This is going to be a long post – grab a drink and settle in! As I was pregnant and breastfeeding my newborn the entire year, I had plenty of time to watch movies and shows and read books. So, as part of Blogchatter #BlogchatterWrapParty, I have many recommendations to share with you. Here are my favourite shows, movies and books of 2024:
SHOWS
I watched a lot of TV shows this year, but I’m only sharing my favourite shows. For more recommendations or reasons why some shows didn’t make this list, you can check out my ‘Movie/TV Review’ highlight on Instagram.
F.R.I.E.N.D.S
Would you believe that I never actually saw all 10 seasons of this iconic show when it originally came out? As the show became popular in India in the early 2000s, I watched only its later seasons and a few random episodes from the earlier ones on TV in later years. When I was pregnant with my son nine years ago, I started watching the series from its first episode but never made it past season 2. This pregnancy, however, I began again and finished the entire series. Watching F.R.I.E.N.D.S is like receiving a warm, comforting hug from your real friends. The content through the seasons isn’t uniformly good but it’s still an enjoyable and easy watch. I also read Matthew Perry’s autobiography this year, saddened by his untimely demise. It was an average book but offered an insightful and candid glimpse into his life.
Buy the Book Here: https://amzn.to/3BwQd0d
The Crown: The Final Season
Even though this was one of the weakest seasons of the Netflix show recreating the lives of Queen Elizabeth II and her family, I enjoyed watching it because I loved the series overall. As a history buff and anglophile, the subject really interests me; and the actors and production value was excellent. I’m also glad they decided to end the show in 2005. It would have been tough to show the most recent events affecting the royal family objectively, had they ended it at present day.
The After Party
This is a humorous murder mystery on Apple TV, and I saw its second season this year. In every episode, you relive the events surrounding the murder through one particular character, and the narrative style changes in each episode depending on the personalities of the characters. So someone who is very emotional will have a very dramatic style of storytelling while a macho guy will have an action movie kind of narrative. It’s such a fun and enjoyable show. Most importantly, it keeps you guessing who the murderer is, till the end!
Lessons in Chemistry
This Apple TV miniseries is based on a book by Bonnie Garmus, which I absolutely loved and highly recommend. The book is definitely better but the show does a pretty good job of recreating its many important themes with slight variations. The story revolves around a female chemistry researcher in the US in 1950s and 60s who faces terrible misogyny at work. Things get worse when her partner suddenly dies and she finds herself pregnant. To make ends meet, she says yes to the offer of hosting a cooking show on television but unlike other female hostesses of that time, she teaches cooking as if it’s a lesson in chemistry and becomes an instant hit for her forthright and scientific bluntness. I found myself comparing this mini-series to the Barbie movie which was also billed as a story of female empowerment. Truth be told, Barbie pales in comparison to this show. Elizabeth Zott, in particular, is an exceptional character.
Buy the Book Here: https://www.amazon.in/dp/1804990922/ref=cm_sw_r_as_gl_api_gl_i_8WF1GSG2F1PRQ2E9SSPX?linkCode=ml2&tag=nooranandchaw-21
The Marvellous Mrs. Maisel
This Amazon Prime TV show has a similar premise to the one shared above, but here the woman breaking the glass ceiling isn’t a scientist. Instead, she’s trying to earn a living being a stand-up comedian after being dumped by her husband. Also set in the 1950s and 60s, this show was a massive success but I saw all its five seasons this year and thoroughly enjoyed them. I have written a detailed blog on the subject which you can read here.
Angry Young Men
This Amazon Prime miniseries is the only non-fiction (and only Indian) show on my list. It is a documentary based on the tremendously successful partnership of screenwriters Salim-Javed in the 1970s. It was a fun watch, as it depicted the evolution of classic Bollywood. Both Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar are very interesting and nuanced personalities and their story keeps you hooked. As a writer myself, I was intrigued by their monumental rise to fame in an industry that never respects writers. There’s a lot to learn from them, but I wish they had spoken more about the process of their writing.
