Do you want to save your time in searching for the best Indian web series to watch?
The Indian web series has created a lot of buzz in the entertainment industry—a series of episodes that tell a story and allow the audience to watch at their convenience. Even two years ago, the concept of a web series in India wasn’t so widespread.
Many tiny production houses now have the advantage of creating their own web series with new actors and featuring them on various video streaming platforms like Zee5, ALT Balaji, Amazon Prime, etc.
The audience that these web series targets are the youth. Eventually, with more new content availability, it has taken over the daily melodramatic TV soap serials.
If you see the web series, business is becoming more competitive and challenging in bringing new stories and perspectives of imagination to the audience. There are many Indian web series accessible to you these days. But now, you can’t watch it all. No one has that much time to watch all the web series.
If you are looking for suggestions that will eventually save your time, please continue reading the article.
Gullak
I took the subscription to Sony Liv to watch the India-Australia test series. Meanwhile, I happened to watch a beautiful family-oriented Indian web series, “Gullak.”
I love watching web series, and I watch them all, but somehow, I missed “Gullak.” The web series has two seasons, and both the seasons are about a middle-class family, Mr. & Mrs. Mishraji, and their two sons Annu and Aman.
The story is narrated from the perspective of a gullak, which means piggy bank.
It narrates the various struggles of the Mishra family and their imperfect relationship, which is the story of every middle-class household in India. But, most importantly, in every tiny fight or argument, there is love that never changes.
Why did I like the series so much?
Because it is so relatable and talks about the fundamental issues that a middle-class family faces, there are primarily four characters. All of them performed like they are living the moment.
Scam 1992
After completing “Gullak,” I jumped into binge-watching another one of the most talked-about Indian web series of 2020, “Scam 1992”.
The web series is inspired by and based on the real-life 1992 scam of Harshad Mehta. The Hansal Mehta-directed web series is tempting, engaging, well-directed, and lead actor Pratik Gandhi gave his career’s best performance.
Pratik Gandhi as Harshad Mehta deserves all the kudos and cements its place as one of the best Indian web series ever made.
The ten-episode web series has given a detailed life sketch of Harshad Mehta instead of representing the dirty politics, the role of journalism, and government officials’ callousness on the verge of the country’s momentous change.
Paatal Lok
The Amazon Original web series ‘Paatal Lok’ is released on 15th May, and it is gaining popularity for its interesting thriller story. ‘Paatal Lok’ has a stunning story that is executed dramatically.
A dark portrayal of the Delhi Police investigation into the four accused murderers reveals several hidden chapters of the ‘swarglok.’ The prime protagonist of the series is Hathi Ram Chaudhary (Jaideep Ahlawat), a flawed character who unravels the truth connecting several prevalent issues.
The best fact about ‘Paatal Lok’ is the direction and the tight narration. There is not a moment when you will feel dragged. Also, it has touched on several prevalent social issues of our society through the four accused characters.
The issues that we read or hear going around in some corners of our country, like mob lynching, caste discrepancies, northeast provocation, biased religious judgments, and the inefficiency of the Indian media.
Indeed, a must-watch web series for you too.
Sacred Games
The name ‘Sacred Games’ is not unknown to anyone who loves movies and TV series. Just a few days back, Sacred Games season 2 was out, and it seems this was Netflix’s one of the highest ever investments.
Sacred Games is one of the first best Indian best web series to watch undoubtedly. It will glue you to stick with it until the episode is over. The popular series has several good actors like Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Pankaj Tripathi, Saif Ali Khan, Kalki Koechlin, Radhika Apte, etc.
The series is complex, dark, and has a layered story for each character. Season 2 is way lot more complicated than season 1, I believe so. There are a lot of details to explore in the series. It shows that such intriguing characters and narrative is at the level of Indian web series now.
The ending of Sacred Games season 2 has left many open questions that indicate a season 3 in the process.
Delhi Crime
Netflix’s Delhi Crime, a seven-episode series, is based on the real-life one of the most gruesome gang rape incidents in Delhi in December 2012.
