So you wanna watch something…
Ajeeb Daastaans: This anthology series—from KJo’s Dharma Productions—has a stellar cast of women actors: Konkona Sen Sharma, Aditi Rao Hydari, Nushrat Bharucha. Going by the trailer, it looks similar to ‘Lust Stories’. The official description: “A twisted tale of lovers, a struggle for daily life, a calculated friendship and a journey to find solace... the film explores jealousy, entitlement, prejudices and toxicity.” It drops on Netflix today.
Raat Baaki Hai: This whodunit has lots of potential. Here’s a synopsis of the plot: “Kartik (Anup Soni) walks in on his fiancé’s murdered corpse at a party. He goes on the run, chased by a cop, Rajesh Ahlawat (Rahul Dev), and ends up reuniting with an old lover, Vasuki (Paoli Dam)—who may have an agenda of her own.” So yeah, could be awesome or total shite. You can watch it on Zee5.
Why Are You Like This? This is a buddy series about three friends in their 20s in Melbourne. Think a very dysfunctional Gen Z version of ‘Friends’—and with a lot more interesting characters, including a bisexual South Asian, her straight and white bestie, and a still-exploring-sexuality ‘baby’ drag queen. The show’s tagline: the divisive sociopolitical hellscape that is 2021.” The Guardian has more on the show and its creators. It’s already streaming on Netflix.
A list of good reads
- Quint has a lovely piece on young Bahujan artists using social media to challenge casteism, and reclaim their identity.
- If you aren’t a Bill Gates fan, The New Republic has the perfect long read for you titled ‘How Bill Gates Impeded Global Access to Covid Vaccines’.
- Is Jon Stewart relevant any more? That’s the question Vice explores in the context of his upcoming show ‘The Problem with Jon Stewart’.
- It’s official! We’re going back to the 90s. Vox discusses the return of the low-rise, while Quartz mulls the resurrection of the wide leg jeans. Yes, skinny jeans are out.
- The Guardian looks at how big tech is weaponizing design patents.
- Perfect weekend browse: The big New York Times interactive collection that celebrates friendship.
- One of the best sports writers in the biz, Sharda Ugra, looks at how Ahmedabad has emerged as the epicenter of Indian cricket—and why it’s not good news. For example: pushing all matches to the Narendra Modi stadium where “the orange wall made the sighting of the pink ball difficult in natural light for fielders, but who cares”.
- This BloombergQuint on tiger poaching is both a heartbreaking and necessary read.
- We highly recommend activist Khalid Saifi’s letter titled ‘The Story of a Rose’—written from prison.
- We learned a lot from this Twitter thread debunking myths surrounding the ‘ancient’ tradition of Ayurveda.
