Netflix
The Fame Game Review: Madhuri Dixit-led Netflix series
Madhuri Dixit's latest web series, The Fame Game, premiered on February 25 on a streaming platform. This new venture into the world of web series and OTT signals her debut in this realm. Apart from Madhuri, The Fame Game features Sanjay Kapoor, Rajshri Deshpande, Manav Kaul, Muskkaan Jaferi, and Lakshvir Saran in different key roles. However, Maduri's presence is sure to add value to this new format of storytelling.
Anamika Anand, a popular actress, has gone missing, and her seemingly perfect life is revealed to have some dark secrets. The eight episode-series tells her story and the story of her family.
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All Of Us Are Dead: Review of Zombie Apocalypse Show on Netflix
When it comes to a Zombie apocalypse, the long-running show “Walking Dead” already set the bar high. But recently Koreans have taken things up a notch by consistently producing some nitty-gritty zombie horror shows. Whether it’s the “Train to Busan” or “Kingdom” on Netflix, Kdrama has a way with zombie storytelling that is equal parts gory and exciting.
To make matters more blood splattering and bone-shattering, there is a new zombie apocalypse series on Netflix titled “All Of Us Are Dead”. And moving on from a Train and middle age Korea, we now have zombies running around in a high school. There has been a considerable buzz with the series since its release on January 28th, 2022. So, is the show any good or just another generic zombie gorefest? And more importantly, is it worth watching? Let’s find out.
Read Netflix Web Series Decoupled Review
Plot Synopsis
Before Kpop and BTS became a thing, the world witnessed the first Korean Wave some two decades ago. It started with the romantic drama called “Winter Sonata” which took the then world by storm. But it also largely contrasts to what Korean drama has evolved to over the years, a perfect example being the likes of “Squid Game”, “The Silent Sea” and “All of Us Are Dead”. Each of these shows follows an entirely different route yet somehow excels in their craft with masterful tact.
Coming back to the series here, the pilot episode opens in Hyosan High, a suburban school nestled in the mountains. Everything looks straight out of a teenage rom-com set in a high school in the first part of the episode. However, things quickly start to unravel as one girl is bitten by a feisty mouse in the school’s science lab.
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What follows is a chain reaction of a mutated virus spreading from one person to the other. And by the time the pilot ends, the entire school is infected. What’s amazing here is how quickly the director changes the pace and hooks the viewer to the plotline.
Much of the pilot can be drawn parallel to the current world as it faces the pandemic. The battle to survive a deadly virus as it spreads like a wildfire seems eerily real given the current scenario. What catches up here is the emotional juggernaut and social issues that become prominent from the get-go, another parallel to this world as it dreads the pandemic.
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Netflix India's discount intensifies battle with Amazon and Disney
Netflix, Amazon and other video streamers are betting big on India, tantalized by the huge growth potential offered by its more than 1.3 billion people.
On Dec. 14, Netflix slashed prices by up to 60%. Its popular mobile-only plan now costs 149 rupees ($2) per month, down from 199 rupees. A basic subscription that allows a user to watch content on any device has been cut to 199 rupees from 499 rupees. Its most expensive plan, which allows for simultaneous viewing on up to four devices, has been reduced to 649 rupees from 799 rupees, reports Nikkei Asia.
But the reductions might not have gone far enough. The Los Gatos, California-based entertainment giant does not offer annual subscriptions, unlike cheaper rivals Amazon Prime Video and Walt Disney's Disney+Hotstar, which sell yearly plans for 1,499 rupees to access top services in these platforms that offer access to all content. Amazon subscribers also enjoy faster and free deliveries through the conglomerate's e-commerce platform, among other benefits.
SonyLIV dangles an even cheaper annual plan in front of India's highly price-conscious consumers, 999 rupees, while ZEE5 currently sells 12-month packages for 499 rupees.
Analysts say Netflix is trying to reach a wider audience with its price cuts as the premium service's pace of subscriber growth has been unimpressive.
"Netflix has to up the ante! It was more expensive than Amazon and Disney and is falling behind in the subscription numbers," Vineeta Dwivedi, head of digital communications at the Mumbai-based S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research, told Nikkei Asia. "Everyone is acing the content game, but the prices have to be comparable. Ultimately, it's about the numbers, and India remains a price-sensitive market which offers a huge and growing user base."