The series has been created incredibly well and with much attention to the Delhi police-criminal story.
The narrative was perfectly woven in collaboration with all the characters—especially Shefali Shah, who played DCP Vartika Srivastav, the show’s protagonist. The series has also mocked the inefficiency and callous attitude of the Delhi male police department.
Also, how ill-equipped, undertrained, and understaffed the department is, resulting in a delay in solving the cases quickly and proficiently.
Delhi Crime is one of the best Indian web series on Netflix to watch Netflix.
Special Ops
Neeraj Pandey’s thriller series ‘Special Ops’ streaming on Hotstar is worth watching in the 21 days of lockdown in India.
Kay Kay Menon, an intelligence officer, has created a team of brilliant agents chasing the whereabouts of a terrorist leader who attacked the Parliament in 2001, Mumbai in 2008, and was involved in the Kashmir terror.
We have seen other similar movies by Neeraj Pandey, like Baby, Naam Shabana, A Wednesday, Special 26, and many more. But, in ‘Special Ops,’ Kay Kay Menon is the lead actor, and all the supporting actors have acted well too.
Yeh Meri Family
TVF‘s Yeh Meri Family is a beautiful, fresh, nostalgic, and lovely web series that will take you to your good old teen days.
A story about a family that we all could easily resemble, especially kids of the 90s. The theme of the series is ‘importance of family, mother, father, and the relationship that siblings share.’
The writer has smartly incorporated small things like playing Mario and Monopoly, games of FLAMES to find out lovers, a best friend with whom we share everything, WWF trump cards, and so many other minor things we could connect with ourselves.
Yeh Meri Family is more of a remembrance of the old days that we used to do during summer vacations. It is like visualizing those golden moments of our life one more time.
So, not only does Netflix and Amazon Prime has brought to us some of the best Indian web series. Other OTT platforms like TVF are also trying to make their mark in this business to give their audience something worth remembering.
I bet ‘Yeh Meri Family’ is one of the top Indian web series you can enjoy watching.
Kota Factory
Kota Factory is one of the most mature and best narratives of web series filmed in black and white. It is an educational irony based on IIT aspirants and their daily struggles life in Kota.
An engaging web series that tells a realistic story of how the IIT coaching schools in Kota is a business and how millions of IIT aspirants are running to Kota to fulfill their and mostly their parents’ dream.
The series follows the story of Vaibhav Pandey played by Mayur More, whose subtle and powerful character portrayal is highly compelling. Also, his companion Meena (Ranjan Raj) and Uday (Alam Khan) deserve an appreciation for doing justice to their character.
How can I not say about Jeetu Sir, aka Jitendra Singh, who shines as the problem solver of all the aspiring student
TVF’s Hostel Daze
TVF’s ‘Hostel Daze’ is a beautiful web series on college, hostel days, and hostel friends. It is a laughter ride through the adventures and misadventures of friends who becomes your family in happiness and sadness.
It is a light-hearted and fun web series that TVF has brought to its viewers and undoubtedly inflicted our old memories upon us.
There are a few characters like Jhantu, aka Jatin, whose performance is laughable. I loved the character Chirag who is a lovable and shy kid with a good heart. Finally, there is Shubham Gaur as Rupesh, whom we often see on Youtube giving Bollywood movie reviews for Mensxp.
Hostel Daze is perfect for young adults who would love to journey back to their college days memories.
If you have missed this fantastic web series, in any case, I would recommend you to watch it now on Amazon Prime Videos.
Criminal Justice
With Netflix and Amazon Prime, we have Hotstar, which is India’s biggest OTT platform. Criminal Justice is Hotstar’s Original web series, a crime-prison drama an official adaptation of the BBC’s same name series.
Vikrant Massey, played the protagonist here, a young MBA aspirant good lad who got allegedly accused of murdering a girl.
Criminal justice is more focused on what the life of a prisoner looks like in an Indian prison. But, with goons all around, even a good-hearted guy can get the chance to survive in that kind of horrid environment.
