10 Best Hindi Original Drama Series On Amazon Prime, According To IMDb
India produces superb original content, collaborating with Amazon Prime. There is a bit of everything for everybody, from thrillers to sports dramas.
Amazon India Originals have been slowly but steadily gaining ground for the Indian audience across the world with some nail-biting thrillers, sports dramas, and relatable slice-of-life content. The OTT platform offers opportunities to some of the best talents in the country who are eager to perform in script-driven content.
With a variety of content, the Amazon Prime Videos produced in India are fast bridging the gap between the commercial and the non-commercial. As more and more quality content is created for this platform, fans' anticipation goes up exponentially.
10 Breathe: Into The Shadows (7.7)
The second stint of the Breathe series has an IMDb rating of 7.7. It takes fans into the life of a psychiatrist, Dr. Avinash Sabarwal whose six year old daughter goes missing for months until Avinash and his wife, Abha, begin to receive cryptic instructions from a mystery man who wants the couple to commit some heinous crimes if they ever want to see their daughter alive again.
The psychological thriller is a commendable effort to address mental health issues, especially multiple personality disorder. Fans know the protagonist Abhishek Bachchan as the son of yesteryear Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan, some of whose greatest movies have a high IMDb rating.
9 Paatal Lok (7.8)
An unabashed glimpse into New Delhi's dark underbelly, Paatal Lok literally translates as the netherworld, as opposed to the heavens above. Cynical cop Hathiram Chowdhury gets dragged into an assassination gone wrong of a celebrated journalist and finds himself bang in the middle of a stark cat and mouse drama that takes him deeper and deeper into the Delhi underworld.
The gritty drama picked up some rave reviews for its sharp script and sharper performances, and is rated 7.8 on IMDb. It brings forth thematically the idea that the three layers of the world--heaven, earth and hell--intersect where the aristocrats, humans and animals exist respectively.
8 Inside Edge (8.0)
The very first Amazon India Original, this series is a dramatized take on the intrigue associated with the world of cricket in India. With a steady ensemble cast, Inside Edge brings alive the murky politics that reigns supreme behind the glamorous universe of T-20 cricket, i.e. the shortened version of the game that is completed in 20 overs per innings instead of the traditional 50 overs.
From match fixing, spot fixing, performance enhancing drugs, blackmail and even murder, the owners of these fictitious cricket teams would stop at nothing in their lust for power and money. The series also attempts to weave a narrative about casteism within teams, and the queer-phobia that haunts celebrities and athletes in India. It is rated 8.0 by IMDb.
7 The Forgotten Army--Azaadi Ke Liye (8.1)
Very few remember the heroic efforts of the Indian freedom fighter Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose in the country's struggle for independence. Bose's Indian National Army (INA), also known as the Azad Hind Fauj, recruited young men and women who were trained to fight from outside the borders, and became a force to reckon with, albeit briefly.
A 1940s period drama, rated 8.1 on IMDb, the series depicts the story of the INA soldiers, with particular focus on the romance that blossoms between Sodhi and Maya, two such soldiers who have put everything in the line to respond to Netaji's call for blood.
6 Lakhon Mein Ek (8.2)
With two separate stories in two seasons, the series captured fan's hearts with its honest performances. The first focused on Akash from Raipur in India's Chattisgarh district; his ambition was to break the internet with his videos but he is forced by his father to join a coaching center that trains students for engineering colleges.
The second season is about the misadventures of Dr. Shreya Pathare who single-handedly confronts the mistrust of villagers, the politicization of health care and a rag tag team of health workers in a remote Indian village. The series has a 8.2 IMDb rating.
5 Made In Heaven (8.3)
Created by filmmakers Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti, this Amazon Original rated 8.3 on IMDb, offers a sophisticated peek into the myriad layers of the Indian society through the glammed up lens of the great Indian wedding. Karan and Tara are wedding planners who come in contact with a motley group of people as they organize lavish weddings for their wealthy clients. The drama plays out as each wedding looks at a different family that brings with it its own hypocrisies, superstitions and prejudices.
Running parallel to these stories is the continuous narrative following the lives of Tara and Karan as they battle an unhappy marriage, and homosexuality, respectively, in their own lives in a society marred with parochialism and ignorance. Lead actor Arjun Mathur received an International Emmy nomination for his role as Karan Mehta. Fans waited with bated breath to see if the show deserved a 2020 Emmy win, although it missed the mark.
4 Breathe (8.3)
Led from the front by actor R. Madhavan, this taut crime thriller with a rating of 8.3 on IMDb, delved into the dark side of love, and how far one would be willing to go to save their loved ones.
One of the first Indian Originals created for Amazon Prime, the series looked at Danny Mascarenhas and his desperate search for organ donors for his little son, Josh, whose lungs are on the verge of giving up. Soon crimes are committed that strangely involve the death of registered organ donors, and Danny locks horns with embittered police officer Kabir who is himself trying to come to terms with a tragic loss in his own life.
3 Hostel Daze (8.5)
A quirky trip down memory lane Hostel Daze takes fans back to their hostel days as they slog through engineering college. The first season sets up the premise with relatable characters who are the archetype of individuals that every student would have encountered during their college days.
In the second season, the freshers-turned-seniors get an opportunity to boss around young blood. The series features young Adarsh Gaurav of The White Tiger fame as one of the main leads. The series is rated 8.5 on IMDb.
2 Mirzapur (8.5)
While there is full on reality TV entertainment such as Netflix's The Fabulous Lives Of Bollywood Wives, there are also other things to watch out for as far as Indian content is concerned. A hard core crime thriller, this is the story of Kaleen Bhaiya, the head of a crime family in the town of Mirzapur where guns and knives dictate the law of the land. Bloodbath ensues as the trigger-happy son of Kaleen Bhaiya, Munna, unfurls chaos in the land and another family, the Pandits, get involved with the gangsters.
With some stellar performances from a strong ensemble cast, the series with an IMDb rating of 8.5, keeps fans on the edge of their seats from start to finish. Although the second season has been widely touted as not at par with the first, the audience still stays hooked to this saga of power-mongering, greedy mobsters in whose hands lies the fate of the town.
1 The Family Man (8.8)
Srikant Tiwari, a middle-class married man, works undercover as an intelligence agent in a fictitious counter terrorist wing of India's National Investigation Agency (NIA). His family believes that he is employed at a government office but is in the dark about the true nature of his work. Everyone from his own kids to his extended family looks down upon him for not being ambitious enough and not bringing home the big bucks like almost everyone else.
Srikant, however, is the reason behind the country successfully thwarting multiple terrorist threats. From racing against time to stop biological terror attacks to sniffing out the trail to a plot to murder the Prime Minister of India, he is indispensable to the agency. Lead Actor Manoj Bajpayee is a master of his craft and skilfully portrays the pressures of balancing his family life with being undercover. The series gets a staggering 8.8 rating in IMDb.
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