Tapobrati Das Samaddar -- founder of Wordloom Creative Ventures, a company that deals with media, education and performing arts -- concurs. "No matter how much they loved [the content on Netflix], the general public might have thought twice or thrice before investing into its [basic 499-rupee monthly plan] because other platforms were providing far more affordable options," she told Nikkei. "Netfllix's premium pricing was not helping it grow its viewership."
According to research company Media Partners Asia, Netflix had some 4.6 million subscribers in India in 2020, Amazon Prime 17 million and Disney+Hotstar 26 million. The three providers entered India in either 2015 or 2016 and are now focusing on local content as they chase viewers in every part of the country.
Netflix's move in India contrasts with the rate hike it imposed on Japan in early 2021. The previous year, Netflix added roughly 2 million subscribers in the East Asian country to bring its total there to over 5 million.
"Netflix's pricing strategy is something of an enigma," Dwivedi said, "which creates great interest [among] media watchers around the world. Slashing prices in India while raising [them] elsewhere is a strategic long-term move to capture a larger share of the market."
Disney+Hotstar leads the pack in India, mostly thanks to its cricket offerings. The platform streams Indian Premier League and other domestic and international matches, a big draw in this cricket-crazy nation.
Amazon Prime Video will start streaming live cricket on Saturday as part of a deal with the New Zealand cricket board. "Cricket is undoubtedly the most loved sport in India," Gaurav Gandhi, country head of Amazon Prime Video, India, said in a Dec. 20 statement, "and our collaboration with New Zealand Cricket underlines our commitment to give our customers what they want."
Amazon Prime Video thus will start offering what it hopes will be a trifecta of Indian programming -- cricket, Bollywood movies and regional content to suit a multilingual, multicultural nation.
During the CII Big Picture Summit in November, Gandhi spoke about the growth prospects of India's streamers. "It's very early days," he said, "and there is a huge headroom for growth as unique, original content is created."
Other factors will play a role, Gandhi said, including India's young demographics and affordable data plans.
Roughly 65% of India's population is under the age of 35, a segment which the streamers are keen to tap. As for the cheap data plans, they are the result of stiff competition among telcos like Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel that are trying to reach even small cities and towns.
Along with its potential subscriber bonanza, India presents a unique challenge with its multilingual, multicultural population. Amazon Prime Video is trying to meet the challenge by offering movies made in several of the nation's languages with English subtitles and, in some cases, Filipino and Bahasa Melayu subtitles so that people across the country and in other nations can watch them.
Amazon Prime Video's local language content currently reaches over 4,000 Indian cities and towns.
Globally, the company said, movies made in Indian languages are being watched in about 170 countries, with international viewers accounting for 15% to 20% of their total audiences.
The platform also offers gripping Indian originals, including "The Family Man," a spy drama, and "Made in Heaven," a series set in a marriage bureau.
Netflix is also spending big on local content. In March, it announced that it is taking its "next big leap in India to bring you more than 40 powerful and irresistible stories from all corners of the country." Among these are the now released relationship drama "Ajeeb Daastaans," family drama "Sardar ka Grandson," and mystery-thriller "Aranyak."
"While Netflix, Disney+Hotstar and Amazon Prime compete in the attention economy, comparing them is nothing short of comparing apples, oranges and watermelons," Shahan Sud, an investment professional at Indian Angel Network, told Nikkei. "Each has a different niche that they are catering to."
Notwithstanding the price cut, Sud said, Netflix "is still grossly overpriced and will face difficulty" in scaling itself across India despite some of its rivals gradually increasing their subscription fees after having started with much lower price bands.
The video streaming industry as a whole, however, is set to expand impressively. RBSA Advisors expects India's video-streaming market to grow to $12.5 billion in 2030 from $1.5 billion in 2021. "With access to better networks, digital connectivity and smartphones, OTT platforms in India have been increasingly attracting subscribers on a concurrent basis," it said in a July report, pointing out that adoption of digital streamers increased manyfold after the coronavirus pandemic struck at the beginning of 2020.
In India, video-streaming platforms are often referred to as OTT, or over-the-top, services.
"The next 100 million is from India," Netflix co-CEO Reed Hastings said in 2018 at The Economic Times Global Business Summit, in New Delhi. He was referring to the number of subscribers the streamer hoped to bag in the country in the years to come.
