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From Money Heist to Kota Factory, What to Watch in September
From India in September, the biggest name is TVF’s Kota Factory, which moves to Netflix for its second season — it’s out September 24. Saif Ali Khan, Arjun Kapoor, Jacqueline Fernandez, and Yami Gautam star in the horror comedy Bhoot Police, available September 17 on Disney+ Hotstar. Also on that day, Disney+ Hotstar will unveil another horror comedy allegedly in Annabelle Sethupathi, with Taapsee Pannu and Vijay Sethupathi. Elsewhere, Konkona Sensharma and Mohit Raina lead a harried and terrified hospital staff in Mumbai Diaries: 26/11, out September 9 on Prime Video. And there’s a three-film anthology in Ankahi Kahaniya, coming September 17 to Netflix.
If you are looking for more big names, Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon return for the second season of Apple TV+’s flagship series The Morning Show on September 17. Impeachment: American Crime Story will chronicle the scandalous affair (and its aftermath) between US President Bill Clinton and then-White House intern Monica Lewinsky — she worked on the project as a producer — starting September 8 on Disney+ Hotstar.
With that, here’s our September 2021 guide to Netflix, Disney+ Hotstar, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, and the cinemas.
Fast & Furious 9
When: September 2
Where: Cinemas
It’s time for family — over three months late. Following several delays, first due to cinema closures and then owing to Universal Pictures’ (unfulfilled) desire to avoid other big-ticket releases, the ninth chapter of The Fast Saga finally, finally rolls into Indian cinemas. If you’re worried about being in an enclosed space with strangers, Fast & Furious 9 is available on-demand elsewhere, though you’ll need to use a VPN. It’s a safer albeit more expensive alternative, and the only way to watch it right now for those who live where cinemas haven’t reopened.
As is the norm for Fast & Furious titles, the plot is just an excuse to keep putting the star studded cast in over the top situations, and in the latest installment you will see: Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, John Cena, Nathalie Emmanuel, Jordana Brewster, Sung Kang, Michael Rooker, Helen Mirren, Kurt Russell, and Charlize Theron. Fast Five director Justin Lin is back behind the camera. F9 has already grossed over $700 million (about Rs. 5,197 crores) since its May debut internationally.
Watch the Final Trailer for Fast & Furious 9
Black Widow
When: September 3
Where: Disney+ Hotstar
It’s here, finally. Thanks to COVID, it took Marvel over two years (since Spider-Man: Far From Home) to release its next movie. And thanks to COVID, again, Black Widow wasn’t available in India in line with the rest of the world. Now, it’s arrived — and Scarlett Johansson’s first (and only) standalone run as Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow is available to everyone, in six languages.
As for the movie itself, Black Widow is set following the events of Captain America: Civil War, with Natasha taking a trip back home to see her family of sorts: Florence Pugh as sister-figure Yelena Belova, David Harbour as father-figure Alexei Shostakov, and Rachel Weisz as mother-figure Melina Vostokoff. Like Natasha, Yelena and Melina were also trained at the KGB Red Room in the art of Black Widow. Pugh will even take over from Johansson in the MCU, what with Natasha having died in Avengers: Endgame.
O-T Fagbenle (The Handmaid’s Tale), William Hurt (Civil War), and Ray Winstone (The Departed) also have roles. Julia Louis-Dreyfus will cameo as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, whom we first saw in the The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Cate Shortland (Somersault) directs.
Black Widow Trailer Promises to Bring Scarlett Johansson Home
Rachel Weisz, Scarlett Johansson, Florence Pugh in Black Widow
Photo Credit: Jay Maidment/Marvel Studios
Cinderella
When: September 3
Where: Amazon Prime Video
Have there not been enough Cinderella movies? Sony Pictures thinks it has something worthwhile to offer — or it did, until it took it off cinemas and sold it to Amazon — with this quasi-revisionist take on the fairytale traditional that finds the titular orphan (Camilla Cabello, making her acting debut) rejecting Prince Charming (Nicholas Galitzine) because she cares about her career: selling her signature dresses. But that’s easier said than done, when you’ve got the world in your face.
