With the advent of OTT platforms in India, the Indian audience bid adieu to the ‘saas-bahu drama’ on television. Myriad shows, dedicated to the OTT audience, have been released for the past few years, especially during the coronavirus pandemic.
The audience got the substance and relatability they needed in the content they consumed and were freed from stereotypical and regressive content served on Hindi channels.
Production houses released web shows and films on OTT platforms every week which is overwhelming for the audience. There are shows that created a hullabaloo among fans with their first part and on the flip side, there are shows that fizzled out after their first episode. And there are also shows with out-of-the-box marketing on social media but didn’t turn out to be worth the hype.
With the N-number of OTT platforms around, it was natural that there would be N-number of shows. If you are a sucker for Indian web shows, you might have friends who can’t stop talking about a particular show and made you binge-watch it but you were disappointed! This article is for you poor souls who end up choosing overrated shows going by social media trends.
5 overrated Indian shows to flee from
Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives
Nepotism has many negative sides but Karan Johar took the cliche and turned it upside down. He featured his four best buddies Seema Kiran Sajdeh, Neelam Kothari, Bhavana Pandey, and Maheep Kapoor and doled out a 21st-century favour to them by helping them retain their long-lost fame or the fame their husbands never enjoyed.
Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives is like a drunk mistake everyone regrets the next morning. And they had the audacity to come up with a second season? Why? Why was this series even made? Netflix! Why so tasteless?
Modern Love Mumbai
Bankrolled by Pritish Nandy, this Amazon Prime Video series brings you six stories of human connection. The six-story series has been directed by Shonali Bose, Hansal Mehta, Alankrita Shrivastava, Vishal Bhardwaj, Nupur Asthana, and Dhruv Sehgal.
Inspired by Modern Love by John Carney, Modern Love Mumbai has beautiful stories but what’s new. Similar themes and content have been seen in Lust Stories and Made in Heaven and films like Kapoor And Sons and Tamasha. Six stories dealing with people’s complexities and finding love and connection are monotonous and can be seen in every other OTT series. Yawn!
Four More Shots Please!
Starring Bani J, Sayani Gupta, Kirti Kulhari, and Maanvi Gagroo in the lead, Four More Shots Please is an utter waste of time. It’s a weak-ass watered-down version of Sarah Jessica Parker’s Sex And The City. The acting, plot, and dialogues seem to be written by the scriptwriter under extreme duress, such as at gunpoint. And the drama in the show will remind you of the much-criticised portrayal of feminism in Rhea Kapoor’s film Veerey Di Wedding.
Little Things
Starring Mithila Palkar and Dhruv Sehgal, Little Things has very little substance. Same old mundane urban relationship and cohabitation scuffle. The show is popular among the young, but again the story is as stale as a week-old loaf of bread. Palkar has already appeared in similar content produced by Filter Copy and TVF. Moreover, the makers came up with sequels which kind of pulverised the little substance the show had into nothing.
Aarya
The crime-thriller might have changed Sushmit Sen’s life for good but the show is just another casual watch on Hotstar. With shows like Criminal Justice, Made In Heaven, The Great Indian Murder, et al, Aarya is like a showpiece in your living room, gathering dust and no one caring to clean it. The only watchable thing about Aarya is Sen who returned to the screen after years of hiatus.
Sunny Deol’s Border 2 continues its impressive run at the domestic box office, edging closer to the Rs 300 crore mark by the end of its second week. The war drama, which hit theatres on January 23, has shown consistent collections since its release.
On its second Tuesday, the film earned an estimated Rs 5.75 crore, taking its total earnings to Rs 286.75 crore after 12 days.
Border 2 box office performance so far
The film matched its Monday earnings on February 3, adding Rs 5.75 crore to its tally. With this, Border 2 has managed to hold firm on weekdays, a sign of sustained audience interest.
The film delivered a robust opening week, collecting Rs 224.25 crore, supported by the extended Republic Day holiday period.
Second weekend boosts collections
The second weekend provided another lift to the film’s box office numbers. Friday saw collections of Rs 10.75 crore, followed by Rs 17.75 crore on Saturday. Sunday emerged as the strongest day of the weekend, contributing Rs 22.5 crore to the total.
Monday, which coincided with Republic Day, turned out to be the film’s highest single-day performer so far, with earnings touching Rs 59 crore.
With its current pace, Border 2 has already surpassed the opening weekend figures of Ranveer Singh’s Dhurandhar.