Finding them remains an uphill task.
Netflix Web Series Decoupled Review
What happens to a couple who used to be in love, but later they don’t want to be together anymore? Well, in real life, the outcome is uncertain, while in the movies/ TVs, we predict a happy ending. Netflix’s new sitcom from India, Decoupled, seems to be trying to break the traditional outcome.
Released on December 17, 2021, Decoupled has become India’s No Netflix series in less than a week. This article will discuss the plot of Decoupled, review, actors, and director.
Decoupled Plot
In the face of an uncertain future, celebrity author Arya Iyer (R Madhavan) and finance manager Shruti Sharma Iyar (Surveen Chawla) decide to break their marriage. After several years together as a couple, they are now looking for separation on good terms with co-parenting responsibilities in regards to their school-going daughter Rohini. The decision is made easier when it comes time to finally announce this major change; both even planned to host a separation party in Goa. That’s how the series proceeds with humor and comedy. But what happens at the end? Well, you will need to watch the full 8 episodes.
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Decoupled Review
The series’ writer-creator Manu Joseph and director Hardik Mehta don't bother with going into the background of how Arya ended up in love with Shruti, but they do introduce us to them as an unhappy couple. The series begins with a narrative, and each of the eight episodes has a title. Each title represents the gist of the whole episode.
Even though Arya is a guy who speaks his mind and gets into trouble every single time, Shruti prefers him to be more careful with what he says. On rare occasions when she does hear him speak candidly in public places like restaurants or on trains- which happens more often than one would think -her embarrassment knows no bounds!
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'Decoupled' Trailer: Three Idiots' Farhan and Sacred Games' JoJo coupled in the Netflix web series
The first trailer of the Netflix web series 'Decoupled' is finally out. Three Idiots' Farhan and Sacred Games' JoJo were seen having a hilarious conjugal fight in the trailer released on November 10. For the first time, Madhavan is playing a character depicting an outspoken and uncompromising role. Simplicity, elegance, and loyalty were the main aspects of this actor's previously played on-screen roles so far. But his fans will see another Madhavan in 'Decoupled' from December 17. Let's get to know some details about this new comedy-drama.
The story of the Netflix web series 'Decoupled'
Arya, a professional writer, and his wife Shruti threw a party to officially announce their divorce. But gradually this separation began to take the form of a strange relationship. Their respective ideologies came up through small arguments. No matter what people say in front or behind, they were trying to outsmart one another. Even though, the love for each other continued to be exposed through some heavy humor, where their only daughter was the excuse for both of them.
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People behind the making of ‘Decoupled’
The story of the web series is written by Manu Joseph, former editor of the Indian weekly English magazine 'Open'. The 2020 movie 'Sirius Man' starring Nawazuddin was based on his novel of the same name. The novel won the Best Fiction Award in 2010 in a renowned Indian magazine The Hindu review.
This Netflix show is directed by a young Indian writer, and film director- Hardik Mehta. Hardik's career in Bollywood began as a script supervisor for the popular films Mausam (2011), Lutera (2013), and Queen (2013). His first movie 'Kamiyab' was premiered at the Busan International Film Festival in 2018. It was later shown in Indian theaters in 2020. Mehta has written a two-episode screenplay for the 2020 Amazon Prime video web series named 'Patal Lok'. His short documentary 'Amdavad Ma Famous' won multiple awards at home and abroad, including the National Film Award for Best Non-Feature Film in India.
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The casting of Netflix show 'Decoupled'
Madhavan plays the Arya Iyer role in this web series. R. Madhavan, who made his debut in Tamil cinema, is the protagonist of many commercially successful movies. Among them, Rang De Basanti (2006), Guru (2007), and Three-Idiots (2009) became the highest-grossing films of all time in India. This popular star bagged the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor, and Best Actor, Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actor, and International Tamil Film Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Shruti, another major role in the series, is played by Surveen Chawla, an Indian dancer and a well-known actress both on small and big screens. Surveen made her big screen debut through a Kannada film. She starred in the popular 2019 Netflix web series 'Sacred Games'. She won the Best Actress award jointly with Radhika Apte, Tannishtha Chatterjee, and Lehar Khan at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles for her performance in the 2015 movie 'Parched'.
