has had on visual media. Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hotstar, etc, have also stepped into the field of creating content rather than just distributing; several Indian channels have also taken the form of applications or apps as we know them.

Since the internet offers a greater audience than any other mode of communication in today’s time, makers have also stepped into the field of creating content for the internet (various apps included). Indian web series have stemmed out, as a result; as a river for the sea of already existing content online. Interestingly, they are stepping away from the standards set by the daily soap opera culture. Western values hav a lot to do with this, of course, but the consequences are both positive and negative.

A second year student from SGTB Khalsa College says, “Nudity in Indian web series has been made possible, courtesy western drama. With them being open about these things, they are not a taboo completely by themselves. Same goes with the use of profanity.” It is true that the way sex is shown in the web series being made in India is a lot different than the way it is hushed about in the soap operas and that it is an effect of the western shows that are relatively open about such things. The release of Sacred Games (on Netflix) took the audience by surprise initially by its presentation of profanity and promiscuity. With the typical Anurag Kashyap lingo, Sacred Games created a huge buzz among the viewers. Shows like Criminal Justice (on Hotstar) or Delhi Crime (on Netflix) have resorted to showing the dark side of law and justice.

Series like Made in Heaven and Four More Shots Please (on Amazon Prime) have even taken up the issues of the LGBTQ community. But where these web shows have taken a positive turn into the tricky road of revolutionising the industry and creating a market of their own through presenting things that were not previously even considered to be presentable, they are also, in some ways, misrepresenting or wrongly showing the actuality of things. A third year student from Jesus and Mary College says, “I think Indian shows generally confuse ‘progressive thinking’ with sexual promiscuity and functional alcoholism which appears to be just the case nowadays.”

Where it should be duly acknowledged that we, as a society, lack even minimal formal sex education, it should also be realised that the accessibility of sexual content by young people may have more harmful consequences than one might expect. The way an immature mind perceives such sensitive issues can be easily measured by the number of minors participating in the act of raping girls and women on a daily basis. Therefore, though it is important to talk and represent the concerns regarding issues of sex, sexuality, alcohol, etc, it is also equally important to focus on the how(s), when(s) and why(s).  

Feature Image Credits : NDTV

Akshada Shrotriya

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“Did you watch Baked?”, “Did you complete The Girl in the City series?”, “Oh my God, The Tripling is so amazing”. This is the age of web series and the concept is pretty new to India because it all kick-started in 2015 but we are all abreast of it. Web series are a relief for the millennials from the boring, typical and content-less Indian TV shows. In fact, not just youngsters, middle-aged people like mine and your parents are entering and traversing the era of watching shows on YouTube and other media platforms.

With the advancement of technology and availability of smartphones with everybody today, these web series are our escape with their varied and relatable content. We, the millennials, cannot while away time sitting in front of our TV’s waiting for our shows to begin every night at 8 p.m. or that movie to air at 9 p.m. because we are busy chasing our dreams, conquering the world, breaking stereotypes, and having the best time of our lives so we entertain ourselves with these thought-provoking series readily available online. They easily fit into our busy schedules because an episode doesn’t last for more than 20 minutes.

We connect with the shows because the characters are funnily clumsy (just like us), real, and flawed. Web series like Man’s World and Ladies’ Room shatter stereotypes, and All About Article 377 brings issues of transgender people to the limelight. Issues like sex are no longer relegated to the fringes with Sex Chat with Pappu and Papa. The millennials are woke in the truest sense with the issues of the world and don’t shy away from writing about them.

Raabiya, a student of Shaheed Bhagat Singh College contributes, “I no longer like to watch movies now and that is because of web series. It’s a movie but with episodes, so it doesn’t feel like a chore. Moreover, since web series are being produced by the new generation, current issues are often taken into account. Interestingly, I realised that I was transgender while watching a web series. While watching All the Women, I somehow realised that that’s where I want to be.”  Shows like Permanent Roommates, The Tripling, Pitchers, Haq Se, The Trip, Little Things, Rise, and Official CEO Giri empower the audience in certain ways along with the comical elements. Muskan Sethi, a student of Jesus and Mary College comments, “I feel that these series are breaking the rut that the Indian soaps have created, the way they break away from the patriarchal mindsets and bring a fresh take on the 21st century lifestyles.”

The TRP ratings have immensely dropped with the advent of web series and their popularity has multiplied to the extent that Bollywood celebrities like Irrfan Kan, Naseerudin Shah, Priyanka Chopra, and Said Ali Khan wish to be associated with this revolution and bring more content with them. Companies like TVF, Y Films, Arre, and ALT Balaji are great platforms of opportunities for creative talents. These organisations have provided jobs to numerous upcoming artists and who are now famous even without their ‘big breaks’ in Bollywood.

These web series have come to our rescue when Indian television shows and Bollywood have disappointed their audiences and there is still a lot of scope for exploration, creative scripts, and ideas that need to see the light.

 

Feature Image Credits: The Yellow Sparrow

Prachi Mehra
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Pushpavalli is a brilliant and witty show that is so hilarious that it will leave you gasping for breath – only before you realise that it is not funny at all. Sumukhi Suresh does an admirable job in playing the titular role of Pushpavalli.  Pushpavalli (literally means a creeper) is intelligent and independent. So, when she develops a fixation for the charming and handsome Nikhil Rao, it only seems extrememly strange. This is rendered even stranger by the fact that she initially did not like Nikhil and got his number only because her friend wanted it. However, a friendship develops between Nikhil and her in a couple of days. When Nikhil has to go back to Bangalore, the only logical step according to her is to give up her life and move there too. Of course, she denies this fact to everyone around her and maybe to herself too. When once in Mumbai she stalks Nikhil and even employs the tea vendor in front of his office to help her in her pursuit. This all seems quite hilarious as you assume that in two or three days she will realise that her actions are wrong. But, Pushpavalli is a creepy by not only her name but also through her actions. Even before you realise it, the show develops a very dark shade. Sumukhi Suresh needs to be praised for portraying a character who is a compulsive liar. She has to distort even the simplest of all situations and to turn them very complex.  The rest of the cast is also very funny and leaves you with tears rolling down your eyes. Naveen Richards plays the angry boss and a friend of Pushpavalli. Ex- RJ Shraddha plays the role of an overbearing landlady, and there is also a special appearance by Kenny Sebastian. I will suggest this web series to all those who are into India-based web series. This is something new and very fresh. It only asserts the fact that Indian web series are all up for exploring new areas.  You will not find even a sing dull moment in the span of eight episodes. Feature Image Credits: The Opinionated Anukriti Mishra [email protected]]]>