As part of its modernisation, Cinderella stars Billy Porter as a genderless take on fairy godmother. The standard roles are still in place: Idina Menzel as the annoying stepmother, Pierce Brosnan and Minnie Driver as the King and Queen, and three mice who turn into men in James Corden, Romesh Ranganathan, and James Acaster. And oh, it’s a musical, did I mention that? Kay Cannon (Blockers, Pitch Perfect) writes and directs.
Watch the Official Trailer for Amazon’s Cinderella
Camilla Cabello in and as Cinderella
Photo Credit: Kerry Brown/Amazon
Money Heist
When: September 3
Where: Netflix
The beginning of the end. The fifth and final season of Netflix’s most popular Spanish series and second most popular non-English series (behind Lupin) will be divided in two five-episode halves — Volume 1 is due in September, with Volume 2 due in December. And the gang has to face major problems on Money Heist season 5: The Professor (Álvaro Morte) is in Sierra’s (Najwa Nimri) clutches, and the government is ready to send in the army to clear them out. A robbery has become a war.
All five episodes of Money Heist season 5 part 1 will be available at once.
Watch the Official Trailer for Money Heist Season 5 Part 1
Najwa Nimri, Álvaro Morte behind the scenes on Money Heist season 5
Photo Credit: Tamara Arranz/Netflix
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
When: September 3
Where: Cinemas
Kim’s Convenience star Simu Liu gears up as Marvel’s first Asian superhero lead Shang-Chi, a skilled martial artist and the troubled son of his crime lord father Wenwu, played by award-winning Tony Leung, who is also the leader of the titular terrorist organisation. Escaping those daddy issues, Shang-Chi takes off for San Francisco but he’s forced to confront his past a decade later, after his father pushes him to take his rightful place alongside him.
Awkwafina plays Shang-Chi’s American friend Katy, Meng’er Zhang is his estranged sister Xialing, Fala Chen portrays Shang-Chi and Xialing’s mother Jiang Li, Benedict Wong returns as the sorcerer Wong from Doctor Strange, and Michelle Yeoh plays Shang-Chi’s aunt and mystical city Ta Lo guardian Jiang Nan — the second character she has played in the Marvel Cinematic Universe following her tiny role in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
If theatres aren’t open in your area, you can expect Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings to drop October 18 (or later) on Disney+ and Disney+ Hotstar.
Watch the Final Shang-Chi trailer in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada
Impeachment: American Crime Story
When: September 8
Where: Disney+ Hotstar
The Clinton–Lewinsky scandal is the focus of the third season of this anthology series, with Beanie Feldstein as Lewinsky, Clive Owen as former US President Bill Clinton, Sarah Paulson as Linda Tripp who secretly recorded their phone calls, Margo Martindale as Lucianne Goldberg who advised her to do so, Annaleigh Ashford as Paula Jones who sued Clinton for sexual harassment, and Edie Falcon as then-First Lady Hillary Clinton. Lewinsky served as a consultant and producer on the series.
Based in part on Jeffrey Toobin’s best-seller “A Vast Conspiracy”, with newcomer Sarah Burgess — this is her first credited series — adapting it for screen. Two episodes upon premiere, with the remaining eight following once per week.
Mumbai Diaries: 26/11
When: September 9
Where: Amazon Prime Video
The Cama & Albless Hospital was one of the early targets during Mumbai’s 26/11 terror attacks, with doctors, nurses and staff forced to use all sorts of rudimentary measures — a fridge, chairs, an X-ray machine, and medicine trolleys were used to bar entry — to keep patients safe from the AK-47-wielding terrorists. That’s the story being fictionalised in this Amazon series, whose title suggests an anthology approach should the first season do well.
Konkona Sensharma, Mohit Raina, Shreya Dhanwanthary, Natasha Bharadwaj, Mrunmayee Deshpande, Tina Desai, Satyajeet Dubey, Prakash Belawadi, Indraneel Bhattacharya, Pushkaraj Chirputkar, and Balaji Gauri are part of the Mumbai Diaries: 26/11 cast.
The Mumbai Diaries: 26/11 trailer hints the doctors treated an injured terrorist, even in the face of heavy opposition from the police and other patients, which isn’t something I have found news evidence for. Clearly, the Amazon series is taking some creative liberties here. Nikkhil Advani (Batla House) and Nikhil Gonsalves (Hasmukh) share directing duties; the latter is also co-writer.
