'The Family Man' or 'Mirzapur'—Twitter debates best Indian web series
What's the story
Fan-favorite The Viral Fever is considered to be the trailblazer when it comes to web series in India, and in 2014, it greenlighted Permanent Roommates, considered India's maiden web series.
Then came Sacred Games in 2018, crowned as Netflix's first original Indian show.
Since then, there's been no looking back, and now, Twitter is debating which series is the shining jewel of Indian OTT.
Responses
These are most popular responses in debate
In this ongoing online discussion, people mostly responded with Raj & DK's spy thriller The Family Man, Jaideep Ahlawat and Abhishek Banerjee starrer action drama Pataal Lok, Pratik Gandhi starrer financial thriller Scam 1992, and Jim Sarbh and Ishwak Singh's biographical web drama series Rocket Boys.
Ali Fazal, Pankaj Tripathi, and Divyendu starrer action thriller series Mirzapur has also emerged as another strong contender.
Common threads across popular series
Decoding success: X-factor of best web series
The common thread of the most popular web series is a deeply rooted, authentic story that the audience can connect with (like Panchayat), or a story that needs to be in the limelight but has not gotten its fair share of publicity yet (Rocket Boys).
When it's a crime thriller, like Mirzapur, Sacred Games, and Pataal Lok, a lot hinges on the lead performances.
Recent web series
Did you check out these recent shows yet?
Some notable Indian web series that graced the Indian OTT space in the past few weeks are Reema Kagti-Zoya Akhtar's Dahaad on Amazon Prime Video, Hansal Mehta's Scoop on Netflix, and Avinash Arun's School of Lies on Disney+ Hotstar.
Alok Sharma-Animesh Verma-Amrit Walia's Fireflies: Parth Aur Jugnu on ZEE5 and Vibhav Shikdar-Gaurav Shukla's Asur Season 2 on JioCinema, among others, are on the list.
Upcoming series
Keep an eye out for these titles on OTT
Speaking of some anticipated upcoming web series, Raj & DK's Guns & Gulaabs, starring Rajkummar Rao and Dulquer Salmaan, is expected to hit Netflix this year.
Soup, starring Konkona Sen Sharma and Manoj Bajpayee and directed by Abhishek Chaubey will also arrive on the streamer soon.
The third seasons of The Family Man and Mirzapur are also awaiting their release on Amazon Prime Video.