Made in Heaven
‘Made in Heaven’ is Amazon Prime’s web series, which shows stories behind the big fat Indian weddings.
Among all the actors, the performances of Arjun Mathur and Sobhita Dhulipala were complicated and compelling. The web series is a collaborative creation of director Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti.
The plot narrates the lies and betrayals of holy matrimony. The nine episodes were divided between four directors, and each episode tells a unique story that makes this web series one of the best.
Aarya
‘Aarya’ is a nine episodes season with each episode of almost an hour. Ram Madhvani and Sandeep Modi direct the series. The story is an adaptation of the Dutch series “Penoza.”
The story follows Aarya (Susmita Sen), playing a wonderful homemaker to Tej (Chandrachur Singh) and living a happy life with their three kids. Aarya is a devoted wife, a caring mother, and a wonderful daughter and sister.
Sushmita Sen playing the titular character ‘Aarya’ is entirely story-driven. The entire web series is revolved around the life of Aarya after her husband’s demise how she carries herself circling with threats and distrust of her people.
Sushmita Sen brings grace and sophistication to the character of Aarya. Her dialogues and the way she carries herself throughout are pleasing to the eye and remind me of how dignified she is.
It felt great watching Sushmita Sen performing onscreen after almost a decade long. Her comeback on a crime suspense-thriller web series “Aarya,” now streaming on Disney + Hotstar, is impressive, mature, and balanced.
Permanent Roommates
‘Permanent Roommates’ of TVF is perhaps the best Indian web series, I would say. It is a humorous, entertainment-friendly, fantastic narrative and character portrayal by the actors.
It is TVF that came up with the web drama series format in India.
Sumeet Vyas got his popularity by playing the character Mikesh in Permanent Roommates.
A guy who is in a long-distance relationship for three years with Tanya (Nidhi Singh). The story is carved beautifully about two adults in love and how the two evolve under various silly yet life-changing circumstances.
Mirzapur
Those who haven’t yet watched the series should watch ‘Mirzapur’ for its story and thrilling performances by the actors.
Mirzapur is a power-filled character portrayal of Guddu (Ali Fazal) and Bablu(Vikrant Massey), entangled in the bloodshed, power-hungry crime world. Pankaj Tripathi and Divyendu Sharma have both excelled in their performances.
Hence, the Hindi web series has marked its success with the popularity of Mirzapur on Amazon Prime Video too along with Netflix.
Inside Edge
Amazon Prime India has brought to its viewers ‘Inside Edge,’ a web series that focuses on drama and thriller on commercial cricket. There are two seasons; the first season was quite impressive to watch with a few interesting characters.
Mumbai Mavericks is surrounded by controversies related to drugs, money laundering, and political issues. As I said, the first season was something new to watch, but the second season was pretty flat.
Although there were a few twists and turns in the climate, it couldn’t help delivering an ineffective season.
Still, I would say you can watch especially season 1 for Richa Chaddha, Vivek Oberoi, Aamir Bashir, and Angad Bedi.
Typewriter
Director Sujoy Ghosh’s attempt to work on a thriller Hindi web series with Netflix has raised the Indian thriller web drama series bar.
A haunted folklore tale that is not scary, of course, but has a haunted factor.
The story is set in Goa in a haunted house named Bardez Villa, where Madhav Matthews’s owner died. Later, his granddaughter Jenny moves back to her ancestral home with her family, but weird incidents are happening ever since they moved.
Now, what happened or how? All these answers are there in the ending episodes. So, if you are brave and don’t get scared of watching haunted stories, ‘Typewriter’ is for you, and it is still streaming on Netflix.
Panchayat
The Amazon Prime Video Indian web series stars Jeetendra Kumar in the lead role with Neena Gupta and the whole story is set up in a village area. The story depicts the struggling life of a man who has just started his first government job.
Bang Baaja Baarat
‘Bang Baaja Baarat’ is YRF’s contemporary rom-com web series that narrates urban relationships. However, it is more like a movie in several episodes featuring Ali Fazal and Angira Dhar in the lead.
It has every element of humor, tragedy, climax, romance, drama, and songs—great performances by all the actors and consistently reaching its broad audience in India.
YRF’s web series represents the whole point of marriage narrated in a witty and hilarious manner.
If you have missed watching this web series in any way, you can still enjoy watching it on YouTube.
Asur
Asur is an incredible crime-thriller Voot Select Hindi web series that I watched a few weeks ago, and I was thrilled.
The plot revolves around Arshad Warsi, Barun Sobti, and the killer’s mythological ideology on the killing pattern. It is a great script that has blends the Indian mythology and psychology of the killer.
The two forensic detectives cannot trace the killer’s instinct and pattern of killing throughout the country.
Asur is one of the best crime-thriller Indian web series that will spook you enough with violent deaths, suspense, intensity in story-telling, and calculative use of Indian mythology in the narrative.
Avrodh
You must have watched the Indian Bollywood superhit movie “Uri,” based on the Uri incident.
But if you watch the web series “Avrodh,” you will come to know the truth of how the government and the armed forces together fought against terrorism and avenge the killing of 19 soldiers in Uri at the Army base camp.
The web series is streaming on SonyLIV that retells the story of the terrorist act in Uri. Each actor in the series has given his best to make it one of the best web series.
Amit Sadh has entered the story quite late, but his character as a special task officer, Major Videep Singh, is the best to watch.
Overall, as an audience, I can say, the movie URI stands nowhere in front of Avrodh.
Undekhi
“Undekhi” is a crime thriller web series on SonyLIV that tells the story of an incident that took place at a wedding of a wealthy gun-wielded family who controls the local.
The story opens with a police officer looking for two tribal girls of Sunderban and landing in Manali, where the murder took place.
The story is likable because it shows the truth and all the actors have performed well. Surya Sharma, as Rinku, plays the central part, which is the foster son of Papaji and makes sure to hide the entire incident under his whims.
Despite telling a pretty gripping story, the ending hasn’t turned out to be what was expected.
Still, I would recommend a good watch.
Your Honor
The web series “Your Honor” is also streaming on SonyLIV; it tells the story of an esteemed judge in Ludhiana, Punjab, who relinquishes his moralities to save his young son involved in a hit and run case.
You may find the series a bit dragging, playing the same plot repeatedly, an affluent father saving his son from the crime. What’s surprising is the ending of the web series, which will change your view about the series.
Maharani
Recently I finished watching SonyLIV’s original web series ‘Maharani’ starring Huma Qureshi, Sohum Shah in the lead. It is a political drama with outstanding performances and screenplay.
From the beginning, it has a thrilling element in the performance of ‘Rani Bharti’ played by Huma Qureshi. I have never seen her performing in such a fantastic way. She has completely grabbed the attention with her Bhojpuri dialect.
The web series has prominently tried to show the political chaos and corruption in Bihar.
Grahan
Disney plus Hotstar has launched a new period drama series ‘Grahan’ based on the actual incident in Punjab after the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
The story is divided into two parts – present and past, which link the story together. The plot presents a sensitive story of the past with a touch of a sweet love story.
I like the series because of its fine screenplay and performances. There is not a scene that I felt unimportant while watching. Each scene relates to the other, and the amalgamation of past and present is just perfect.
Tripling
TVF’s Tripling is a popular web series that features Sumeet Vyas, Amol Parashar, and Maanvi Gagroo in the lead as three siblings. It has two seasons.
The story of ‘Tripling’ is about three siblings who are not so close to each other, neither do they stay in touch, but whenever they meet, they are siblings who always had each other’s support.
All three characters are different from each other and have different stories of life. How they end up together in the circumstances and how their road trip takes them to the solutions has been told in episodes.
Although, I felt season 1 was far better than season 2 in story, freshness, and narrative. Season 2 got repetitive and lacked the newness in the story, which makes it an average watching season.
The Family Man
Amazon Prime’s new Indian series ‘The Family Man’ tells the story of an Intelligence agent where Manoj Bajpai played the lead role of Srikant Tiwari. He is a married man juggling between his ‘trouble in paradise’ status and the work he loves to do.
