Ajay Devgn, Esha Deol, and Raashi Khanna starrer released on March 4 on Disney+ Hotstar. In and as Rudra, Ajay plays the role of a police officer hunting highly intelligent criminals, making it a psychological thriller to watch.
No Time To Die 007:
The 25th film of the James Bond franchise made its digital premiere on March 4 on Amazon Prime Video. The movie stars Daniel Craig, Lashana Lynch, Rami Malek, Léa Seydoux and Ana de Armas.
The Adam Project:
Netflix Original series starring Ryan Reynolds in the lead and Jennifer Garner, Mark Ruffalo, and Walker Scobell. The story revolves around a man who time travels to his past to take help from his younger self. The show went live on March 11.
Jalsa:
Vidya Balan and Shefali Shah starrer is releasing on March 18 on Amazon Prime Video. The story revolves around a celebrated journalist, her cook, and their conflict. Also starring Manav Kaul and Iqbal Khan.
Bloody Brothers:
Story of two brothers who live contrasting lives unless a tragic accident creates a rift and changes their destinies. The show stars Jaideep Ahlawat and Zeeshan Ayyub in the lead roles, releasing on March 18 on Zee5.
Moon Knight:
Marvel’s mini-series revolves around Marc Spector, a former boxer who gets involved in mysteries connected to Egyptian Gods. Played by Oscar Isaac, the show is all set to release on March 30 on Disney+ Hotstar.
Bridgerton (Season 2):
After a successful season 1, the show is back with yet another season 2 revolving around Lord Anthony Bridgerton, the eldest Bridgerton sibling and Viscount on a journey to find love. Releasing on March 25 on Netflix.
Pieces of Her:
Andy Oliver and Laura Oliver are stuck in a series of events when mother’s dark past comes into the limelight. Making it a thriller watch, the show was released on March 4 on Netflix.
Undekhi (Season 2):
The show is back with its season 2 is crime drama inspired by real-life incidents. Released on March 4 on SonyLIV stars Ram Kapoor, Harsh Chhaya, Dibyendu Bhattacharya, Nandish Sandhu, Ankur Rathee, and Surya Sharma.
Sutliyan:
The show’s storyline revolves around family drama. The unresolved conflicts and emotional baggage from the past returns, taking them on the road to emotional and spiritual cleansing. Sullivan stars Ayesha Raza, Plabita Borthakur Vivaan Shah, and Shiv Pandit, released on March 4 on Zee5.
Netflix’s dark, heavily dramatic, anti-hero lead show YOU recently returned for a third season with a bang, and like the previous two seasons, the third season quickly became one of the most discussed shows on Netflix. The show’s first two seasons featured the relentlessly creepy-stalker Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) and were packed with all the right ingredients required for a psychological thriller, but season 3 brings a new setting to the show.
Yes, season 3 of YOU takes us to an entirely new place called Madre Linda, a fictional town in the California suburb as Joe and his equally bloodthirsty wife Love Quinn (Victoria Pedretti) decide to escape the hustle and bustle of New York and Los Angeles to deliver a better future to their newborn. However, in a nosy suburb, it gets hard for Joe and Love to stay unnoticed by the people, which puts the season’s suspense on the top tier.
In season three, Joe is not operating alone as he used to in the last two seasons. Now, he has a companion to help him with the aftermath of the killing, which shifts the fundamental geometry of how the show works. The stalker-narrated murder drama shows Love to be even more erratic than Joe, keeping up the thrill of the show. The third season features the continuation of Joe’s fraught relationship with Love and, of course, a lot of slayings in the neighbourhood.
The bizarre third season of the show manages to pull us into Joe and Love’s world of hatred, revenge and power politics by crafting an ironic take on a suburban murder mystery. The series has already been renewed for a fourth season as Joe is not satisfied with the love of his life and is going to look for ‘the one’ in the next one. So, until Mr Joe Goldberg shows up again with a new twisted murder story, watch these 5 breathtaking shows to feed your thrilling hunger.