Border 2 review
In a review, film critic Saibal Chatterjee noted that Border 2 succeeds in highlighting the courage of soldiers while also touching upon their emotional vulnerabilities. The film explores themes of separation, loss, fear, and hope, presenting moments of heroism amid personal struggles.
About the film
Directed by Anurag Singh, Border 2 features an ensemble cast including Sunny Deol, Diljit Dosanjh, Varun Dhawan, and Ahan Shetty. Set against the backdrop of the 1971 India-Pakistan war, the film is positioned as a spiritual successor to the 1997 classic Border.
Dhurandhar has finally made its much-awaited debut on Netflix, just days after the Ranveer Singh-starrer completed a blockbuster theatrical run across India. While the film crossed Rs 1,000 crore domestically and went past Rs 1,300 crore worldwide, its OTT release has triggered confusion and criticism over its shorter runtime.
Several viewers took to social media early Friday, claiming that a “censored” version of Dhurandhar was streaming on Netflix. The runtime displayed on the platform is 3 hours and 25 minutes, nearly nine minutes shorter than the film’s originally reported duration of 3 hours and 34 minutes.
What caused the runtime difference
The confusion stems from changes made after the film’s initial theatrical release. According to the revised censor certificate, Dhurandhar now has an approved runtime of 3 hours 28 minutes and 56 seconds. This updated version replaced the earlier cut in cinemas starting January 1.
The revision followed directions to mute two specific words and one dialogue referring to the Baloch community. These changes were implemented without removing scenes, resulting in a marginally shorter runtime.
What viewers noticed on Netflix
Audiences streaming the film on Netflix observed muted portions during a scene involving Sanjay Dutt’s character, SP Chaudhary Aslam. In the original version, the dialogue included a direct reference to a former Baloch police partner. In the revised cut now available on Netflix, those references are muted, while English subtitles offer a generalised translation without naming the community.
Some viewers also pointed out that the film appears to play slightly faster on the platform, contributing to the perception that content had been trimmed.
Is Netflix streaming a censored cut
Industry insiders have clarified that Netflix is carrying the final theatrical version approved by the authorities. As an OTT distributor, the platform uploads films exactly as provided by the producers. The version streaming online is the same revised cut that has been screening in theatres since January.
Importantly, the film’s intense and graphic depiction of violence remains unchanged in the OTT version.
In short, Dhurandhar on Netflix is not a specially edited or censored cut for streaming. It is the updated theatrical version, adjusted for muted dialogue and presented with a slightly faster frame rate.
Following its OTT release, audiences can now look ahead to the sequel, Dhurandhar: The Revenge, scheduled for release on March 19, 2026.
Border 2 has made an impressive start at the Indian box office, collecting Rs 30 crore on its opening day. The war drama, headlined by Sunny Deol along with Varun Dhawan, Ahan Shetty and Diljit Dosanjh, opened to largely positive audience and critical response.
According to industry tracking data, the film recorded an overall occupancy of 32.1 per cent on day one. Night shows contributed the highest footfall, indicating strong word-of-mouth towards the end of the day.
Strong show count and urban traction
Border 2 was screened in nearly 6,000 shows across the country on its opening day. Major centres reported heavy traction, with over 1,000 shows in Mumbai and more than 1,500 shows across the Delhi-NCR region. Trade sources noted that urban circuits played a key role in pushing the film past the Rs 30 crore mark.
The opening performance places Border 2 ahead of Dhurandhar, which collected Rs 28 crore on its first day despite having a similar nationwide show count. Dhurandhar later saw consistent growth over its opening weekend, a trend that Border 2 is also expected to follow.
Career-best opening for key cast members
Border 2 has emerged as the biggest opening-day film in the careers of Varun Dhawan, Ahan Shetty and Diljit Dosanjh. For Varun Dhawan, the film marks his first box office success since Bhediya in 2023. Ahan Shetty, who made his debut with Tadap in 2021, has registered his first theatrical hit with the war drama.
For Sunny Deol, however, Border 2 does not surpass the opening records of Gadar 2, which remains his highest-grossing film with a worldwide collection of Rs 686 crore.
Dhurandhar sees slowdown after Border 2 release
Meanwhile, Dhurandhar’s box office run has slowed following the release of Border 2. The film reportedly earned under Rs 1 crore for the first time in nearly 50 days, reflecting the impact of the new release.
Directed by Anurag Singh and produced by JP Dutta and Nidhi Dutta, Border 2 also features Sonam Bajwa and Mona Singh in prominent roles.
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