Lucifer
When: September 10
Where: Netflix
Lucifer’s little sister Rory (Brianna Hildebrand) and — in what seems like a bit of a red herring — and his detective lover Chloe Decker (Lauren German) are seemingly both gunning for the Devil in the series’ sixth and final season. Actually, that should say the newly-anointed God, though Lucifer Morningstar (Tom Ellis) isn’t really showing any enthusiasm for the new job. Even as his reluctance to step into the role is causing all sorts of problems for Earth’s denizens.
Watch the Official Trailer for Lucifer‘s Final Season
Tom Ellis as Lucifer in Lucifer season 6
Photo Credit: John P. Fleenor/Netflix
Ankahi Kahaniya
When: September 17
Where: Netflix
Netflix’s love for anthologies continues with three new directors — Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari, Abhishek Chaubey, and Saket Chaudhary — presenting tales of love, longing, relationships and human emotions, as the streaming service describes it.
In front of the camera, we have the likes of Abhishek Banerjee, Rinku Mahadeo Rajguru, Dellzad Hiwale, Kunal Kapoor, Zoya Hussain, Nikhil Dwivedi, and Palomi. Banerjee is in Tiwari’s film, Chaudhary’s stars Kapoor, Hussain, Dwivdei and Palomi, while Chaubey brings in newcomers Rajguru and Hiwale.
Like Lust Stories and Ghost Stories, Ankahi Kahaniya — that’s Hindi for “Untold Stories” — comes from producers Ronnie Screwvala and Ashi Dua Sara.
Annabelle Sethupathi
When: September 17
Where: Disney+ Hotstar
Taapsee Pannu and Vijay Sethupathi star in the lead of this movie that we know very little about honestly. It’s a horror comedy, reportedly. Pannu tweeted the poster with a caption that suggested rebirth might be part of the plot. Even the first look tells us very little. Sethupathi appears in regal Indian attire, while Pannu dons more old-fashioned Westernised outfits. Is Annabelle Sethupathi set during the British era or something?
And though it will originally be in Tamil it seems, Disney+ Hotstar is also unveiling Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, and Hindi versions (where it’s called Annabelle Rathore). Deepak Sundarrajan makes his directorial debut.
Vijay Sethupathi, Taapsee Pannu in Annabelle Sethupathi
Photo Credit: Disney+ Hotstar
Bhoot Police
When: September 17
Where: Disney+ Hotstar
Saif Ali Khan, Arjun Kapoor, Jacqueline Fernandez, and Yami Gautam star in this horror “comedy” that finds two god-fearing exorcists (Khan and Kapoor) facing the biggest case of their lives. But not a single joke in the Bhoot Police trailer landed for me, and the parts that weren’t supposed to be funny are funny. Javed Jaffrey co-stars. Pavan Kirpalani (Ragini MMS, Phobia) directs.
The Morning Show
When: September 17
Where: Apple TV+
Jennifer Aniston’s morning news presenter gets her job back in the 10-episode second season of Apple’s highest-profile series, and naturally renews her rivalry with Reese Witherspoon’s fellow morning news presenter. One new episode will air every week until November 19.
New this season are Julianna Margulies as another news anchor, Hasan Minhaj’s as Reese’s co-host, Greta Lee as tech world wunderkind, Ruairi O’Connor as a YouTube star, Holland Taylor as the chairwoman, Tara Karsian as news producer, and Valeria Golino as a documentary filmmaker.
The rest of the original cast — Billy Crudup, Mark Duplass, Néstor Carbonell, Karen Pittman, Bel Powley, Desean Terry, Jack Davenport, and Steve Carell — return as well. Except Gugu Mbatha-Raw. Creator Kerry Ehrin continues as showrunner.
Sex Education
When: September 17
Where: Netflix
In the wake of the deleted voicemail, Otis (Asa Butterfield) takes the casual-sex route to distract himself in the third season of Sex Education. Meanwhile, his mother Jean (Gillian Anderson) is preparing for the new baby’s arrival, popular-girl Aimee (Aimee Lou Wood) has discovered feminism, new headteacher Hope (Jemima Kirke) is trying to turn Moordale around, and former headmaster Michael’s (Alistair Petrie) older and more successful brother Peter (Jason Isaacs) shows up.