Bates Motel
Platform – Peacock
Seasons – 5
In YOU, Joe Goldberg has created almost the same level of magic as Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960) but with multiple twists, misleads and surprises. The show depicts Joe having a tough life growing up but didn’t converge more on why he turned up as into a psychopath. Meanwhile, Bates Motel, which is based on the storyline of the iconic horror film Psycho, shows how Norman Bates grew up to become a serial killer. The show has a similar theme to YOU, and fans will see shades of Joe’s relationship with his mother in Norman (Freddie Highmore) and Norma’s (Vera Farmiga) connection, where Norman is dealing with constant manipulation that leaves him wanting independence and turns him into a serial killer.
Mindhunter
Platform – Netflix
Seasons – 2
David Fincher is a modern-day master filmmaker of dark, moody and disturbing films. He debuted on an OTT platform with a hit show, House of Cards, the first TV show produced by a studio for Netflix. Later on, he produced and directed a few episodes of a masterpiece called Mindhunter, a show based on a non-fiction crime book titled Mindhunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit. Fans of YOU will enjoy the dark theme, unsettling characters and gripping suspense of Mindhunter that stars Jonathan Groff and Holt McCallany in the lead. The show is set in the 70’s/80’s and revolves around two special agents of the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit who try to get into and understand the brains of notorious serial killers, including Ed Kemper, Charles Manson, and the Son of Sam.
Dexter
Platform – Amazon Prime / Hulu
Seasons – 8
Dexter, one of the oldest crime thriller TV shows, is set to hit screens with a new season, Dexter: New Blood. The celebrated TV series’s titular character, Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall), acts and functions similar to YOU’s charming and brilliant Joe Goldberg. Like Joe, Dexter, too, believes in strategies and planning that always help him stay 10 steps ahead to protect himself and predict the worst. Dexter, who plays the role of a forensic technician by day and serial killer by night in the show, is very much senior to Joe. He has survived eight seasons dodging the law, defending his actions, and even successfully raising a family while still being a murderer. If you love YOU, you’re going to see a massive bit of Joe in every move of Dexter.
Hannibal
Platform – Amazon Prime / Hulu
Seasons – 3
The Silence of the Lambs is probably one of the best psychological horror films made in Hollywood, and its lead character, the cannibalistic serial killer Dr Hannibal Lecter, is the scariest character we’ve ever witnessed in Hollywood movies. Hannibal is an American psychological horror-thriller television series that runs on NBC, and its lead, Dr Hannibal Lecter, has an ability to fool everyone around him, very relevant to Joe Goldberg. The NBC series focuses on the complex but emotional relationship between the brilliant psychiatrist Dr Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) and the FBI criminal profiler and hunter of serial killers, Will Graham (Hugh Dancy). Together they trace complex serial killers by thinking like a serial killer, but Hannibal has something mysterious that Will is unaware of.
Killing Eve
Platform – Hulu
Seasons – 3
We have seen women playing the role of a psychopath in very few Hollywood films, but when they did, they did it with full passion. Kathy Bates and Charlize Theron won the Academy Award for Best Actress by playing the roles of a psychopath in Misery (1990) and Monster (2003), respectively. The Emmy award-winning spy series, Killing Eve, is one such show that depicts similarities with Joe Goldberg’s YOU. The British spy thriller follows a wild game of cat and mouse between psychopathic assassin Villanelle (Jodie Comer) and badass British intelligence investigating officer Eve Polastri (Sandra Oh). The 3-season Hulu series is binge-worthy and will remind Joe’s obsessive love-hate relationship throughout YOU.
When it comes to the video and audio streaming fields, only two names gather out from our brains: Netflix and Spotify. Though they have various rivals in their respective fields, still these two always stand apart. Yesterday, Spotify announced that it is collaborating with Netflix to launch a dedicated Netflix hub that will serve as a one-stop-shop for all Netflix-related media, some of which is exclusive to Spotify.
