Netflix put the spotlight on women with its Original offerings in March, including a new film and series with strong female leads and a stand-up series featuring four women comics from India. Parents caught a break, too, with newly-added animated series and films to entertain the kids. Here are all the new Indian movies and TV series added to Netflix in March 2020.
N = Netflix Original
New Indian Movies on Netflix: March 2020
Bhangra Paa Le (2020)
Language: Hindi
Runtime: 130 Minutes
Director: Sneha Taurani
Cast: Sunny Kaushal, Rukshar Dhillon
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Dance | Added to Netflix: March 1st
Rivals from opposing college dance teams face off on an international stage, hoping to showcase Punjabi culture to the world through the medium of Bhangra dance. In this kindhearted story, Bhangra connects the dancers with their dreams for the future and gives them a way to honor their past. A parallel plotline flashes back to the experiences of one character’s grandfather during World War II, with Sunny Kaushal playing both grandfather and grandson. The dynamic choreography is the highlight, but the story is sweet as well.
Irandam Ulagaporin Kadaisi Gundu/The Last Bomb of the Second World War (2019)
Language: Tamil
Runtime: 132 Minutes
Director: Athiyan Athirai
Cast: Dinesh, Anandhi, Munishkanth
Genre: Drama | Added to Netflix: March 3rd
A scrap-metal dealer has his hands full trying to convince his prospective in-laws to let him marry the woman he loves. Then he unwittingly finds an unexploded World War II bomb, putting him in the cross-hairs of politicians and a police force willing to do anything to hide the bomb’s existence.
Angu Vaikuntapurathu (2020)
Language: Malayalam
Runtime: 161 Minutes
Director: Trivikram Srinivas
Cast: Allu Arjun, Pooja Hegde, Tabu, Murali Sharma
Genre: Action, Drama | Added to Netflix: March 5th
Angu Vaikuntapurathu is the Malayalam-dubbed version of the Telugu film Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo, which was added to Netflix in late February. Allu Arjun plays the son of a rich family who’s swapped at birth and raised middle class. Drama ensues.
Guilty (2020) N
Language: Hindi
Runtime: 119 Minutes
Director: Ruchi Narain
Cast: Kiara Advani, Taher Shabbir, Akansha Ranjan Kapoor
Genre: Drama, Social Issue | Added to Netflix: March 6th
When her college boyfriend is accused of rape, rocker Nanki (Kiara Advani) sets out to investigate the incident herself, forcing her to confront her assumptions about both her boyfriend and his accuser, and exposing a toxic culture of class privilege on campus.
Jai Mummy Di (2020)
Language: Hindi
Runtime: 101 Minutes
Director: Navjot Gulati
Cast: Poonam Dhillon, Supriya Pathak, Sunny Singh, Sonnalli Seygall
Genre: Comedy, Romance | Added to Netflix: March 14th
A couple’s wedding plans are thrown into turmoil when they discover that their mothers have a decades-old enmity. Bollywood veterans Supriya Pathak and Poonam Dhillon play the feuding matriarchs in a movie that production house Luv Films bills as a “Mom-Com.”
Bypass Road (2019)
Language: Hindi
Runtime: 135 Minutes
Director: Naman Nitin Mukesh
Cast: Neil Nitin Mukesh, Adah Sharma, Rajit Kapoor
Genre: Thriller | Added to Netflix: March 15th
Actor Neil Nitin Mukesh makes his debut as a screenwriter with Bypass Road, the first film directed by his brother, Naman Nitin Mukesh. Neil plays a fashion designer who’s injured in a car accident, only to find himself connected to a model’s death and stalked by a masked killer.
Maska (2020) N
Language: Hindi
Runtime: 111 Minutes
Director: Neeraj Udhwani
Cast: Manisha Koirala, Prit Kamani, Shirley Setia, Javed Jaffrey
Genre: Comedy, Drama | Added to Netflix: March 27th
Mumbai was once home to hundreds of Irani cafes, but only a few dozen remain, serving the signature dish bun maska. In the movie Maska, a young man with Bollywood dreams refuses to take over the operation of his family’s Irani cafe. But a cute photographer documenting the history of such cafes makes him see how important his family’s business is to the community.
Paharganj (2019)
Language: Hindi
Runtime: 107 Minutes
Director: Rakesh Ranjan Kumar
Cast: Lorena Franco, Bijesh Jayarajan, Neet Chowdhary
Genre: Crime, Drama | Added to Netflix: March 31st
Spanish actress Lorena Franco makes her Hindi-film debut in Paharganj. She plays a woman who gets caught in a web of sex, drugs, murder, and international conspiracies when she travels to Delhi to find her missing boyfriend.
Punyakoti (2019)
Language: Sanskrit
Runtime: 85 Minutes
Director: Ravishankar Venkateswaran
Cast: Revathi, Roger Narayanan, Sneha Ravishankar
Genre: Animation | Added to Netflix: March 31st
Punyakoti is the first animated movie ever made with Sanskrit dialogue. In this depiction of a popular folk song, an impending drought brings together a hungry tiger and a cow that always speaks the truth in a parable about human-caused environmental destruction.
New Indian TV Series on Netflix: March 2020
Mighty Little Bheem: Festival of Colors (2020) N
Language: No dialogue
Seasons: 1 | Episodes: 3
Cast: Samruddhi Shukla, Aranya Kaur, Rajesh Kava
Genre: Animation | Added to Netflix: March 5th
Little baby Bheem celebrates Holi with his family in this collection of 6-minute episodes.
She (2020) N
Language: Hindi
Seasons: 1 | Episodes: 7
Cast: Aaditi Pohankar, Vijay Varma, Vishwas Kini
Genre: Crime, Thriller | Added to Netflix: March 20th
A reserved police officer must use her feminine wiles to survive a dangerous undercover assignment, posing as a sex worker to infiltrate a drug ring. The gritty series is created by filmmaker Imtiaz Ali, who’s had his greatest commercial success with his romantic comedy-dramas.
Ladies Up (2019) N
Language: English and Hindi
Seasons: 1 | Episodes: 4
Cast: Prashasti Singh, Kaneez Surka, Supriya Joshi, Niveditha Prakasam
Genre: Stand-Up Comedy | Added to Netflix: March 27th
Comics Prashasti Singh, Kaneez Surka, Supriya Joshi, Niveditha Prakasam cover everything from parental disapproval, divorce, revenge, and surprising celebrity lookalikes in this collection of stand-up sets.
Akbar Birbal (2019)
Language: Hindi
Seasons: 1 | Episodes: 13
Cast: Kiku Sharda, Vishal Kotian, Delnaaz Irani
Genre: Animation | Added to Netflix: March 31st
Emperor Akbar and his advisor Birbal use their wit and wisdom to impart moral lessons to their audience in this historical adventure series.
Bal Ganesh (2019)
Language: Hindi
Seasons: 1 | Episodes: 13
Cast: Meghna Erande Joshi, Parminder Ghumman
Genre: Animation | Added to Netflix: March 31
As a kid, the young elephant god Ganesh fights for what’s right while still having fun with his friends. He also invents football, apparently.
Which of the newly added Indian movies and TV series will you be watching? Let us know in the comments below!
