The crimes are bigger and bloodier in Raat Akeli Hai: The Bansal Murders, and the motives even messier; but at its core, the film is a hollow reproduction of its genre predecessors, a familiar formula traced into an inferior product. By Karan Madhok

Even with its feminist gaze, Dabba Cartel’s biggest win is how it resists baking its narrative with one-note markers of gender and social identity. The result is a batch of hungry women out to hunt—sinking their teeth in this world to devour it to their heart’s content. By Sneha Bengani

When a young man calls a woman a ‘bandi’ in Made in Heaven, he casts the burden of decency upon her shoulders. Kavya Maheshwari explores how the intersection of language, power, and gender in contemporary Indian society reinforces patriarchal norms.

In times of stress and anxiety, why do many of us choose the familiarity of a ‘comfort watch’—of familiar shows, plotlines, and characters? Raj Darji explores a sense of loss among abundance.

Jaideep Ahlawat again portrays Hathi Ram Chaudhary in the second season of Paatal Lok, the haggard cop whose memory serves both as a crime-solving device and as moral code to leave no life unforgotten. By Karan Madhok

Despite an uneven recipe, Abhishek Chaubey’s Killer Soup has enough strong performances and intrigue to make for a palatable—and entertaining—main course. By Karan Madhok

The medical survival thriller Kaala Paani (2023) explores the dehumanization of indigenous communities through the prism of politics, development, and a dangerous pandemic in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. By Anusha Prakash

Set in a fictional college-town in North India, the SonyLIV thriller Garmi (2023) takes viewers on a nuanced exploration of the nexus of caste, politics, power, and violence. By Chittajit Mitra

Rural India takes centre-stage again in Season 2 of Panchayat, a series that follows the thread of comic absurdity to stitch up a progressive lens on village life. By Karan Madhok

Despite its ambitions to be a crime drama at the grandest scale, The Great Indian Murder (2022) falls into a trap of stereotypes and cliches, offering only an amalgamation of old ideas wrapped in a shiny new box. By Karan Madhok

SonyLIV web series Rocket Boys is a rare exception among recent dramas, where an entertaining story of post-Independent India also holds up a mirror of truths. - By Atulya Pathak

In House of Secrets: The Burari Deaths, Leena Yadav moulds the story about a tragedy into an active question of self-reflection for the larger society. - By Atulya Pathak