On the hub, free and premium listeners from the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Ireland, and India can access the media content, which includes official soundtracks and playlists from Netflix shows and movies, including popular shows such as Stranger Things, La Casa De Papel, Narcos: Mexico, Squid Game, Bridgerton, Virgin River, and Andrew Garfield’s recently released movie Tick, Tick… Boom!.
The dedicated Spotify-Netflix hub also includes Netflix-tied podcasts, like Okay, Now Listen, Netflix Is A Daily Joke, 10/10 Would Recommend, You Can’t Make This Up. It also has enhanced albums for select titles, such as the new film ‘The Harder They Fall’, where along with the soundtrack, users can access a behind-the-scenes look of the soundtrack creation led by Jay-Z.
The exclusive content of the hub is accessible from the mobile as well as the web version of the service. All you have to do is search “Netflix” in the Spotify app, and you’ll be able to enjoy exclusive content. In addition, Spotify has refreshed a content destination in honour of the “La Casa De Papel (Money Heist),” Part 5 Volume 2, where fans can play a game of which character they’re from La Casa De Papel.
The Netflix hub is very much similar to what Spotify created for Disney a few years ago, which also features soundtracks, playlists, and podcasts surrounding the various Disney media. Spotify recently rolled out its real-time lyrics feature globally, which was introduced in 26 markets last year, including India. The Netflix-Spotify collaboration may further enhance the competition with Apple as they plan to roll out more exclusive content to the Netflix Hub in the coming months.
Netflix has an extensive video library and it sometimes leaves the user perplexed about what to watch. We always end up browsing for much longer than we actually watch. To solve this issue, Netflix has rolled out new features on its Android app to make the video streaming experience more comfortable and help decide users what to watch.
Netflix has announced an update for its Android app that will bring the Play Something and Fast Laughs feature. The former would assist customers who are having trouble deciding which movie or TV series to watch. The other feature called Fast Laugh works similarly to TikTok and in Netflix, it plays a random reel of humorous clips and displays the clip in a full-screen vertical format.
The ‘Fast Laughs’ feature is new to Android, but it has been accessible on iOS since March of this year; whereas the ‘Play Something’ feature, is exclusively available for Android users, while iOS users will have to wait for it.
Play Something Feature
Play Something feature will be accessible via a new button on the home screen and will function similarly to shuffle play. The shuffle button will be located directly above the menu bar in the bottom right corner of the screen. The user can click the shuffle play button to receive recommendations for what to watch.
As soon as the user presses the ‘‘Play Something’’ button, Netflix presents them with a series or film depending on what they’ve previously watched. By clicking the button once more, you can get a brand new series or film, an unfinished movie or series you might want to return, or a series or film you’re already watching.
Through this feature, Netflix will handle your watching list and recommend you all the new films and series.
Fast Laughs Feature
‘Fast Laughs’ will function similar to TikTok in the Netflix app. It will play a random reel of humorous clips and display that clip in a full-screen vertical format. Along with Home, Coming Soon, and Downloads, Netflix has introduced a new option called ‘Fast Laughs’ to the menu bar.
Users will be able to share and react to the clips shown in ‘Fast Laughs’, as well as play the entire movie or series immediately from the widget and add it to their watch list.
A few days back, we covered an article on the best Netflix shows you can watch to chill on your weekends. People do not get enough of the shows that they can enjoy to either kill their boredom or watch it with their friends and loved ones.
We are stuck in the age of binge-watching now more than ever. When you run out of shows on one platform, a list of another set of shows should be ready before you in order to not break the binge. Today, we are covering the five best Amazon Prime series that you should definitely give a watch if you haven’t already.
Mirzapur
Also referred to as AmazonPrime’s strong response to Netflix’s Sacred Games, Mirzapur has all the essential elements of a perfect crime thriller.
Though it is not an unknown fact that Mirzapur is arguably the best crime series that has been produced to date, I still included this series in my list since not everyone has given it a watch.
The show revolves around Kaleen Bhaiya, played by Pankaj Tripathi, who binds other multiple characters in the town of Mirzapur who have somewhat similar ambitions to command the city.
The beauty of this show lies in how the director manages to run parallelly multiple plots while coming up with occasional twists.
Laakhon Me Ek
This show has been written and directed by Biswa Kalyan Rath who brings us a gem of an Indian series focusing on the topic of parental pressure in choosing a profession that the child doesn’t likely want to pursue.
The show has two disconnected seasons played by two separate characters. Season one is about Aakash Gupta, played by Ritwik Sahore, who aspires to be an online content creator but faces resistance from his father who wants him to pursue Engineering.
This show goes deep into the hearts of millions of students who face somewhat similar situations sooner or later in their lives.
Invincible
Invincible is a superhero comedy based on a comic book of the same name written by Robert Kirkman, who is also the co-creator of The Walking Dead comic.
After Mark’s 17th birthday, he starts to develop his own powers – but his father is there to help him learn how to handle them. The ensemble voice cast also includes Sandra Oh, Mark Hamill, and Seth Rogen.
You can watch this on some days who want to watch some light comedy-superhero classic.
Paatal Lok
Paatal Lok is a crime suspense thriller show by MAazon Prime starring Jaideep Ahlawat in the lead role. This is a series about just another Delhi police inspector Hathiram Choudhary.
He stumbles upon a high profile case by accident, but as he uncovers the case, he gets to know the dark secrets of really powerful people. This is definitely a must-watch and has been rated quite highly and has also been praised by critics.
The Boys
The show is about the supervillains, or at least, villains who think of themselves as heroes. The Boys is set in a world where superheroes are revered as celebrities and work for a giant corporation, but outside of saving the world, most are abusing their powers and are pretty bad people.
The weekend is here, again! It is time to let go of all the worries that surround you throughout the week, either from work or college. There is no better way to relax than Netflix and chill.
You must be a big fan of Netflix, and you are probably thinking that the king has consumed all the content. But there is always something more interesting to look forward to on Netflix.
Today, we are going to save you from the needless Netflix scroll, to get to that ‘one series you might be interested in watching. Here are some of the best documentaries that you can watch on Netflix this weekend.
The Staircase
If you are a fan of Murder Mystery, then this one is for you. Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker, Jean-Xavier de Lestrade, presents a gripping courtroom thriller, offering a rare and revealing inside look at a high-profile murder trial.
It involves a high profile murder trial of American novelist Michael Peterson following the death of his wife in 2001.
Who Killed Little Gregory
Who Killed Little Gregory is a documentary focused on the horrific murder of a 4-year old Gregory Villemin. A young couple fights a twisting and arduous battle trying to identify a frustratingly elusive killer of their son. It is arguably the best true crime documentary on Netflix and holds the potential to get 10/10.
This Is A Robbery
On 18, 1990, 13 works of art were stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. Two men posing as police officers admitted themselves in the museum while responding to a disturbance call, tied the guards up and looted the place. A four-part robbery series is as Netflix as it gets.
Making A Murderer
Exonerated after spending nearly two decades in prison for a crime he did not commit, Steven Avery filed suit against Manitowoc County, Wis., and several individuals involved with his arrest. Making a Murderer is a real original that paved a way for many other documentaries in style and template.
Americal Murder: The Family Next Door
In a heartbreaking series of events, a 34-year-old Shanann Watts and her two young daughters disappear in Colorado in 2018. Soon after a few details emerged, the family story made headlines around the world. The access to footage is staggering and it’s edited and produced in a unique way, using text messages and social media posts to tell the story.
Netflix is rolling out Spatial audio compatibility for its iOS and iPad apps. The news broke on Reddit and was later confirmed by 9to5Mac with a Netflix spokesperson.
Netflix was first reported to be testing Spatial Audio support for its iOS apps back in January. Since it appears to be a slow rollout, you might have to wait a couple of days to see the feature in your Netflix app. Though, it is not going for everyone – you need to have an iPhone 7 or later or the latest iPad with iOS 14, as well as Apple’s AirPods Pro or AirPods Max.
For those who are unaware of what Spatial Audio is, it is Apple’s fancy term for surround sound. It also has the added feature of dynamic head tracking. If you turn this feature on, you’ll hear sound coming from all sides, to provide a more immersive experience.
In some instances, it causes the sound field to stay fixed to your source device. This means that if you turn your head, the sound will still appear to come from your source device. It makes you feel as if you are listening to a surround sound setup in a room.
Users can turn on or off Spatial Audio functionality via a toggle in the Control Center. Since the update will be rolled out in phases, users are advised to check for the update on a regular basis.
Apple launched Spatial audio in May at the WWDC event. It also launched Lossless Audio and Dolby Atmos Support alongside for all the Apple Music subscribers free of charge.
Netflix currently has four plans, the cheapest of which is the Mobile-only plan that costs you Rs 199 per month. The Basic plan will cost you Rs 499 per month.
People might forget the Prime Minister’s name in a few years, but they’ll never forget Netflix; it makes such a vast impact on society today. Netflix is absolutely dominating the streaming video market with 150 million subscribers (and counting) across 190 countries. With that, the day is not far when Netflix will bundle up the TV industry and cable services, but there was a time when even Netflix struggled to get recognition.
How Netflix Got Started?
Netflix began as the world’s first online DVD-rental store in 1997 when almost half of their current subscribers were about to land on the planet. The founder duo, Marc Randolph and Reed Hastings, started the business with only 30 employees and 925 available titles. At first, Netflix used to deliver film DVD’s to its customers by mail and customers used to return them the same way.
The company set similar prices and due dates for rental to compete with the established Blockbuster video rental business. After struggling in the initial years, Netflix reached around 5.6 million subscriptions during the end of 2006 and decided to seize the benefits from the then developing higher-bandwidth internet by launching online video streaming in 2007 alongside its dominant DVD-by-mail option.
2011 marked a significant year for Netflix as the streaming service reached over 23 million subscribers in the United States by April 2011 and branched out to the international market of Latin America. Looking forward to the success in July 2011, Netflix changed its prices, charging customers for its mail rental service and streaming service separately. Later on, in the next couple of years, Netflix moved further and launched itself worldwide except for a select few countries.
Introduction of Video-on-demand Service:
Netflix delivered its billionth DVD in February 2007 and commenced to move away from its core business model of DVDs by introducing Video-on-demand via the internet. These were the times when internet broadband service providers came up with affordable plans for the customers, and personal computers got powerful enough to stream online and download movies from the net.
Netflix’s Video-on-demand service, formerly branded as Watch Now, allowed its subscribers to stream television series and films whenever they want, wherever they want, via the Netflix website on personal computers or the Netflix software on multiple supported platforms like smartphones, tablets, digital media players, and smart TVs, without even being attached to the schedule.
Netflix Originals:
A Netflix Originals is a type of content produced, co-produced, or distributed by Netflix exclusively on its services. Netflix offered creators a new approach of making by providing the money upfront and immediately ordering two seasons of most series by introducing Netflix Original in 2013 when several other known studios and producers were used to fund and sign projects based on pilot episodes, a brave and expensive proposition. The decision creates its impact as most big-budget and talked-about new series evolved out on Netflix instead of other established networks, including House of Cards, Hemlock Grove, and Orange Is the New Black.
Netflix continued to dramatically expand its original content by introducing scripted and unscripted categories. They added TV series, shows, and films in the scripted category, while documentaries, reality shows, and award shows were unscripted. After the tremendous success of regional content in the English language, Netflix ventured out and started producing series and films in Non-English languages.
Most Watched Netflix Original Series:
The Witcher, Season 1 – 76 Million
Lupin – 70 Million
Money Heist, Season 4 – 65 Million
Stranger Things, Season 3 – 64 Million
Tiger King – 64 Million
Netflix India:
Netflix arrived in India in January 2016, almost at the same time when Eros Now and HotStar introduced a Video-on-demand service in India. Crime thriller Sacred Games, directed by filmmaker Vikramaditya Motwane, was Netflix’s first big global success coming out of India and with the Delhi Crime winning precious Emmy award added a much-awaited dove feather on its cap.
Top Indian Shows on Netflix:
Sacred Games
Delhi Crime
Selection Day
Bard Of Blood
Jamtara – Sabka Number Ayega
The Playback Feature:
On November 30, 2016, Netflix introduced an offline playback feature, enabling users of the Netflix mobile apps on Android or iOS to watch content on their devices in standard or high quality for viewing without an Internet connection. Also, Netflix lets people choose the speed they want to watch something on their phone or tablet with new playback controls where they can stream at either 0.5x or 0.75x speeds for slowed-down viewing and 1.25x or 1.5x speeds for faster watching. The feature was originally available on limited series and films, but Netflix said that the feature would support more content over time.
The Binge-watching Concept:
Netflix has developed clever tricks to engage viewers and keep them on the platform, and binge-watching was one of them. The company started uploading entire seasons of popular TV series at once, creating the binge-watching trend, in contrast to broadcast and cable TV’s once-a-week telecast schedule. The concept helps Netflix keep people hooked until the end, resulting in encouraging creators to make good content.
Least cost-effective library of Netflix: Switzerland, with Standard subscription charges of $0.00218 per title and a library size that barely cracks 4,000 titles.
Most cost-effective library of Netflix: Argentina, with Standard subscription charges $0.00039 per title.
Valuation:
Netflix began as a DVD-by-mail rental service, but after a decade, its DVD revenue and membership have dipped as more customers switch to their Video-on-demand services. As of 2020, the company secured over $800 million from DVD sales and rentals, with over 2 million patrons still signed up solely for the DVD service.
Netflix is fortunate that many of its original shows have been a hit with consumers across the globe. Netflix’s ever-growing global subscriber base has heavily impacted its revenue, and it is growing into huge numbers. Netflix has also significantly increased its licensed and produced content assets since 2016. The company’s annual revenue in 2016 was $8.83 billion, and it rose about 180% in 2020 as Netflix totaled almost $25 billion in revenue in 2020. As of January 2021, Netflix is worth over $247 billion.
Debt:
Netflix borrowed over $16 billion in less than a decade to fulfil its giant appetite for content. The company still has $10 billion to $15 billion in debt, but it now earned enough income to pay back those loans while maintaining its huge content budget. Netflix took a massive hit in the furrow of the coronavirus pandemic as it fueled a surge in streaming services and reached a financial milestone, and it may no longer need to borrow money.
Key People:
Reed Hastings: Co-founder, Chairman and Co-CEO
Marc Randolph: Co-founder and former CEO
Ted Sarandos: Co-CEO and CCO
Greg Peters: COO and CPO
Did You Know?
Netflix was one of the first streaming services available as an app on different devices like Xbox 360, TV set-top boxes, PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, iPad, iPhones, etc.
Netflix offers content in more than 60 languages, for 19% of all worldwide online video subscriptions.
Netflix has received over 480 awards for its original content, including 15 Academy Awards and 89 Emmy awards.
Netflix has created over 1,500 original titles since it started offering original content in 2013.
In 2017, a Netflix Subscriber watched the movie Madagascar 3 for 352 times, almost like watching the same movie every day the entire year.
In the first half of 2019, Netflix generated the most internet traffic, which accounted for 12.9%.
Netflix designed a unique sock that detects when you fall asleep, and it will pause your show so that you don’t miss out on any part of it.
Netflix 2021 & Further:
Netflix already has a substantial global subscriber base. The company clinched March 2021 with an astounding 203 million worldwide paid subscribers. However, still, there have been thousands of people doubting the streaming giant’s ability to survive and thrive amid new streaming services providers, such as Amazon Prime, Disney+ Hotstar and Apple TV. Definitely, the competition is tough, but in current times, there is no other streaming Video-on-demand service that has anywhere near Netflix’s $15 billion content budget to pose a severe threat.