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Moreover, the 'Decoupled' series also stars Atul Kumar, Navneet Singh Kohli, Himani Bhatia, and Shrestha Banerjee.
Final word
In addition to watching Madhavan's new character, viewers will also encounter some great humor in the 'Decoupled' web series. The contrariety of the traditional lifestyle wrapped by deep humor will make the series more enjoyable. Moreover, the series could also diversify the screenplay by maintaining the trend of Indian content, which has already created a distinct field through international OTT.
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Squid Game: Netflix Original Korean Web Series gets worldwide popularity
The latest vibe to the global tide of Korean pop culture is the Netflix Original Korean Web Series ‘Squid Game’. Most viewed TV shows of the week, most streamed web programs, most discussed topics on social media; all of these records are now in the possession of Squid Game. Within decades of the Gangnam style, Squid Games have made a royal appearance alongside BTS on social media. Let's take a look at the details of this sensational web series.
Netflix original ‘Squid Game’ at a glance
The South Korean TV series was released worldwide from Netflix on September 17, 2021. Hwang-dong-hyuk is the screenwriter and director of this thriller drama series.
The series, set in the context of the Dystopian period, is named after a game of Korean children. To win the game, a team tries to put their feet on the head of a squid painted on the floor. Another group, on the other hand, tried to prevent them from approaching the design.
Read:‘Squid Game’ strikes nerve in debt-ridden South Korea
The drama shows 456 players competing to win the prize worth 45.6 billion.
However, the main purpose of the competition is to feed the entertainment of western investors. Gradually as the game pushes each player against each other, players realize they are stuck in a maze of death.
The series stars Park Hae-soo, Lee Jung-Jae, Wi Ha-Joon, O Yeong-Soo, Jung Ho-Yeon, Heo Sung-Tae, Kim Joo-Ryoung, and Anupam Tripathi.
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The TV series, produced by Siren Pictures Inc. has so far shown a season of 9 episodes.
Behind the popularity of ‘Squid Games’
One of the reasons behind the rise of Squid Games is the subtitles in 37 languages and dubbing versions in 34 languages. That’s why the screenplay of helpless adults winning children's games has been well received by the audience.
Moreover, the series lovers have been able to pay attention to the characters as they have not exaggerated the whole drama with the details of the game. And in this way, the TV show has tried to impress the viewers with the drama of various characters. The series surpassed 13 million followers on social media in the first three weeks of its premiere.
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Not to mention the credit for Netflix, which accounts for 45.8 percent of OTT's industry-leading digital content.
‘Squid Game’ strikes nerve in debt-ridden South Korea
“Squid Game," a brutal Netflix survival drama about desperate adults competing in deadly children’s games for a chance to escape severe debt hit a little too close to home for Lee Chang-keun.
The show has captivated global audiences since its September debut, becoming one of Netflix’s biggest hits. It has struck raw nerves at home, where there’s growing discontent over soaring personal debt, decaying job markets and stark income inequalities worsened by financial crises in the past two decades.
In the dystopian horrors of Squid Game, Lee sees a reflection of himself in the show’s protagonist Seong Gi-hun, a laid-off autoworker coping with a broken family and struggling with constant business failures and gambling problems.
Seong gets beaten by gangster creditors into signing off his organs as collateral, but then receives a mysterious offer to play in a series of six traditional Korean children’s games for a shot at winning $38 million.
The South Korea-produced show pits Seong against hundreds of other financially distressed players in a hyper-violent competition for the ultimate prize, with losers being killed at every round.
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It is raising disturbing questions about the future of one of Asia’s wealthiest economies, where people who once crowed about the “Miracle of the Han River” now moan about “Hell Joseon,” a sarcastic reference to a hierarchical kingdom that ruled Korea before the 20th century.
“Some scenes were very hard to watch,” said Lee, a worker at South Korea’s Ssangyong Motors who struggled with financial difficulties and depression after the carmaker laid him and 2,600 other employees off while filing for bankruptcy protection in 2009.
After years of protests, court battles and government intervention, Lee and hundreds of other Ssangyong workers returned to work in recent years. But not before a spate of suicides among co-workers and family members who were plunged into financial misery.
“In Squid Game, you see characters scrambling to survive after being laid off at work, struggling to operate fried chicken diners or working as ‘daeri’ drivers,” who get paid for driving drunk people home in their own cars, Lee said. “That reminded me of my co-workers who died.”
