'Pitchers' a show that looks at the lives and fortunes of four budding entrepreneurs — CEO Naveen (Naveen Kasturia), coder Jitu (Jitendra Kumar), marketing man Saurabh Mandal (Abhay Mahajan), and Yogendra Pandey aka Yogi. Over the course of five episodes, each approximately 40 minutes long (barring the finale, which clocks in at 56 minutes), we are thrust into an engaging story of four twenty-somethings in Mumbai who are navigating the start-up world for the first time ever. Naveen, Jitu, Yogi and Mandal have high-paying jobs. What they also have is an idea, a dream to start their own company, to be masters of their will instead of being slaves for their employers. And it all begins at a bar when Naveen, whose brainchild the idea for the startup is, gets drunk and is inspired by the words of his senior and mentor Bhati, an entrepreneur. “Tu beer hai,” Bhati tells him, “aur teri company, bottle.”
That’s when Naveen decides to pop out of the bottle and quit his job to work towards his dream. His friends, who trust him blindly, quit their jobs without batting an eye and follow Naveen into the unknown.
The five episodes of season one follow the four friends through their struggles, from soaring baby corn prices to rejections from investors to fund their startup.
The show is brilliantly written and acted. The casting, done by a fellow TVF member Nidhi Bisht, works well as the four friends seem very real and raw. It’ll be unfair to categorise Pitchers as a buddy-comedy. Of course it's funny and is about friends. It’s very intelligent yet never comes off as pretentious. It never overdoes the buddy-comedy thing and avoids cliches.
A must watch, Pitchers, simply put, is miles ahead of the curve.

'The Good Vibes' is a well-made web series and it keeps the audience engaged. The quirky characters add the much-needed spice to the proceedings and make for a good viewing. Naveen Kasturia and Manvi Gagroo, both perform well and show off the quirkiness in a heart-warming manner. Naveen Kasturia and Manvi Gagroo play a young, married couple who are much in love but have their own set of first world problems. Naveen plays the out-of-work husband and Manvi plays the wife who’s quite happy with her married and professional life as well.
The first episode introduces most of the characters and firmly sets in place the pace of the web series – which is a fresh, engaging one. The screenplay is fast enough and doesn’t allow the viewers to linger on – because the main couple are vine-jumping from one issue of their life to another. The basic concept of a newly married couple who are partying every day, even though it is just about beginning to create problems for them is new and could have been handled in any manner – but the director handles well, making it a slice-of-life thing instead of a philosophical take on modern lifestyles. Some might feel that the alcohol arc a bit forced, but it is integral to the basic premise of the series.The performances are good. The series is unique in its concept and the overall performance is great so far. It will be exciting to see what happens next.

Gangstars, created by Nandini Reddy, is a quirky comedy set against the backdrop of the Telugu film industry where a chaotic work environment on the sets of a film lands its lead characters in a big mess. The series is about KD - Kumar Das - a notorious gangster (Jagapathi Babu), who will do anything to recover his money from people who owe him. One day, he’s told that he might die soon due to cancer and his world turns topsy-turvy all of a sudden. Since he has amassed a lot of wealth, he’s advised to invest in a movie to turn his black money into white. And this decision intertwines his life with four other principal characters of the show - Ajay (Siddhu Jonnalagadda); Keerthi (Apoorva Arora); Vishwa (Navdeep); and Aishwarya (Shweta Basu Prasad). Gangstars offers some genuine laugh out loud moments as long as it doesn’t take itself too seriously. Among others, there’s Varun Sastry (Mirchi Sastry), a prototype of every filmmaker who wants to be in the good books of the lead cast. Rahul Ramakrishna is one of the primary reasons why Gangstars works, to an extent, and the actor, who shot to fame with Arjun Reddy, brings his verve to the forefront once again. There’s a memorable scene where he recites a few dialogues along with Aishwarya (Shweta Basu Prasad), who loses her cool instantly. If that doesn’t make you chuckle, then there’s very little else that the series offers to make you invest in the characters. The problem is that there’s very little in Gangstars which does justice to what it sets out to achieve. Initially, it begins as a story of KD and his quest to reform himself; and all of a sudden, it becomes a story of Vishwa and Aishwarya’s turbulent relationship, while Ajay and Keerthi grapple with their own feelings for each other. There’s very little backstory to each of the characters and even when the series offers an insight into how much their lives have changed, it doesn’t stay with you. It feels like there are multiple storylines and themes all vying for the same space. In the end, Gangstars feels like a missed opportunity to create something unique and charming.

The Trip is a story of four girlfriends who decide to take a road trip from India to Thailand for one of the girl’s bachelorette party. Like all bachelorette stories, this one, too, has some reckless decisions, a touching drama and lots of fun. Ananya is about to get married and seems all happy but has a hidden truth that is bothering her, Sanjana is disciplined and introverted and because of her troubled past, she is unable to feel free, Nazia is the boldest of them all and is unapologetically herself, Shonali is the dreamer, an amateur music composer and is still finding her sound. We find ourselves in at least one of these girls and relate to the foursome. Along with their trip, they have a few misadventures, some realizations and they eventually come closer together. The story takes interesting turns along the way and has a way of keeping the audience hooked until the very end. The cinematographer has done a commendable job and has captured the beauty of India and Thailand beautifully throughout the web series. The production value of is incredibly high for a web series. The Trip web series has a star-studded cast. All the actors have portrayed their characters wonderfully. We see a stark difference between all the four main characters, each with its own personality traits and quirks. The background score is refreshing and catchy adding more points to the credibility of the series. It is the perfect combination of laughter and tears.
Watch how the trip ends in personal change and realizations in each one of them and how it helps them as grow as an individual.

Kaafir is a complex, layered drama, brimming with emotions and passions – passion for the motherland, passion for beliefs, and passion for what it means to be human. It is also a tale where serendipity, fate, Karma, call it what you will, steers the plot through the elaborate twists, turns and tumbles that the narrative embarks upon.
Kaafir is the story of Kainaaz Akhtar (Dia Mirza), a Pakistani woman who is forsaken by her lout of a husband for being infertile. A cruel twist of fate lands her in the Indian side of Kashmir and into the hands of the Indian Army who, assuming her to be a militant, banishes her to jail. It also deals with the story of Sehar (Dishita Jain), Kainaaz’s sweet, innocent six-year-old daughter, who’s born in a Kashmiri jail, and is the product of the most heinous crime against a woman. The birth of Sehar is a bitter irony for Kainaaz – it proves that she’s not infertile after all. Then comes the story of Vedant Rathod, a lawyer with lofty ideals. He believes in the finer values of being human – kindness, compassion, and more significantly, the basic goodness of the human race. Certain scenes are truly remarkable.
Mohit Raina has put in an absolutely outstanding performance. His placid, penetrating eyes, combined with an intensely creased forehead, serve to convey emotions that would be out of bounds for a lesser actor.
Dia Mirza dazzles splendidly in the role of Kainaaz. Her mild expressions manage to mask the turmoil within. But her eyes convey everything that words do not– anxiety, for Sehar’s well-being; longing, when she looks at the open sky from within the confines of the jail; betrayal, censure, and contempt, when she looks at her rapist with eyes fiery enough to burn a hole through his being.
Kaafir is a gripping story that could have done with a tighter script and quicker pace. Kaafir is definitely an impressive series to watch and savour, whenever you feel the need to indulge in great content.

The web series is about a young man who seems to have it all – a good job, a good job in Mumbai and a comfortable lifestyle. However, as we delve into his life, we see that all’s not what it seems. Kumar Varun is the titular character, Buddhaditya Das, who’s working as a sales manager for boss who’s all fire and brimstone. Every interaction with him leads to Buddha trying to resign, but it all crumbles down when Buddha’s reminded of his EMIs and other loans. However, he vents out to his office colleagues, who sympathize with him, but only give him an earful about whatever he’s going through. That’s not all, his personal life is in doldrums as well. His girlfriend dumps him, his car gets towed and his parasite of a room mate doesn’t even leave him food at the end of the day. That’s what we got to know in the first episode, and we are sure the story will only begin unravelling as we go further.
Kumar Varun is doing a good job of playing a character who’s committedly frustrated because what’s going on in his personal as well as his professional life. Naveen Kaushik, who plays the boss from hell does a good job, and his character could be an integral one for the storyline.
Overall this web series is worth watching.

