India’s web series space will end 2023 on a high note. Be it Guns and Gulaabs—one of the most searched titles on Google, or Rana Naidu—an Indian original that got global audiences, the repertoire of Indian storytelling has steadily grown. 

Likewise, many global series entertained the audience and left an impact on them. But some developed innovative ideas, while others used tried and tested ones to deliver binge-worthy shows. 

YS Life has picked some of the binge-worthy shows of 2023 to watch on slow December days. 

Beyond viewer-based reviews, we focused on the quality of the story and the strength of the performances on display. Interestingly, almost all series here do not feature stars. Instead, they rely on good storytelling above all else.

The list is in no particular order.  

Indian releases 

Kaala Paani, Netflix

Director Sameer Saxena created an immersive, ominous world in this story of corporate-political greed and the underlying, long-term consequences of messing with nature. 

Refreshing memories of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kaala Paani is about the spread of an unpredictable disease in the reclusive Andaman and Nicobar islands amid an upcoming tourist festival. 

As panic begins to spread and local hospitals face staff and supply shortages, a corporation is hellbent on making a water pipeline project a success at all costs.  

Featuring Mona Singh, Ashutosh Gowarikar, Vikas Kumar, Arushi Sharma, and a brilliant performance by Sukant Goel, the show awakens us to the dangers of the near future, as corporate profitability and disturbing the balance of the ecosystem pushes the pristine islands to the brink of ruin. 

School of Lies, Disney + Hotstar 

In this 2023 series, director Avinash Arun Dharware upends the narrative form to deliver a subtle study of why one lies and what a lie can mean (to anyone). 

A student disappears from a boarding school in a small hilly town. A student counsellor takes it upon herself to get the students to speak freely. As the story progresses, layers of lies and subterfuge emerge—from the usual ones to those with more damaging consequences. 

Be it a teacher who has an affair with 16-year-old students or the hidden history of the principal—it looks at the lies that people tell to maintain a sense of equilibrium at all costs. It also tackles generational trauma in its undertones highlighting the impact of unresolved pain on a person’s behaviour.  

School of Lies expands from a standard whodunnit into a psychological drama that investigates each character and their actions with an emphatic lens. 

Kohrra, Netflix

Besides bringing Punjabi actor Suvinder Vicky into the limelight, Kohrra is a layered and thought-provoking story about irrational but irresistible love. 

The story of two policemen tasked with investigating a missing foreigner and the murder of his NRI friend is intertwined with deep-set social prejudice and unrequited love and longing. 

It marks a departure from a “colourful and perennially happy” Punjab and turns these cliches on its head. Here, marriages are compromises for a family’s happiness, relationships are not sacrosanct but opportunistic, and the role of a mother is not always a natural fit. 

Filmed with mist and low visibility in many scenes, Kohrra is a conscious attempt to focus on the confusing nature of this case. It’s a human drama at its gripping best. 

Sweet Kaaram Coffee, Amazon Prime Video

Sweet Kaaram Coffee—starring Madhoo, Lakshmi, and Santhy Balachandran—is a liberating and light-hearted ride with off-road experiences, unexpected encounters with strangers, and revelations about their own selves.

As a 70-plus mother, her overworked daughter-in-law, and her cricketer granddaughter set off on an unplanned road trip without maps, their journey reveals regrets, disappointments, and doubts from the past. 

Each one forges new friendships and finds a new connection. They also discover just how varied their worldview is, different from others. 

Three generations of women escape the overbearing presence of a man, but the series goes beyond this and focuses on self-discovery. It is a musical drama with catchy songs and likeable female characters that one can relate to. 

Kaalkoot, JioCinema

Kaalkoot is an engrossing study of preconceived notions and biases in India’s police force and society at large. It stands out for the exceptional performance by Vijay Varma as a police officer. 

A girl has been attacked by acid. Investigating the perpetrators of this crime throws up the effects of social conditioning and a confirmation bias against the victim by marking her as a temptress. 

Set in North India in a fictitious town, the series explores the ugly side of society, where women have little room to step out of line. As the investigation proceeds, the change in the protagonist, the officer in charge, makes this series an unusual and progressive police drama. different kind of procedural. 

He works through his past biases, defends a victim with flaws and who wears her feelings on the sleeve. It takes on male chauvinism and the bastion of a male-dominated police force without overstating its purpose. 

Kerala Crime Files, Disney + Hotstar 

As a crime series, Kerala Crime Files—the first Malayalam web series—is well-written and reflective of society’s prejudices and human behaviour. 

A sex worker is murdered at a shady lodge, and there is no pressure to solve this crime, as sex workers are presumed to be involved in criminal matters. However, the police officer in charge of this investigation and his subordinates are resolute in their hunt for the killer. Only the investigation is confused and misled by deliberate misinformation. 

Directed by Ahammed Khabeer and written by Ashiq Aimar, this series makes for engrossing storytelling as it doesn’t pack thrills and punches like a typical series. Instead, it keeps the narrative real, sometimes slacking in the process, and highlights the human elements of its characters. 