Lee said he and his colleagues struggled to find work and were backlisted by other auto companies that considered them militant labor activists.
A 2016 report by Korea University medical researchers said at least 28 laid-off Ssangyong workers or their relatives died of suicide or severe health problems, including those linked to post-traumatic stress disorder.
Squid Game is one of many South Korean shows inspired by economic woes. Its dark tale of inequality and class has drawn comparisons with Bong Joon-ho’s Oscar-winning “Parasite,” another pandemic-era hit with stunning visuals and violence exposing the underside of South Korea’s economic success story.
South Korea’s rapid rebuilding from the devastation of the 1950-53 Korean War has been spectacular –- from Samsung’s emergence as a global technology giant to the immense popularity of K-pop and movies that’s expanding beyond Asia — millions of South Koreans now grapple with the dark side of that rise.
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“Class problems are severe everywhere in the world, but it seems South Korean directors and writers tackle the issue with more boldness,” said Im Sang-soo, a film director.
In Squid Game, Seong’s troubles trace back to his firing a decade earlier from the fictional Dragon Motors, a nod to Ssangyong, which means “double dragon.”
Hundreds of workers, including Lee, occupied a Ssangyong plant for weeks in 2009 to protest the layoffs before being dispersed by riot police who besieged them, assaulted them with batons, shields and water-cannons and dropped tear gas cannisters by helicopter.
That violent standoff injured dozens and is woven into Squid Game's narrative. Seong has flashbacks about a Dragon coworker killed by strikebreakers while organizing fellow game participants to create barricades with dormitory beds to block murderous sneak night attacks by more vicious opponents looking to eliminate the competition.
Ultimately, it's every person for themselves in Squid Game's cruel battle royale between hundreds of people willing to risk even their lives for a shot at freeing themselves from the nightmare of insurmountable debts.
The show features other crushed or marginalized characters, like Ali Abdul, an undocumented factory worker from Pakistan with severed fingers and a boss who refuses to pay him, epitomizing how the country exploits some of the poorest people in Asia while ignoring dangerous working conditions and wage theft.
And Kang Sae-byeok, a pickpocketing North Korean refugee who had known nothing but rough life on the streets and is desperate for money to rescue her brother from an orphanage and to smuggle her mother out of the North.
Many South Koreans despair of advancing in a society where good jobs are increasingly scarce and housing prices have skyrocketed, enticing many to borrow heavily to gamble on risky financial investments or cryptocurrencies.
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Household debt, at over 1,800 trillion ($1.5 trillion), now exceeds the country's annual economic output. Tough times have pushed a record-low birth rate lower as struggling couples avoid having babies.
Squid Game’s global success is hardly a cause for pride, Se-Jeoung Kim, a South Korean lawyer based in Poland, wrote in a Seoul Shinmun newspaper column.
“Foreigners will come to you, saying they too watched Squid Game with fascination, and may ask whether Ali’s situation in the drama could really happen in a country that’s as wealthy and neat as South Korea, and I would have nothing to say,” she said.
Kim Jeong-wook, another Ssangyong worker who spent months with Lee perched atop a chimney at a Ssangyong factory in 2015, demanding their jobs back, said he couldn't watch Squid Game after episode one.
“It was too traumatic for me,” he said.
Netflix Movie: BGMEA protests derogatory remarks on Bangladesh RMG sector
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) President Faruque Hassan has written to US Ambassador to Bangladesh Earl R. Miller drawing attention to a movie recently released on Netflix that contains "derogatory comments" about ‘Made in Bangladesh’.
"We also request your steps to stop streaming the movie “Last Mercenary” on Netflix until the dialogue or the scene is removed from the movie," mentioned Hassan in his letter.
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As Netflix is a US company and run from the USA; BGMEA, on behalf of all apparel manufacturers and workers of Bangladesh, requested the Ambassador to convey their vehement protest to Netflix for releasing the movie without censoring the derogatory remarks about ‘Made in Bangladesh’.
The significant progress Bangladesh RMG industry made over last few years in the areas of workplace safety, improved workers’ health, sustainable manufacturing and green revolution also largely owes to the support of the Embassy of the US in Dhaka, he mentioned.