Srikant is the best agent on the team, but his decision killed three innocent young college-goers in one incident. He is trying hard to crack a case that involved a major terrorist attack in India.
Like always, Manoj Bajpai shines with his natural acting prowess and witty dialogues.
The narrative and cinematography both are superb. ‘The Family Man’ is capable of keeping you hold till the end. There are not many action sequences involved like in any other spy movie. But Manoj Bajpai steals the show with his perfect dialogue delivery.
The story evokes a sense of patriotism and realization of how effectively our intelligence department works to keep the nation safe from any threat.
‘The Family Man’ is a newly added Hindi web series on Amazon which you must watch.
Little Things
You must be aware of Filter Copy, primarily seen in Facebook videos. For example, season 1 of Little Things first came out on Filter Copy, and later season 2 was streaming on Netflix.
The web series ‘Little Things’ is about a couple Dhruv and Kavya who is in a live-in relationship; amidst various life problems, they are trying to find happiness in little things.
The series narrates through them how happiness can be found in little things. Expressing love for each other doesn’t have to be grand. Even though they are small things, you can find love for each other in a relationship.
A story with a clear vision and message to the youth in love is worth your time to watch.
The Aam Aadmi Family
Yet another web series of TVF’s has proved that they are the unique content creator in the web series business.
The Aam Aadmi Family tells a story about how unconditional love binds a family together permanently. Although it is about the Sharma family, which is the typical Indian middle-class family, each family member represents the generation and mindset of the generation.
Each episode and character carry some humor, making it a light-hearted web series that gives good vibes and an excellent familiar gesture.
Pitchers
A web series focused on four friends who leave their current job to start their startup. The series was released in 2015, and ever since, it has remained one of the best-watched web series of TVF.
The series of episodes narrates what these four friends are going through and facing challenges to gain funding for their startup.
I believe ‘Pitchers’ is every entrepreneur’s favorite web series because they could relate themselves to the four characters. Netflix has recently released a similar startup-based movie ‘Upstarts.’
Apaharan
With the rising trend of web series in India, ALTBalaji is another video streaming platform trying to make its position in this competition.
Unlike Mirzapur and Sacred Games, ALTBalaji has also brought its original crime thriller web series named ‘Apaharan.’ The story features Arunoday Singh, Mahie Gill, and Nidhi Singh in the lead. The exciting thing about this web series is its narration, which is exceptionally spellbinding and mysterious.
The web series is 12 episodes long, and in some places, it may remind you of the Mirzapur and Sacred Games if you have seen both.
Mahie Gill, as usual, had delivered the best performance. Although her screen presence is minor, she was as impressive as Arunoday Singh, who played the character of a corrupted cop.
Selection Day
Netflix’s original series ‘Selection Day,’ an adaptation of the book of the same name by Arvind Adiga, is a story about two brothers, their obsession for cricket, their abusive father who controls them, and their struggle to live in Mumbai.
Selection Day has two seasons. Season 1 shows the core theme of the series, which is the journey of two brothers and their arrogant and abusive father who landed in Mumbai to become the next best batsman.
Season 2 focuses more on both the brothers’ emotional and mental states and how desperately both want to get rid of their father. In addition, the sexual interest of Manju has also been explored in season 2.
If you haven’t watched this beautiful series, you can stream it on Netflix now.
Breathe
Breathe is one of the best Indian web series on Amazon Prime, featuring Madhavan and Amit Sadh in the lead. You can put this web series in the category of ‘thriller.’
The series is exceptionally gripping, with both the actors giving outstanding performances of their life. Amit Sadh is an alcoholic cop and emotionally broken by the death of his only daughter.
On the other hand, Madhavan plays a doting father whose 6-year-old kid is suffering from lung disease. His kid is on the long waiting list of getting a new lung from donors in the hospitals.
The story narrates at what length a father can go to save his kid, even murder. Madhavan played Danny’s character with much precision.
This is one of the unusual web series to watch, which will make you believe that Indian content creators are pushing their imagination high.