Hacks
This HBO show, available to watch on Netflix and Jio, just won the best comedy Emmy Award. It is about an aging female stand-up comedian who gets a new lease on her career by hiring a “woke” and highly annoying GenZ writer to help with her material. The show is funny but it’s also full of heart. The chemistry between these two unlikely characters is amazing. I highly recommend it as an easy and quick watch.
MOVIES
I saw a lot of movies this year but many of them were old favourites or rewatches. So I’m just going to list out four movies that came out this year which were the best of those I saw.
12th Fail
This inspirational true story is about a boy from a very poor rural background clearing the civil service exam and joining the Indian Police Force, despite many hardships. It is truly a gem of a film. Even though you know exactly what’s going to happen, you are so invested in the story. It’s very well made and has a stunning performance delivered by Vikrant Massey. It made me cry!
Laapataa Ladies
I saw this movie in the cinema hall before people started talking about it and it became the official Oscars entry for India. It is an absolutely wonderful little film because it combines social realities and many important themes such as women empowerment, in a very comical yet believable format. It has a strong message, a very realistic setting and even a sweet love story! Despite being a bit slow to start, the funny moments and cracker dialogues are worth it.
Inside Out 2
This movie became quite a sensation internationally. It’s an animated film about the emotions accompanying puberty. I absolutely loved it and could really resonate with all the chaos often caused during this volatile period of life. Very relatable and very sweet!
Deadpool & Wolverine
This was the last movie I saw in the hall before my baby girl was born and it was such a fun film! Deadpool movies are usually entertaining as they are very humorous. Wolverine is iconic in a completely different way but they make a cool pairing together. There is a lot of violence in the film but it’s always set to awesome music, so it doesn’t feel icky or gory. The storyline is interesting too especially with the Time Variance Authority, which first appears in the Loki TV show, playing a large role.
BOOKS
I’ve read 35 books so far this year, including re-reading many of my old favourites. Hence, I won’t write about the Project Poirot books that I read or favourite reads like Gone with the Wind, the Harry Potter series which I’m reading to my son, the Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco and some others. The book I’m currently reading – The Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Niffeneger – is also excellent, but I’m not including it here because I haven’t finished it yet. The two books I’m mentioning here were ones that I read for the first time this year and loved.
My Uncle Napoleon by Iraj Pezeshkzad, Dick Davis (Translator)
This book is a very well-written and truly hilarious glimpse into Iranian family life. Though it’s set in the 1940s, its characters feel relatable to this day, even from an Indian perspective. It’s entertaining, engaging and insightful about the culture and politics of Iran in that period. I highly recommend it. It had me in splits throughout and some of the characters will likely stay with me for a long time to come!
Buy the Book here: https://amzn.to/4fm03zN
Lorenzo Searches For The Meaning of Life by Upamanyu Chatterjee
I picked this book only because it was a finalist for the JCB Prize for Literature (it later won the award) and had been gifted to me. To be frank, I didn’t expect much for two reasons: the only other JCB nominated book I read this year was extremely disappointing and I never got through the last book by Upamanyu Chatterjee I attempted to read (Mammaries of the Welfare State). But this one pleasantly surprised me!
The story itself isn’t extraordinary – it’s about an Italian monk who makes his way to Bangladesh and drastically changes the course of his life. Despite being inspired by real events, the story didn’t strike me as very unique. There certainly are numerous other inspirational stories along similar lines out there. What I liked about this one in particular, however, was its engaging style of storytelling. The reader is immediately invested in the characters, especially the very likeable Lorenzo. It’s also an easy and relatively fast-paced read. If you’re looking for an engaging book, give this one a shot.
Buy the Book Here: https://amzn.to/4ggr8Wl
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This blog post is part of the Blogchatter #BlogchatterWrapParty
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