Back in 2020, Amazon Prime Video released two original anthology films, ‘Putham Puthu Kaalai’ and ‘Unpaused’. The first anthology film was a 5-story Tamil feature based on the first nationwide lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic while the second anthology film was a Bollywood film also regarding the 2020 lockdown, but all of the stories were set in Mumbai. Both films earned mixed-to-positive reviews from critics around India and now, Amazon Prime Video has released two anthology web series based on the two films. The Tamil anthology web series is called ‘Putham Puthu Kaalai: Vidiyaadha‘, while the Hindi web series is called ‘Unpaused: Naya Safar‘ and they are both based on the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
The directors involved in the original films had originally came together to spread the message of awareness, the dangers of the coronavirus and how the pandemic affects the lives of everyone regardless of caste, creed or gender. The recently released web series, however, cannot be compared to them. While both anthology films are not masterpieces, both films stick to the theme of the coronavirus pandemic and are (mostly) filled with good, heartwarming stories.
In comparison, the anthology web series needs a lot more work. While the ‘Putham Puthu Kaalai: Vidiyaadha’ series is still watchable, ‘Unpaused: Naya Safar’ has a lot of problems including its extremely slow pace, moving away from the core theme of the Covid-19 pandemic and stories that don’t have cohesion from the first episode to the last. The actors from the both sets of the anthology content have done a good job, but the actors in the web series were hampered by the script that they were provided.
So in comparison, the original films are better than the anthology web series. Both web series have two good stories each worth checking out, but they can be skipped as a whole if not interested. However, from what we have understood, this is going to be a regular Amazon Prime web series. Hopefully, the second season for both shows will be better.
Putham Puthu Kaalai’, ‘Unpaused’, Putham Puthu Kaalai: Vidiyaadha’ and ