So you want to watch something...
White Tiger: The much awaited cinematic adaptation of Aravind Adiga’s Booker prize winner ‘White Tiger’ is here! Much as Adiga’s novel, it’s a scorching takedown of privilege—and the” desperate aspirational cunning and survival-struggle” of those at the bottom—in a deeply hierarchical society like India. The hero is played by Adarsh Gourav, but the boldface names include Priyanka Chopra and Rajkummar Rao. It drops on Netflix today. You can read advance reviews by Associated Press, Guardian and New York Times.
Flack: Anna Paquin is a star publicity rep whose main job is to keep her out-of-control celebrity clients out of trouble—even as she deals with a seriously messed up personal life. Reviews aren’t exactly glowing (here, here and here), but it could be a perfectly respectable turn-your-brain-off watch. You can check it out on Amazon Prime.
Riverdale Season 5: Ok so hardcore fans likely already know: this one ties up loose ends from the last season, and then fast forwards to seven years later. Also: Veronica ends up with neither Reggie nor Archie a "controlling and jealous husband who works on Wall Street. An Alpha dog, Chad is threatened by Veronica’s life in Riverdale, especially her friendship with Archie." Cosmopolitan has everything you need to know before you start to binge-watch! The first episode was out on Netflix on Thursday.
Call My Agent: Set in a talent agency in Paris, the French TV series offers a refreshing break from the same-old, same-old dysfunction of Hollywood-focused shenanigans. Four agents manage the biggest stars playing themselves—think Monica Belluci, Gerard Depardieu, Juliette Binoche—even as they flail at their often hilariously complicated professional and personal lives. It’s funny, self-deprecating, and human without ever veering into sentimental. The final season is already on Netflix, and features Sigourney Weaver, Jean Reno, José Garcia, and Charlotte Gainsbourg. Check out The Guardian for an overall review! Available on Netflix.
A list of good reads
- Conversation tells you why your parents hate your music. Yes, there is a scientific reason for that.
- We Indian women spend way too time straightening our lovely hair. Bustle has eight haircuts for curly hair from celebrity hair stylists so you can just say no to the flat iron!
- A very fun read: Samantha Irby’s ‘Wow, No Thank You’ about the horrors of making friends as an adult in The Cut.
- Snigdha Poonam in The Atlantic pens a brilliant read on the true pandemic effect: the booming fake job economy in India: “One sector has withstood the onslaught: the fake-jobs economy, a vicious wheel of desperation in which each human spoke—from those who make the calls offering nonexistent work, to those whose identities are stolen, to those who are bilked of their savings—is a tale of hardship.”
- Nate Hopper in The New Yorker answers everyone’s burning question: Why do you sound so weird on Zoom or Google Meet?
- Vox has a brilliant take on our obsession with Ben Affleck’s misery—which says more about us than his disastrous love life.
- What is good luck? Psyche offers an intriguing answer that has less to do with the alignment of the planets than that of your mind.
- Mint explains how to identify a fake message from your bank.
- Rohit Brijnath in Mint Lounge offers a gorgeous ode to the pleasures of test cricket.
- GQ explains why hair transplants actually look very good thanks to new technology.