Al of the other main cast — Eric (Ncuti Gatwa), Maeve (Emma Mackey), Adam (Connor Swindells), Jackson (Kedar Williams-Stirling), Ruby (Mimi Keene), Anwar (Chaneil Kular), Olivia (Simone Ashley), Lily (Tanya Reynolds), Ola (Patricia Allison), and Jakob (Mikael Persbrandt) — also return. Dua Saleh will recur as new non-binary student Cal Bowman.
Asa Butterfield, Emma Mackey in Sex Education season 3
Photo Credit: Netflix
Star Wars: Visions
When: September 22
Where: Disney+ Hotstar
Anime comes to a galaxy far, far away as Disney hands over the creative tools to seven different Japanese anime studios, who deliver nine short films for the first season of this Star Wars anthology series. You can watch them in Japanese or English, as you like, with a voice cast including Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Neil Patrick Harris, Alison Brie, David Harbour, Simu Liu, Kyle Chandler, Masaki Terasoma, Akeno Watanabe, Hiroyuki Yoshino, Akio Kaneda, and Tokuyoshi Kawashima.
As for the nine short Star Wars films themselves, they are about a princess, space bunnies, a fallen Jedi, Samurai-esque Jedi and Sith, a droid who wishes to be a Jedi, a straw hat-donning astromech droid, a daughter of a lightsabersmith, eight Force-sensitive warriors, Luke and Leia-type twins born to the dark side of the Force — and a “Star Wars rock opera”. I cannot wait to see them all, but I especially can’t wait to see the last of those.
Watch the Official Trailer for Star Wars: Visions
A still from Star Wars: Visions
Photo Credit: Disney/Lucasfilm
Foundation
When: September 24
Where: Apple TV+
Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series has never been adapted, until now. And it’s looking like The Expanse meet Game of Thrones. Whether we will get to the end is another matter already, given the Foundation books span centuries. Ask David S. Goyer (Blade, Batman Begins), he wrote it after all.
Genius mathematician Hari Seldon (Jared Harris) has predicted, nay forecasted, the fall of the Galactic Empire. Naturally, it’s upsetting to those in power — and more so to those without. With Hari’s help, who says the future of humanity will need a foundation they can use to build upon, a band of exiles start to save the most essential parts of civilisation. Easier said than done really.
Three episodes — with the pilot from Snow White and the Huntsman director Rupert Sanders — release upon premiere, with the remaining seven to debut in weekly instalments.
Kota Factory
When: September 24
Where: Netflix
The second season of TVF’s black-and-white revelation is headed to Netflix, following the acqui-newal — that’s an acquisition and a renewal, I just coined the term — announcement in March. It was previously free-to-watch on YouTube and the TVF website. The first season is still on YouTube, and it’s also now on Netflix. This also means that Kota Factory season 2 won’t have a weekly release. Instead, all five episodes will be available at once.
The venue might have changed, but the story remains the same. Through its protagonist Vaibhav Pandey (Mayur More), Kota Factory will continue to comment on the state of Indian education, as we see Vaiabhav try to get into Kota’s leading institute Maheshwari, while balancing friendships, his relationship with his mentor (Jitendra Kumar), and the looming pressure of getting into IIT.
Ranjan Raj, Alam Khan, Ahsaas Channa, Revathi Pillai and Urvi Sing also star. Raghav Subbu directs; he also served as co-showrunner alongside Shreyansh Pandey. Kota Factory creator Saurabh Khanna is among the writers alongside Abhishek Yadav, Puneet Batra, and Manoj Kalwani.
Netflix See What’s Next India — the 9 Most Exciting Announcements for 2021
“At Xbox, we believe that with better tools, creators can make even more extraordinary games,” Haiyan Zhang, GM, Xbox Gaming AI, said in a blog post. “This partnership will bring together: Inworld’s expertise in working with generative AI models for character development, Microsoft’s cutting-edge cloud-based AI solutions including Azure OpenAI Service, Microsoft Research’s technical insights into the future of play, and Team Xbox’s strengths in revolutionizing accessible and responsible creator tools for all developers.”