While Bangladesh RMG industry has achieved so much progress; when this contributed to rank Bangladesh the second in ‘Ethical Manufacturing’, only after Taiwan, in a survey recently conducted by Hong Kong based supply chain compliance solutions provider QIMA, said the BGMEA chief.
"At a moment when Bangladesh’s RMG industry after addressing the safety concerns is leading green garment manufacturing in the world by examples; derogatory comments about ‘Made in Bangladesh’ in a newly released French movie “Last Mercenary” directed by David Charon has appalled us and shocked us all by surprise," he said.
The comments in the movie say “Yes, Bulletproof Tuxedo, Made in France. I’d be dead if it were Bangladesh”.
These comments are tantamount to belittling the hard work, dedication, quality and on time manufacturing commitment of the 4 million garment workers of Bangladesh who are delivering ‘Made in Bangladesh’ apparel to about 160 countries of the world, including the US, said the BGMEA chief.
"We think these disrespectful remarks not only undermined the joint efforts made by Bangladesh RMG industry along with their development partners like the US which ensured progress and development that are being recognized internationally and receiving worldwide appreciations; but also dishonored the emotion of thousands of US consumers whose wardrobes are full with ‘Made in Bangladesh’ attires and many of which are their favorites," he said.
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The apparel manufacturers and workers of Bangladesh put all their dedications and commitments to supply apparel for the top global as well as US brands; and they take lot of pride in what they make, Hassan said.
"This hard work and pride should be respected by all," said the BGMEA chief.
He said the remarks have been also irrelevantly and irrationally juxtaposed in the movie as Bangladesh does not produce any ‘bullet-proof apparel’.
"So, since its release on Netflix on July 30, 2021, the movie “Last Mercenary” has been hurting every lover and maker of the Made in Bangladesh," said the BGMEA chief.
The BGMEA President also wrote a separate letter to Netflix CEO Theodore Anthony Sarandos Jr. with the same request.
He drew attention to French movie “Last Mercenary” directed by David Charon and released on Netflix on 30th July 2021; which BGMEA thinks contains "disrespectful and derogatory" comments about ‘Made in Bangladesh’ garments.
"We think these disrespectful remarks not only undermined the joint efforts made by Bangladesh RMG industry along with its international development partners which ensured progress and development that are being recognized internationally and receiving worldwide appreciations; but also dishonored the emotion of millions of consumers worldwide whose wardrobes are full with ‘Made in Bangladesh’ attires and many of which are their favorites," he said.
Read:BGMEA urges buyers to allow more shipping liners, off-docks
The BGMEA President demanded that the dialogue from the scene of the movie that degrade garments ‘Made in Bangladesh’ to be expunged.
"We are also requesting you being a responsible and reputable company to stop streaming “Last Mercenary” on Netflix until the dialogue or the scene is removed from the movie," the letter reads.
Free Online Movies: Best Netflix Alternatives for Streaming Movies in 2021
When you look for the best Netflix alternatives, you certainly aim to watch movies for free. Following the free streaming, there are lots of things in line including monthly subscription charges and access from anywhere. Moreover, you need to be aware of the streaming quality as well as the availability of the latest movies.
Most importantly, you are going to turn your back on Netflix, the most popular movie streaming site. Eventually, You have to consider some lack of features. There are still some best sites for you to stream movies for free by the way. All you have to do is to bear some pop-ups and ads.
Top Netflix alternatives for free movie streaming
You don’t have to worry about VPN (Virtual Private Network), proxy server, and even sign-up. Just click on the link, browse your favorite movie and enjoy.
1 ➤ 123Movies
Visit the site
Type of content: Movies and TV Series
123Movies is a reputed name in the free movie streaming industry. The original site is no longer available. But now several sites are providing the service with the same name. This site works 100% among them. Even this is a faster and better platform to watch online movies for free.
It has all genres and an intuitive interface. You can browse the movies, categories wise, Latest tab, Top viewed today, etc. Before watching or choosing to watch a movie, you can see its description and ratings.
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2 ➤ Movies Joy
Visit the site
Type of content: Movies and TV series
Movies Joy is another good addition to this ultimate list. It showed you no ads during the streaming. You can browse movies and TV series genre and country-wise. Their filter features genre, movie quality, release year, and country to find your preferred movie.