It is an Indian police story that keeps proceedings grounded. 

International releases 

The Night Agent, Netflix

A pulpy and fast-paced political drama, this series surprised many when it turned out to be among the most-watched global hits on OTT. 

Based on the quick-read novel by Matthew Quirk, Gabriel Basso leads the charge as an FBI agent who has a point to prove to his peers and bosses. When a phone call at night plunges him into a conspiracy involving political wheeling-dealing, he has to follow a trail that leads to a Russian spy in the White House. 

This series doesn’t have the depth or quirky humour of The Diplomat—another political drama worth watching. But it is immersive, binge-worthy, and good fun. 

The Bear, Disney + Hotstar  

The Bear takes an up-close inside look at the goings-on in the upmarket restaurant business. Jeremy Allen White delivers a compelling performance as Carmy, set upon relaunching his late brother’s eatery with the original team, re-trained and focused on getting at least one Michelin star.

Post-COVID-19, the challenge of staying alive in the food business is tough enough. Set in Chicago, lush city visuals, delicious food imagery, clanking and hissing noises, and the chaos of DIY a whole new restaurant from a mouldy, ageing dump—captivates, and the friction between its team feels realistic. 

The personal battles of the chef and each team member begin from past doubts and culminate in the realisation of one’s potential. It is written with an undertone of deadpan humour, so phrases like ‘Jewish Lighting’ make one laugh amid the stress of launching a restaurant. 

The Bear is long-form writing at its best for the screen. Awards aside, it is a captivating watch with surprising star cameos enriching the story. 

The Fall of the House of Usher, Netflix

Mike Flannagan—the maker of binge-worthy horror-drama series The Haunting of Bly Manor and Midnight Mass—adapted an Edgar Allen Poe classic based on 21st-century Machiavellian evil and unrelenting greed. 

A Big Pharma tycoon has an empire that he built with his rapacious sister. As unimaginable death befalls all his children, the head of the family, Roderick Usher, invites a prosecutor home who tracked him unsuccessfully for decades. 

In his childhood home—as a raven overlooks his confessions and ghoul-like apparitions of his dead children confront him each time—he tells his story of founding the evil empire of Usher and the death premonitions of his children. 

With many familiar faces from Flanagan’s earlier series, he introduces elements of Poe’s stories—the red masque, the raven, the gold bug, and the black cat—to build to dramatic and bloody climaxes in each episode. 

While the storytelling sags at points, the series is immersive and delightfully horrific. It also has a moralistic undertone to it with a devil-like character turning up at crucial junctures in the story. 

Lessons in Chemistry, Apple TV +

Brie Larson delivers a welcome change from her overdone franchise role as Captain Marvel in Lessons in Chemistry—an adaptation of the book by American chef Bonnie Garmus. 

Garmus—a household name on TV and a certified genius—held a master’s in chemistry but was reduced to unworthy tasks in laboratories in a male-dominated science sphere. 

This series shows her struggles with motherhood, her social awkwardness, and her capacity to adapt till she lands a cooking show on TV. Initially, without much thought, she began advocating fair treatment for women at home and work. 

Eventually, her show catches on, something that she builds despite male opposition from her studio and channel bosses. Larson plays the character without a smile or a visible expression for most of the series and makes it work. 

Entertaining and informative, Lessons in Chemistry highlights the structural prejudice that women faced in America and continue to face worldwide. 

Gen V,  Amazon Prime Video 

For those with superhero fatigue, The Boys had come as a welcome relief, and its spin-off goes back to a superhero college. Gen V deals with teenage and youth issues, supersizing some of it to fit the ‘supes’ or upcoming superheroes in focus here. 

Kids go to Godolkin University, shortened as God U, and run by Vought International, the corporation backing spoilt superheroes that make up the Boys. 

In focus is a young girl who can manipulate blood and wreak havoc accidentally on her family. While the university focuses on training these budding superheroes to fight for good reasons and avoid the vain ‘influencer’ mindset, each one has a different goal in mind. 

It makes an understated remark about families that sacrifice for their kids to become super achievers. Keeping with trademark humour, cynicism, and gore, the series is an entertaining watch. 

Beef, Netflix 

As can be expected from the independent production company A 24, Beef is a breakthrough in dark comedy, which talks about the class divide and the economic bias in American society. 

Interestingly, both lead characters are of Asian origin, but their economic standing converts a simple incident of road rage into a vicious cat-and-mouse game. 

While this series goes to some dark places in its narrative, it is underlined with funny dialogue and unpredictable behaviour by its characters. It has twists and turns that one least expects, but one marvels over the writing.

With stellar performances by Steven Yeun and Ali Wong, the series adapts literary tributes into each episode’s narrative. It’s a wild ride, packed with surprises as people can be very weird sometimes. 

Here are our honourable mentions: The Jengaburu Curse, The Last of Us, The Diplomat, Choona, Succession (final season), and The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart. 

Encapsulating all worth-watching series in a single article is difficult. However, celebrating the varied and diverse storytelling these shows bring us is worth applauding.

(All images are sourced from IMDb)