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From The Bear To White Lotus, The Top 10 International Shows To Stream On JioHotstar

Prestige TV, cult favourites, future classics — Manik Sharma breaks down the must-watch shows currently streaming on JioHotstar.

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Poster detail. The Bear season 4
THE GOLDEN AGE OF TELEVISION might be peaking, but these 10 shows prove there’s still plenty of gold left to mine. Whether it’s starships or kitchens, remote beaches or finance bro boardrooms, this curation of international titles on JioHotstar (now available with your OTTplay Premium subscription) delivers top-tier storytelling and unforgettable performances. Some are slow burns, others explode on arrival — but all of them are worth your screen time.10. Dune Prophecy Besides the small part about Tabu’s Hollywood streaming bow, Dune Prophecy is also an eloquent, spectacularly mounted series about politicking in a dystopian world. The show extends the world of the Dune films into a tense, exceptionally performed precursor to the creation of the famed Bene Gesserit. For her part, Tabu is startling but also familiarly evasive in a series that maybe needs to push the envelope in its second season.
9. The Pitt A decade after his breakthrough role in ER to see Noah Wyle suit up is both, a tantalising possibility and a sorry arc for someone who hasn’t quite managed to shake the shadow of that formative career break. But The Pitt is a different beast: a barrage, or rather a chaotic, sensorial flood of action, stress, emotion amidst a crumbling, at times near lifeless, health care system. It’s so break-neck and dispiriting at times that you wish to look away but cannot.8. The Day of the Jackal An assassin for hire, trying to pull off one last job. Sounds like the last genre action film you’ve seen, but in the hands of Oscar-winner Eddie Redmayne this familiar tale of a hard-knuckled killers trying to escape the rot of dehumanisation takes a fresh, almost bewitching detour. Based on Frederick Forsyth’s bestseller, this everlasting tale of choosing between the righter of two wrongs is lifted by its pace and an actor whose mere presence adds a sense of whimsy to tropes trained and tested.

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7. Resident Alien Chances are most of you haven’t heard of this series. It’s partly because some shows travel late. Resident Alien isn’t as quirky as it is sensationally irreverent. An alien, living in hiding, amidst the residents of a quiet port town. Led by Alan Tudyk, who himself looks like an otherworldly specimen at times, this is a show whose comedy is underlined by some bespoke commentary about the living — and the moral imperative to let them live. It’s hilarious and surprisingly deep.
6. The Bear Now in its fourth season, The Bear was like a pocket bomb that exploded into our consciousness because its sheer ferocity. Its game-changing portrayal of what goes on inside the kitchen of a restaurant may have altered taste buds and etiquette forever. The same cast returns in the fourth season, with familiar personal and professional challenges to boot. The only reason this series has slipped in the rankings is because perhaps because it has mined suffering and stress for far too long. It’s still one of the best things to come out of food — apart from its life-nourishing quality of course.5. Hacks Another one of those late bloomers, Hacks is a show about two ambitious women who come from different eras of entertainment. The banter, the cultural relevance of Hacks is so pervasive and effective it almost captures the essence of art and gig work without attaining a hypocritical sense of prestige. Jean Smart as the veteran comedian is near profound as an artist in decline, but the real snark comes from her spiky protege, played by Hannah Einbinder. It’s one of the sharpest comedies to come out in recent years, and is right up there with the best in terms of socio-cultural timeliness.
4. Andor To make a Star Wars spin-off in 2025 isn’t exactly the opportunity of a lifetime anymore. The IP has long squeezed itself dry and unless you’re a fan prepared to hark back to the good days of George Lucas, there is precious little to say about the franchise’s stumbles of late. But Andor may have single-handedly resurrected a massive juggernaut into reconsideration. Driven by a mesmerising Diego Luna it’s political, action-packed, urgent and the right mix of spectacle and intrigue. To the point that in the IP's long and draining history, it might never get better than this.3. Industry Stuck at a dead end job with diminishing returns? Well, you’ve come to the right place. HBO’s Industry is a pitch-perfect exploration of the drudgery of corporate work and how it dehumanises its subjects. Sexy, sensual but brute, this is a show that must be mandatory viewing for those chasing white collar jobs with breathless abandon. Industry doesn’t bother to commentate, it merely embodies a culture so wrecked, seductive yet exploitative, it turns into a hazardous temptation. You’ll never look at work the same way, once you’ve passed through Industry’s revolving doors.
2. The White Lotus The rich-being-campy-on-vacation world is back with a pit-stop Asia. Murder is inevitable as the elite smirk, bicker, and drown in their first-world problems. The costs, though, are real. The White Lotus has become the pinnacle of destination tragedies and its cultural and social subtexts extend well beyond the purview of the show. Set in Thailand, the latest season explores camaraderie, depression, the fear of missing out and the notion of revenge. It also features what is perhaps the scene of the year via a Sam Rockwell monologue that’ll make you sit up, stunned and bemused. (But mostly just stunned.)
1. The Last of Us HBO’s near perfect adaptation of the eponymous videogame, led by Emmy-worthy turns in Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, flirted with disaster for a bit in its second season but still remains one of streaming’s high points. Set in a post-apocalyptic world, this its gaze focuses on the interpersonal as opposed to the civilisational. It’s in fact a choice the characters of this show often face — save the ones you love, or save everyone else. A decision that maybe none of us would repeat every time of asking. Which makes this beautifully crafted show about longing, sacrifice and hope in the shadow of death, wrenching and unmissable.

Stream these shows on JioHotstar. JioHotstar is now part of your OTTplay Premium subscription.

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