10 Best Indian Web Series of 2020 You Must Watch Before This Year Ends

2020 has been a very fruitful year for OTT platforms in India. Since the whole nation was in lockdown, a lot of people bought subscriptions for different OTTs to pass their time and watch interesting shows and films that they had been planning to watch. This pushed the user base of OTTs in India by a huge margin and thus pressurized them to release good content to maintain their user base.

It is for this reason that 2020 saw a lot of great content coming out on these OTTs. A lot of great web shows and films have debuted on Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hotstar, etc. But in this blog, we’ll be strictly focusing on the web series scene that caused a huge explosion this year on various OTT platforms. Each OTT platform has released quite a few well-made shows this year that have raised the bar for other producers and creators to match. This has made 2020 the most exciting year for OTTs across the Indian subcontinent.

So without any further ado, below are some of the best Indian web series that came out in 2020.

Special Ops is an Indian espionage thriller web show that has been directed by the king of investigative thriller, Neeraj Pandey (A Wednesday!). The show is about Himmat Singh (Kay Kay Menon) who works for the Research and Analysis wing. His job is to find patterns between different terrorist attacks in order to catch a terrorist. He has five agents who live in various parts of the world and help him in catching different targets. The series focuses on several missions undertaken by them over two decades. The series was praised for its action sequences and thrilling storyline. The casting of Kay Kay Menon also garnered praises from viewers across the nation.

Jamtara is a show that talks about a phishing operation that takes place in a small village in Jharkhand. The show focuses on a group of young men who starts phishing out money from different bank accounts. The show is based on a true event which is why it managed to garner so much buzz despite having new-comers as lead characters. Although the show has visible flaws, the smooth camerawork, acting and writing makes the show a worthy watch. The show was also praised for its accurate portrayal of the life and politics of Indian villages.

Hostel Daze is a 5 episode comedy mini-series that has come out of TVF’s creative kitty. The show captures the struggles and musings of hostellers living in an engineering college. The show focuses on three first-year engineering students who go through all kinds of new-experiences that the show captures with a dash of humor. The show was praised for being authentic and hugely funny. Since the show dealt with engineering and hostel life, it was deemed as being highly relatable for many students that eventually resulted in its popularity.

Criminal Justice tells the story of Aditya, who after a one-night stand, wakes up with blood on his hand. Since all the evidence is against him, he ends up in police custody. Now Aditya has to prove his innocence with the help of a lawyer. This 10 episode thriller based on a book by the same name was directed by Shridhar Raghavan and starred Vikrant Massey in the lead role. The show was praised for its writing and direction. Critics did point out some flaws in the show but it didn’t stop people from loving the show.

The Gone Game is a limited psychological thriller web series that tells the story of Sahil Gujaral who goes missing in the middle of a pandemic. Thought to have died due to coronavirus first, Sahil’s supposed death points out to a larger crime. The show was shot entirely during the lockdown, under the confinement of the houses of all the actors involved. It was praised for its clever writing and direction. The series starred acclaimed actors such as Sanjay Kapoor, Shweta Tripathi, Shriya Pilgaonkar, and many more talented actors.

Aarya is a crime drama web series about a woman’s struggle in saving her family's reputation. Aarya is a housewife whose husband gets involved in a drug racket and gets killed. This turns her world upside down and forces her to take things into her own hands to find out the whole truth. Aarya is the official Hindi adaptation of the Dutch drama series, Penoza , and has been directed by the national-award-winning filmmaker, Ram Madhvani (Neerja ). The series stars Sushmita Sen as Aarya, which is why the show became quite a huge success. Her fans couldn’t have asked for a better show for Sen’s comeback into films after a gap of almost 10 years. She shines in the role of Aarya and aptly brings out her vulnerability.

Set in Varanasi, the show focuses on Nikhil Nair, a forensic expert-turned-professor who again joins CBI to solve a mysterious criminal case. Failing to solve the case on his own, he asks his mentor, Dhananjay Rajpoot, for help. Asur is the first bonafide Indian show which perfectly mixes Indian mythology with modern sensibilities. The show was loved by the audience for its brilliant story as well as direction. It stars Arshad Warsi as Dhananjay Rajpoot who was hugely praised for his brilliant performance. Apart from him other actors in the show such as Barun Sobti, Sharib Hashmi, Anupriya Goenka, etc. also received a lot of praise for their beautiful and authentic performances.

This TVF show follows Abhishek Tripathi, an engineering graduate who, for a lack of better job opportunities, becomes secretary of a Panchayat office in a remote a lot of difficulties in adjusting to the rusty life of the village. Panchayat captures the simple life of the village with a lot of humor and genuineness. The show stars Jitendra Kumar as Abhishek, who delivers the finest performance of his career. The show also stars great actors such as Raghubir Yadav, Neena Gupta, Faisal Malik, and many more. Panchayat was praised by critics across the country for its beautiful writing that finds humor in the most absurd and mundane things of everyday life.

At the second place we have Scam 1992, arguably one of the biggest and most loved Indian web shows of 2020. The show, which is directed by the critically acclaimed filmmaker Hansal Mehta (Aligarh , Shahid ), is based on the life of Harshad Mehta, a stockbroker who successfully pulled off the biggest scam in India. The show takes us through the life of Harshad Mehta, portraying his rags to riches story, before delving into his greedy and twisted intentions.

The show garnered huge praise from both, critics as well as audiences. It was hugely praised for its writing, direction, set design, and acting. Pratik Gandhi, who played the role of Harshad Mehta in the series, became an overnight star because of his masterful portrayal of the character on-screen. Other actors in the show such as Shreya Dhanwanthary, Sharib Hashmi, Hemant Kher, Rajat Kapoor, etc. also got a lot of praise for their brilliant performances in the show. The show, over the period of two months, has become the highest-rated show around the world on Imdb with a rating of 9.5.

Topping this list bravely is none other than the brilliant web series, Paatal Lok which was produced by Anushka sharma under her banner, Clean Slatez films. The show tells the story of Hathiram Chaudhary, a cynical and washed-up police inspector whose life turns upside down when he is given a high-profile case. The deeper Hathiram goes into the case, the thicker the conspiracy behind the case gets. The show is considered to be extremely political as it deals with a lot of sensitive issues such as patriarchy, casteism, elitism, Islamophobia, and much more.

But despite all the serious issues that the show tackles, on the surface it still plays out like a brilliant investigative thriller. Written by Sudip Sharma (NH10 ), Hardik Mehta, and two more writers, the show was hugely praised for the way it induces social commentary in an investigative thriller. Paatal Lok is cited by many critics as one of the best Indian web series that is out there for the million things it's able to achieve in its slick running time.