Screen Time: Shows to Watch During the Holidays
As the weather turns chilly and the year-end celebrations beckon, your entertainment options include streaming shows. Here’s a guide. From a haunting true-crime mystery and a gritty small-town investigation to a supernatural Gujarati sequel and a globe-spanning spy thriller, these stories will help you bring the year to a satisfying end.
Search: The Naina Murder Case (Hindi)
JioHotstar
What better time to binge on a gripping police drama than during the cold, grey winter months? Search: The Naina Murder Case is one of the most talkedabout shows of the season—a sharp, slow-burn procedural that keeps you guessing until the very end. The six-part series follows the investigation into the mysterious death of Naina Marathe, a university student whose remains are found in the abandoned campaign car of a rising youth politician, Tushar Surve. Was Naina caught in a dangerous political game? Did a night of partying with friends turn deadly? Or was it the trusted family friend who turned into a stalker? The show closes on a tense cliffhanger, setting up a thrilling second season.
What truly elevates Search is Konkona Sen Sharma’s brilliant performance as ACP Sanyukta Das, a sharp, world-weary officer trying to hold her personal life together while chasing justice. On the verge of leaving her job to fix her strained marriage and reconnect with her teenage daughter, she’s pulled back in by the Marathe case. Adding another layer of tension is her ambitious young replacement, ACP Jai Kanwal (played by Surya Sharma), who’s just as eager to prove himself as he is to push her out. Search may take its time to find its rhythm, but once it does, it delivers a solid, engaging watch.
Inspector Zende (Hindi)
Netflix
Inspector Zende takes a real-life manhunt and turns it into something unexpectedly fun—part thriller, part old-school masala entertainer. Manoj Bajpayee plays Mumbai’s most determined cop, Madhukar Zende, who’s on the trail of the smooth-talking conman and escape artist Carl Bhojraj (a wickedly charming Jim Sarbh), clearly inspired by Charles Sobhraj.
Director Chinmay Mandlekar keeps the chase fast, funny, and surprisingly light on its feet. Bajpayee’s Zende isn’t your brooding, burnt-out detective. He’s sharp, stubborn, and just the right amount of sarcastic, juggling bureaucrats and one very slippery criminal. By the time the cat-and-mouse game hits the beaches of Goa, the movie shifts into full-on crowd-pleaser mode, complete with a cheeky “dance” showdown that’s both stylish and hilarious. It’s not your typical gritty cop story—Inspector Zende plays like a throwback to the kind of energetic, entertaining thrillers Bollywood used to make, where the chase is just as fun as the catch.
Bhagwat: Chapter One – Raakshas (Hindi)
ZEE5
This dark, gritty crime thriller will grab your attention from the get-go. Set in Robertsganj, Uttar Pradesh, the story begins with the disappearance of a young woman, Poonam Mishra. What looks like a simple case of elopement soon unravels into a horrifying web of deceit, murder, and small-town politics.
Arshad Warsi plays ACP Vishwas Bhagwat, a tough, emotionally scarred cop haunted by his own past. When he learns that multiple women have gone missing under similar circumstances, his investigation reveals that the killer is the nondescript and soft-spoken “Sameer,” played chillingly by Jitendra Kumar. Kumar lures women with promises of love and freedom before poisoning them with cyanide—just because, it seems, he can. The two come face-to-face in court and the drama goes up a notch. The film delivers several haunting, emotionally charged moments that stay with you. Raw, unsettling, and deeply human, Bhagwat is not a polished crime caper; rather, it’s a slow, heavy watch that forces you to sit with the ugliness beneath society’s surface.
Vash: Level 2 (Gujarati)
Netflix
The sequel picks up twelve years after one of Gujarati cinema’s biggest hits—Vash (2023), which won the Indian national awards for best Gujarati feature film and supporting actress (Janki Bodiwala, who plays Aarya). The story followed Atharva (Hitu Kanodia), a man whose idyllic family vacation turns nightmarish after they encounter a mysterious stranger, Pratap, who uses black magic to practise mind-control over Aarya. In a country where people still tie lemon-and-chilli charms to doorways, fast on certain days to ward off evil, or whisper “nazar na lage” when something goes too well, Vash: Level 2 feels disturbingly plausible.
The story opens with a jolt—ten schoolgirls leap from their school terrace in eerie synchrony. Soon, other girls across the city begin to act violently and erratically. The cause? Rajnath, the younger brother of the original film’s black magician, Pratap. He uses hypnosis and dark rituals to control minds and spread chaos, hoping to surpass his imprisoned brother’s legacy. Atharva (Hitu Kanodia), still haunted by the trauma of his daughter Aarya’s past possession, is forced to confront his fears once again when Rajnath’s influence begins to reach her. Aarya, now grown but still frozen under Pratap’s spell, becomes the emotional heart of the story—a chilling reminder that evil doesn’t always disappear; it lingers, waiting to return. This is an ambitious, atmospheric continuation of the Vash universe and will keep you locked in right till the end.
Tehran (Hindi)
Netflix
Seeing John Abraham take on another meaty, more grounded role after The Diplomat (Netflix) last year makes me so joyous. Tehran puts the brawny actor in one of his most gripping roles yet. It’s a fast, tense spy thriller with considerable emotional depth. In Delhi, where the story starts in 2012, ACP Rajeev Kumar (Abraham), an officer, investigates a bomb blast that kills a young girl he personally knew. The tragedy hits close to home, and a heartbroken Rajeev takes on the case with deep commitment. His search for the truth pulls him into a dangerous world of international espionage involving India, Iran, and Israel. As he follows the trail, Rajeev realizes he’s been abandoned by his own country and is being hunted by Iranian intelligence. Forced to work alone, he goes rogue—chasing justice while struggling with his grief. It’s smart, sharp, and fast-paced: a solid watch for anyone who loves spy thrillers with heart.
Baisakhi Roy is the editor of Canadian Immigrant. Her work has appeared in leading Canadian media outlets, including The Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, and CBC. She specializes in stories at the intersection of immigrant life and culture in Canada, with a strong focus on workplace issues and diversity.
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