As the nation was holed up in their homes over the pandemic, the silver screen was replaced by mobile, Smart TV, laptop, and tablet screens giving way to the rise of viewers on OTT platforms across the country.
In such a scenario, for the very first time in history, Filmfare introduced the OTT Awards, for Indian web series and films. The results were announced on 11th December for the ones that released between August 01, 2019, and July 31, 2020.
Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Manoj Bajpayee, Mouni Roy, Jaideep Ahlawat, Jennifer Winget, Rajkummar Rao, Tripti Dimri, Tisca Chopra, Amruta Khanvilkar, and Alaya Furniturewalla were among the celebrities who graced the red carpet at the Filmfare 2020 OTT Awards, held in Mumbai.
Here’s a list of what you must watch based on the award list.
Paatal Lok
Amazon Prime Video’s Paatal Lok has scored the highest number of wins with three awards in Filmfare OTT Awards 2020 including – Best Series, Best Director Series to Avinash Arun and Prosit Roy, and Best Actor in a Drama Series (Male) to Jaideep Ahlawat.
The series premiered on Amazon Prime Video on 15 May 2020. Produced by Clean Slate Films owned by Anushka Sharma, Paatal Lok is loosely based on Tarun Tejpal’s 2010 novel The Story of My Assassins. The plot follows a disillusioned cop who lands the case of an assassination attempt gone wrong.
The Family Man
The Family Man starring Manoj Bajpayee and Priyamani tells the story of a middle-class man secretly working as an intelligence officer for the T.A.S.C, a fictitious branch of the National Investigation Agency. The series was announced in June 2018 and showcased at the Television Critics Association’s summer press tour held in Los Angeles in July 2018 later it premiered on Prime Video in September 2019.
While Paatal Lok was the viewer’s favorite, The Family Man turned out to be the critic’s choice. It scored four awards in Filmfare – Best Director (Critics) to Krishna DK and Raj Nidimoru, Best Actress in a Drama Series (Critics) to Priyamani, Best Actor in a Drama Series (Critics) to Manoj Bajpayee, and Best Series (Critics).
Panchayat
Amazon Prime surely gathered loads of laurels as the next to join the brigade of award winners was the web series – Panchayat. It bagged four awards- Best Actor in a Comedy Series (Male) for Jitendra Kumar, Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Comedy Series (Male) – Raghubir Yadav, Best Actor in A Supporting Role in a Comedy Series (Female): Neena Gupta, and Best Comedy (Series/Specials).
The series premiered on Amazon Video on 3 April 2020. Produced by The Viral Fever, the web series chronicles the life of an engineering graduate who joins as a Panchayat secretary in a remote village Phulera of Uttar Pradesh due to a lack of better job options.
Aarya
Aarya marked the comeback of Sushmita Sen which was a total hit amongst viewers and proved even more worthy for she bagged the award for Best Actor in a Drama Series (Female).
The series is co-created by Ram Madhvani and Sandeep Modi based on the Dutch drama series Penoza by Pieter Bart Korthuis for Hotstar’s label Hotstar Specials. The show is co-produced by Endemol Shine India and Madhavani’s Ram Madhavani Films. Vinod Rawat, Madhvani, and Modi directed the series which was released on 19 June 2020.
Raat Akeli Hai
The Best Film (Web Original) award went to Raat Akeli Hai starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Radhika Apte, Shweta Tripathi, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Shivani Raghuvanshi, Nishant Dahiya, Gyanendra Tripathi, Ila Arun, Swanand Kirkire, Nitesh Kumar Tiwari, and Aditya Srivastava.
Directed by Honey Trehan, the film follows a small-town cop who is summoned to investigate the death of an elderly family member. Produced by Abhishek Chaubey and Ronnie Screwvala, Raat Akeli Hai was released on Netflix in July 2020.
Here are the rest of the awards that enlist the other shows you may binge-watch.
- Best Actor in a Comedy Series (Female) – Mithila Palkar, Little Things Season 3
- Best Actress in a Comedy Series (Critics) – Sumukhi Suresh, Pushpavali Season 2
- Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Drama Series (Male) – Amit Sadh, Breathe: Into The Shadows
- Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Drama Series (Female) – Divya Dutta, Special OPS