The aforementioned AI design copilot is a toolset that will help game designers turn prompts into scripts and dialogue trees. In contrast, the character runtime will enable dynamically generated plot beats and quests. We’ve already seen heavy AI integration in games by way of procedural generation — a more recent example being the 1000+ planets in Starfield. Not to mention, enemy AI has been around for way longer.
Inworld made headlines in August when it launched a modded story mode for Grand Theft Auto V, Sentient Streets, in which players had to investigate the rise of a bizarre AI-worshipping cult — a segment loaded with characters that spoke in AI-generated dialogue, on the fly. The mod was later taken down by publisher Take-Two, leaving a permanent strike on the creator Bloc’s YouTube channel. As per The Verge, Inworld’s AI technology can also be used for narration in top-down RPGs to warn players about any events awaiting off-screen and respond to questions like we’ve seen in the past year with AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Bing Chat. Microsoft has also been heavily banking on artificial intelligence, having made a $10 billion (about Rs. 83,254 crore) investment in OpenAI. The company has also integrated AI tools into its popular suite of services and also added an AI copilot to Windows.
Despite being a Microsoft-affiliated AI toolset, it would be interesting to see whether titles using them will be allowed to thrive on other platforms. In July, Valve claimed that it would be cracking down on games that included AI-generated assets if the developer didn’t own the copyright to the piece of art. For the uninitiated, when you insert a prompt to create something in AI, the software simply repurposes existing assets found online and mushes them together — basically stealing from other artists and writers without appropriate commercial licenses. Infringing them would lead to the game not being distributed on Steam, forcing the developers to seek proper licenses for the asset by reaching out to the AI companies involved. It’s unclear how Microsoft’s partnership will play out — as long as AI content is being used as a catalyst to innovate and create something new, it should be fine.
In a post on X shared by BSNL’s Andhra Pradesh (@bsnl_ap_circle) unit, the company confirmed that BSNL users can upgrade their older 2G or 3G SIMs to a 4G SIM for free. Not only will the upgrade be free, but a promotional image shared with the post suggests that users who opt for the upgrade will also receive 4GB of free data that will be valid for three months. It is speculated that BSNL is aiming to boost its upcoming 4G services with this offer. The announcement was first spotted by Telecom Talk.
To access the free data offer and the free upgrade, BSNL users are requested to get in touch with executives at BSNL’s Customer Service Centre, franchisee or retailer stores, or contact one of their Direct Selling Agents (DSA). The promo image also adds in a finer print that the offer is available with certain terms and conditions, but hasn’t detailed any, so far.
Reliance’s Jio recently launched the 4G-supported Bharat B1 feature phone in India. The handset is priced at Rs. 1,299 in India. Alongside 4G connectivity, the phone comes with JioCinema and JioSaavn applications pre-installed.
The Jio Bharat B1 is equipped with the JioPay application, which is said to allow users to make UPI payments. Aiming to increase accessibility, the phone supports 23 languages overall, including multiple regional languages.
Realme, via Weibo, announced the arrival of the Realme GT 5 Pro in China. The display of the handset is confirmed to offer 3000 nits peak brightness. It has also been teased to offer heat dissipation with a surface area of around 10,000mm2. It is confirmed to ship with Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC. The post doesn’t specify the exact launch date of the smartphone, however, given the release of the teasers, the launch could be just around the corner.
The Realme GT 5 Pro has been in the news a lot lately. It is expected to feature a 6.78-inch (1,264×2,780 pixels) AMOLED display and is tipped to come in 8GB, 12GB, and 16GB RAM options along with 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB inbuilt storage options.
For optics, the Realme GT 5 Pro is said to have a triple rear camera unit comprising two 50-megapixel sensors and an 8-megapixel shooter at the rear. The camera setup might include a Sony LYTIA LYT808 sensor, an OmniVision OV08D10 secondary sensor, and a Sony IMX890 telephoto sensor. For selfies, there could be a 32-megapixel sensor at the front. It is said to carry a 5,400mAh battery with support for 100W wired charging and 50W wireless charging.
The Realme GT 5 Pro is expected to come with upgrades over Realme GT 5. The latter was launched in China in August with a price tag of CNY 2,999 for the base model with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.
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