Ullu Web Series

The ensemble cast of ‘Gulmohar’ has not a single weak link from the youngest grandchild to the oldest servant of the house. All of them are so natural and so nuanced in their individual performances that you believe them to be a family with a long and complicated history. While most family dramas often go wrong because of a bad performance by one or two of the cast members and are then trapped in some sort of theatrics, the entire cast of ‘Gulmohar’ functions at the same high plane of naturalism, thus creating an entirely immersive world of fiction, a feat rarely achieved by writers and actors alike. This is the core of ‘Gulmohar’.

A year or so ago there was a rumor that a major international streaming service was negotiating a deal to license a handful of Ullu originals as part of an anthology on their platform. The rumor even got as specific as to note that as part of the deal they would require Ullu to supply professional subtitles and dubbed versions of the films.

For now, the most plausible route for subtitles to appear for a Ullu original is via a licensing deal with a large international streaming service that would, as part of their standard practice, add subtitles and possibly even a full dub. Look for Ullu shows to start turning up in the catalogs of services like Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime Video in your region.

Until Ullu signs that deal, the answer to this remains a firm ‘No’ – it won’t be Ullu adding English subtitles to their content.

Then there’s the teaser for this new series Shaitaan Ki Bhabhi. The title translates to ‘Devil’s Sister-in-Law’. So no, it’s not a documentary. I already mentioned the entire premise is ridiculous enough for me to not even want to get into it. The team behind this is having a ball and it’s evident. They’re not trying to hide the fact that it’s fiction. If there’s a ‘true story’ tag on the series, I’d imagine it’s being used in a way that’s ironic or the person just copied and pasted it from a template. It’s how most horror movies are. They start with ‘Based on true events’ to set the tone of the movie, even though we all know it’s completely made up. That’s how Ullu is operating too.

The main problem with watching movies and TV series online are the technical limitations imposed by most online streaming sites. They are usually capped at 480p, which in today’s world of high definition is sub-par. Watching a beautifully shot series of short films like ‘Lust Stories’ or ‘Ghost Stories’ in low video quality completely destroys the impact of the movies.

I didn’t finish this one after three episodes or so. It was fine. I never found out how many episodes it had total – perhaps 8? It seems that a lot of musical comedies have 8 episodes, but this one just didn’t grab me. The conflicts felt kind of manufactured, and the songs and dances were always kind of pleasant but never actually sort of integral to the rest of the episode. I know lots of people like it, though.

I’ve heard lots of people say how much they love Cannan, but this show just didn’t grab me. It might be just me, though – I need a really strong starting point to get interested in a new show, and then carry on even if the rest of the episodes are variable. To that end, the episode count for Cannan is pretty irrelevant. Maybe it goes to 80 or something, but who knows? First 8 episodes are where it’s at, and right now I just don’t care about any of the conflicts going on in this show.