'Jaane Jaan' to 'Farzi': Projects that created records on streaming
The days when we only had to rely on theaters to be entertained are behind us. With the advent of numerous OTT streaming platforms in the last five to six years, the amount of options available to the audience has increased significantly, both in India and internationally. In 2023, these OTT releases turned out to be a breakthrough success. Take a look.
'Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai'
Manoj Bajpayee hit it out of the park this year with three releases: Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai, Gulmohar, and Joram. Out of these, the first two were straight to digital releases. The success of Bandaa was such that it generated tremendous buzz on social media and received overwhelmingly positive reviews, which prompted the makers to release it theatrically on limited screens.
'Jaane Jaan'
Kareena Kapoor Khan made her digital debut through Sujoy Ghosh's Jaane Jaan, an adaptation of Keigo Higashino's murder mystery novel The Devotion of Suspect X. Co-starring Vijay Varma and Jaideep Ahlawat, the film became a rage on Netflix due to its performances and cinematography, and within less than a week of its release, became the most-viewed non-English film on Netflix with 8.1M views.
'Bigg Boss OTT 2'
Bigg Boss OTT 2 —which aired on JioCinema between June 17 and ended up with Elvish Yadav becoming the winner on August 14—also warrants a mention on this list. Its final episode was reportedly watched by a whopping 2.3cr people, while overall, the entire season was watched by about 10cr people! Hosted by Salman Khan, it is a spin-off of Bigg Boss.
'Farzi'
Raj & DK's Farzi—which marked Shahid Kapoor's debut on OTT—opened to rousing reviews back in February. Per a March 2023 report by Ormax, Farzi became the most-watched Indian series of all time, which is an incredible record considering the number of OTT titles India releases each year, with some of the current frontrunners being Mirzapur, The Family Man, and Panchayat, among others.
