From Scratch (Netflix)
Amy (Zoe Saldaña), an American art student, falls in love with Sicilian chef Lino (Eugenio Mastrandrea) in Florence. Navigating familial and cultural differences, the two make a life together in Los Angeles, but go through a period of struggle as Lino is diagnosed with cancer. Based on the best-selling memoir by Tembi Locke, the first episode is like a tourism promotion ad for Florence. While the mini-series is a bit too drawn out, it comes together in the last episode when Amy visits Lino's hometown Castiglione to scatter his ashes.—Nipa Charagi
Also read: The White Lotus season 2 review: A less memorable vacation
Sceptic and archaeologist Aryan is sent to Ram Setu, a long stretch of shoals between India and Sri Lanka, to verify their origins as naturally occurring. But as you might suspect, he finds “evidence” of it being a bridge constructed by Ram thousands of years ago. Abhishek Sharma’s film is National Treasure filtered through a Hindu pride lens. Jacqueline Fernandez, Satya Dev and Nushrratt Bharuccha co-star.
The Roundup (Amazon Prime)
In this sequel to The Outlaws (2017), the beefy police investigator Ma Suk-Do (Ma Dong-Seok) is in Vietnam to extradite a fugitive. He ends up chasing Kang Hae-sang (Son Seok-koo), who kidnaps Korean tourists for ransom and then kills them. Like The Outlaws, this is an action-packed film, with comic relief. Ma does what he's best at, pinning people down with the sheer heft of his body; Kang is psychotic as the machete-wielding gangster. With Don Lee and Son sharing screen space, you don't need a reason to watch this K-film.—NC
Captains (Netflix)
How does it feel to carry the weight of an entire nation and the hopes of making it to the biggest competition in world football? A new behind the scenes docuseries, Captains, follows six players and their journeys with their national team as they attempt to qualify for the 2022 Fifa World Cup in Qatar. Published exclusively first on Fifa+ and now on Netflix, the first season of Captains follows Pierre Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon), Luka Modric (Croatia), Thiago Silva (Brazil), Hassan Maatouk (Lebanon), Brian Kaltack (Vanuatu) and Andre Blake (Jamaica). A second season of the series is due to be released after the World Cup.—Nitim Sreedhar
Four More Shots Please (Amazon Prime)
The third season of Four More Shots Please begins on a sombre note: at the funeral of Siddhi Patel's (Maanvi Gagroo) father, who passed away in the last season's final episode. But the mood does life over the course of the season with all the Four More Shots Please staples: acrobatic sex; interesting clothes; shots of exotic locations; the unending Mumbai shoreline; punchy dialogues that sometimes work and sometimes do not; alcohol, lots of it, mostly drunk at Jeh Wadia's (Prateik Babbar) Truck Bar.
Bani J's Umang, a personal favourite, and Siddhi evolve considerably over the course of the season, with Gagroo going from a spoilt, entitled Sobo princess to a more layered, complex character and Umang finding some vestige of closure and peace, despite making questionable choices. The same, unfortunately, cannot be said of Damini Rizvi Roy (Sayani Gupta), who continues her penchant for love triangles, and Anjana Menon (Kirti Kulhari), who still can't seem to let go of Varun Khanna (Neil Bhoopalam), the child-man she was once married to.
While the series reeks of privilege, constantly fails the Bechdel test and simply doesn't have the striking originality and chutzpah of Sex and the City and Girls, it is fun, breezy and fairly entertaining. Sure, you will marvel at the illogicality of some of the characters, but it won't be the worst few hours of your life.—Preeti Zachariah
Also read: With 'Temple Lamp', Ghalib’s ‘Chiragh-e-Dair’ now in English