The initial interface is very simple with only a simple search bar and easy to go with. The movies are also available in full HD and play fast enough. However, you have to close some ads before your play the movie.
3 ➤ Yes Movies
Visit the site
Type of content: Movies and TV Series
It offers a wide range of movies and TV series to watch in high quality for free. You can find a movie of your choice within no time using filters like Genre, country, and Top IMDB.
Most importantly, it shows you the movie trailer. You can get some information about movies like IMDB rating, movie quality, genre, and actor, etc.
The entry is really simple where you can put the name of your movie. It’s worth makes it the best Netflix Alternatives where you can get the high definition media.
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4 ➤ FlixTor
Visit the site
Type of content: Movies and TV series
FlixTor would be the best choice for you as it has no sign-up, no advertisement, and no interruption. Movies and TV shows database is huge in itself. Its updated collections make it different from other free movie sites. There are multiple options to find out your favorite movies such as minimum rating, minimum votes, language, genre, and more. In a word, FlixTor is a fully automated video search engine like YouTube.
5 ➤ Afdah
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Type of content: Movies and TV series
After the inception of Afdah, it had been taking the place of Vumoo. A clean, user-friendly, and well-organized layout won the users’ hearts. And off-course, there are no ads and redirects to other windows.
You can explore movies based on country, language, year, and Genre. The HD video streaming is quite uninterruptible. Besides movie trailer, you can get the review from other movie freaks before watching the movie.
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6 ➤ StreamM4u
Visit the site
Type of content: Movies and TV series
StreamM4u is here to help you get into a pleasant mood with free streaming. The best part is that it has 4+ streaming server options. So you are getting options switching from one to another with just a click. That’s why it can stand top among other best Netflix alternatives. However, once you click on the play button, there is no buffering or lag for nearly all titles.
But it doesn’t offer you more options like subtitles and video quality. It lets you watch movies on full screen only.
7 ➤ 5Movies
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Type of content: Movies, TV series, Anime, Cartoon
If you are more concerned about streaming speed, 5Movies is good and fast in that case. Furthermore, it also brings a wide range of Asian dramas to you. With a common interface, 5Movies becomes the one of top contenders. Now it is one of the best streaming sites, not to mention no sign-up required. You can depend on 5Movies giving you a great experience with its buffer-less content, which is a single click away.
8 ➤ PutLocker
Visit the site
Type of content: Movies and TV series
PutLocker is the oldest and the big name in the kingdom of free movie streaming. The interface is very much common to other movie sites. The users get multiple options to choose a movie like genres, country, Top IMDb, and A – Z list. Its very easy-to-navigate interface not only lets you watch movies but also download them. The only shortcoming is the ads.
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9 ➤ CMoviesHD
Visit the site
Type of content: Movies and TV series
If you still haven’t found your Netflix alternative one, try C Movies HD. You probably want to switch from another free streaming site due to shut down the site. You can come in here because it won’t bring you a new site that you need to get used to. Worldwide movie lovers love this site due to its being similarity to other sites. Even it obtains media file links from the popular streaming sources and indexes them on their own website.
Pack Up
An honorable mention for one of the best Netflix alternatives is YouTube. Every day you enjoy its huge database of videos. Though you get to wait here for the latest movies, it brings a good number of movies, drama series, music videos to you. So, the above sites along with YouTube would be a total package for your movie mania.
Read Bengali OTT Platforms for Watching Movies, Web Series, Musical Shows
Netflix series signals racial breakthrough in Italian TV
The Netflix series “Zero,” which premiered globally last month, is the first Italian TV production to feature a predominantly Black cast, a bright spot in an otherwise bleak Italian television landscape where the persistent use of racist language and imagery is sparking new protests.
Even as “Zero” creates a breakthrough in Italian TV history, on private networks, comedy teams are asserting their right to use racial slurs and make slanty-eye gestures as satire. The main state broadcaster RAI is under fire for attempting to censor an Italian rapper’s remarks highlighting homophobia in a right-wing political party. And under outside pressure, RAI is advising against — but not outright banning — the use of blackface in variety skits.
With cultural tensions heightened, the protagonists of “Zero” hope the series — which focuses on second-generation Black Italians and is based on a novel by the son of Angolan immigrants — will help accelerate public acceptance that Italy has become a multicultural nation.