'Babbar Ka Tabbar' is a humorous family drama. The plot addresses the generation gap between the youth of today and the parents in a fun and quirky manner. This is a 12-episode series and is shot in Delhi. The story shows the lives of a father who is trying too hard to be cool, an over-protective mom, an overconfident daughter, a socially awkward son and a good-for-nothing paying guest. The series is such that it is sure to take you on a roller coaster of fun and jokes.
The portrayal of two different generations and their differences is shown in a light-hearted manner. The timing of the punches and jokes in the script is perfect. The performances by all the actors is up to the mark. The concept and script of the story is such that every parent as well as child will be able to relate to it.
This is the perfect series to watch with your parents or children on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

'Mind The Malhotras', Applause’s latest, is a zany, rollickingly funny take on the travails of an about- to-hit-forty couple that is going through a mid-life crisis. Adapted from the Israeli series, ‘La Familigia’, the 9-episode series has been written by Sahil Sangha and Karan Sharma, while it has been directed by Sangha and Ajay Bhuyan and the series streams on Amazon Prime.
Shefali and Rishabh Malhotra (Mini Mathur and Cyrus Sahukar, respectively) are a relatively rich Bandra couple, bickering, bantering and winging their way through life. The parents of two teenaged girls and a precocious little son are more or less happy with their stock in life, but exasperated with the increasingly crumbling marriages around them. Four out of five couples among their friends have opted for divorce and they fear they could be next. They decide to go in for marriage counselling. Whether they actually need it or not is beside the point. In the crazy, comic world they inhabit, it’s better to be safe than sorry. Light-hearted, breezy and gently refreshing, the series gets one into a great mood even when one is screaming blue murder.
Shefali could so easily have turned into a character that is screechy and shrewish, but Mini Mathur’s understated and measured performance lends subtleness and style to her role. It is a commendable web and acting debut from Mathur, who’s been a consummate VJ and host until now.
Cyrus Sahukar, of course, is outstanding. His acting, sloshed with hidden nuances and chutzpah, and his screen presence, amazing and attention-grabbing, help getting us invested into his harried, henpecked husband act.
I admit that the first few episodes veered toward monotony, but the series gathers steam in the next several episodes, and becomes decidedly funnier and crazier as it moves forward. Watch it asap.

Set in Hyderabad, the 13-episode series is a story about four diverse individuals who come together to solve the mystery of a missing girl. The show hopes to make people aware of the reality of cyber crimes and how the internet can also become a saviour. Directed by Shashi Sudigala, the series also features Naveen Kasturia, Priya Banerjee, Aradhana Uppal, Abdul Razzaq, Moin Khan and Preeti Asrani in key roles.
Presented by Rana Daggubati, this bilingual fiction digital series is being shot in Hindi and Telugu simultaneously. It’s great to see stars like Rana Daggubati encouraging digital platforms and making content only for that, while also starring in it. Social has an interesting story to boast of – a mystery thriller that also highlights the dark side of technology. But like what Rana’s character says at the beginning of the first episode, it’s not the technology, but the humans who are responsible for bringing out its dark side. The suspense works throughout the episodes, and we are really curious to know as to what happened to Veda. There are also some social judgments thrown inbetween. The scene where Prithvi hacks into the police website is also interesting. All the main leads are quite adept in their roles.
On a final note, if you are watching Social for Rana then you might be disappointed for the show is not centred around his character and neither is he the protagonist. He is there in it for sure, but not as much as you want him to be.
When it comes to suspense-building, Social has all the right ingredients for a really good mystery show and can hook you with its plot. Also don’t expect too much of Mr Daggubati in there!

'Memories' has Rohit Roy playing Manav Malhotra, the head of a TV News channel, who gets supernatural powers after he survives a car accident. Basically, he can access the memories of a dead person by touching them. Rohit is just coming to terms with this power, even as he helps his police officer buddy to solve cases. But, he is then embroiled in a high-profile murder case that’s too close to his own life.
Indian sci-fi series are few and far between, and they have achieved a cult status. Sc-fi series need two things to work. One, a cool supernatural power and two, something that makes the audience invest in the characters. While the cool supernatural power exists, there’s little for the audience to invest in the character –the car crash that the protagonist survives is shown off-screen. Krishna Bhatt directs the series well and the young director has a good sensibility for the emotional scenes.
The performances are good, with Rohit Roy doing a good job of playing Manav. The strong script gives him a platform to put up a decent performance and he rises to the occasion. The supporting cast also does its job well.
Viewers will enjoy a beautifully woven romance amidst the thrill and twists that the show will bring along. Rohit’s character is a well match of his behavioral pattern onscreen. His glasses, suits, all add heft to the maturity of the character and the seriousness of the situation.
The web series is popular to be psychological thriller which keeps its viewers hooked to their chair.