Laakhon Mein Ek
Amazon Prime’s ‘Laakhon Mein Ek,’ both the season, has a very relatable and compelling story to tell.
In season 1, the story of an average student pushed to fulfill his parent’s dream of becoming an IITian.
Although this is not what he wants still, he has to do it by all means. A lot many young students will relate to this story.
A series of episodes capture the mental and emotional status of a teen forced to go for IIT coaching far away from his home and landed in the world of rat race. Confusions, chaos, pressure, everything makes him vulnerable.
Season 2 has also brought to the audience a challenging and harsh reality story about the medical conditions and ill-equipped facilities in the remotest villages of our country.
Here, in this story, the character Dr. Shreya tried her best to make some changes in the small village medicine clinic, but soon she realizes how the members of the elite classes toy with the lives of the villagers.
Both season has successfully delivered a message to the audience through the story and characters.
Ghoul
Netflix’s Indian horror web series is terrifying, gruesome, and dark that narrates Arabic folklore. Radhika Apte as Nida Rahim is the star of the series and has the majority of screen presence.
Ghoul is thrilling to watch with an intense, mysterious set, a labyrinth-like high-security prison. The fierce background music suffices to create suspense and a horrifying element in the series.
It has an old-school approach, basically a zombie monster who attacks everyone in the security prison except Nida. A familiar ending, but still worth watching the series on a frantic Saturday night.
Hashmukh
This Netflix original Indian series starring comedian Vir Das is something you might enjoy if you’re into dark comedies. The core plot of the TV series is a rags-to-riches story of an Indian comedian who goes from performing at small rural gatherings to a big televised stand-up show. His only problem is that he has to kill someone in order to perform at his best. For the most part, Hasmukh is an entertaining watch with its very unique storyline. However, it’s marred by uneven writing, where some jokes land well, while others disappoint.
Ashram
Prakash Jha’s digital debut web series “Ashram” is binge-worthy. Prakash Jha loves telling stories about caste, class, politics, and corruption.
In Ashram, an MX player original series packs many solid themes and plots with some great performances. It is a nine-episode series that explores the truth of a Godman and his criminal activities.
After a decade seeing Bobby Deol onscreen and delivering a good performance of a Godman feels good. The entire cast of the series gave their best performances.
It shows how people put their blindfolded belief in the Godmen’s feet in India, and they take advantage of that. The role of Babaji, played by Bobby Deol, is the poor’s messiah and oppresses the people’s sector.
His friend and the most trusted man Bhopa (Chandan Roy Sanyal), clears off all the dirty activities of the Ashram by killing and torturing the victims.
Girl in the City
The web series ‘Girl in the City’ narrates a very ordinary tale of a girl who comes to Mumbai to fulfill her dreams and passion. It is a very relatable story.
Thousands of girls land in Mumbai from small towns of India with dreams to be fulfilled. Some get success on their journey path, and some keep fighting as long as they can.
Actor Mithila Palkar is that girl in the story, representing thousands of girls in the city. The plot has several twists, like her daily struggle in the city, her love life, her friends, and her work-life challenges.
Overall, ‘Girl in the city’ is pretty much what you will love to watch on YouTube.
Fathers
TVF’s web series “Fathers” is a witty and beautiful series that revolves around three retired fathers who pretend to be cool to mingle with the new generation.
They try to cut off being a strict father and becoming an excellent father who sits and drinks with their son, discussing startups and many more things.
The three fathers are trying to break free of the stereotypes of what Indian fathers stand for. All three actors, Brijendra Kala, Gajraj Rao, and Atul Srivastava, are fun to watch. It is great to see that TVF is trying to create something new with each web series.
So, if you are open to humor, ‘Fathers’ is a must-watch web series from the list.
Almost all the video streaming platforms have many web series, but you have to sit and search for which one to watch. So, I have compiled this list of Indian web series that I believe are the best and have received a great response from the audience and critics. It is an attempt to save time and energy.
If you have something in mind that you want us to add to this list of the best Indian web series, please let us know.