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“I always say that Italy is a country tied to traditions, more than racist,” said Antonio Dikele Distefano, who co-wrote the series and whose six novels, including the one on which “Zero” was based, focus on the lives of the children of immigrants to Italy.
“I am convinced that through these things — writing novels, the possibility of making a series — things can change,” he said.
“Zero” is a radical departure because it provides role models for young Black Italians who have not seen themselves reflected in the culture, and because it creates a window to changes in Italian society that swaths of the majority population have not acknowledged.
Activists fighting racism in Italian television underline the fact that it was developed by Netflix, based in the United States and with a commitment to spend $100 million to improve diversity, and not by Italian public or private television.
“As a Black Italian, I never saw myself represented in Italian television. Or rather, I saw examples of how Black women were hyper-sexualized,″ said Sara Lemlem, an activist and journalist who is part of a group of second-generation Italians protesting racist tropes on Italian TV. “There was never a Black woman in a role of an everyday woman: a Black student, a Black nurse, a Black teacher. I never saw myself represented in the country in which I was born and raised.”
“Zero,” which premiered on April 21, landed immediately among the top 10 shows streaming on Netflix in Italy.
Perhaps even more telling of its impact: The lead actor, Giuseppe Dave Seke, was mobbed not even a week later by Italian schoolchildren clamoring for autographs as he gave an interview in the Milan neighborhood where the series is set. Seke, a 25-year-old who grew up in Padova to parents from Congo, is not a household name in Italy. “Zero” was his first foray into acting.
“If you ask these children who is in front of them, they will never tell you: the first Black Italian actor. They will tell you, ‘a superhero,’ or they will tell you, ‘Dave’,” Dikele Distefano said, watching the scene in awe.
In the series, Zero is the nickname of a Black Italian pizza bike deliveryman who discovers he has a superpower that allows him to become invisible. He uses it to help his friends in a mixed-race Milan neighborhood.
It’s a direct play on the notion of invisibility that was behind the Black Lives Matter protests that erupted in Italian squares last summer following George Floyd’s murder in the United States. Black Italians rallied for changes in the country’s citizenship law and to be recognized as part of a society where they too often feel marginalized.
“When a young person doesn’t feel seen, he feels a bit invisible,″ Seke said. “Hopefully this series can help those people who felt like me or like Antonio. ... There can be many people who have not found someone similar to themselves, and live still with this distress.”
The protest movement has shifted from targeting Italian fashion, where racist gaffes have highlighted the lack of Black creative workers, to Italian television, where a movement dubbing itself CambieRAI held protests last month demanding that Italian state and private TV stop using racist language and blackface in skits.
CambieRAI plays upon the name of Italian state TV, RAI, and the Italian language command “you will change.” The movement, bringing together second-generation Italians from a range of associations, also wants RAI — which is funded by mandatory annual fees on anyone owning a TV in Italy — to set up an advisory council on diversity and inclusion.
Last week RAI last responded to an earlier request by other, longer-established groups asking that it stop broadcasting shows using blackface, citing skits where performers darkened their skin to impersonate singers like Beyonce or Ghali, an Italian rapper of Tunisian descent.
“We said we were sorry, and we made a formal commitment to inform all of our editors to ask that they don’t use blackface anymore,” Giovanni Parapini, RAI’s director for social causes, told The Associated Press. He said that was as far as they could go due to editorial freedom.
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The associations said they viewed the commitment as positive, even if it fell short of a sought-for ban, since RAI at least recognized that the use of blackface was a problem.
Parapini, however, said the public network did not accept the criticism of the CambieRAI group “because that would mean that RAI in all these years did nothing for integration.”
He noted that the network had never been called out by regulators and listed programming that included minorities, from a Gambia-born sportscaster known as Idris in the 1990s to plans for a televised festival in July featuring second-generation Italians.
Dikele Distefano said for him the goal is not to banish racist language, calling it “a lost battle.” He sees his art as an agent for change.
He is working on a film now where he aims to have a 70% second-generation Italian cast and crew. “Zero” has already helped create positions in the industry for a Black hairstylist, a Black screenwriter and a director of Arab and Italian origin, he noted.
“The battle is to live in a place where we all have the same opportunity, where there are more writers who are Black, Asian, South American, where there is the possibility to tell the stories from the point of view of those who live it,” he said.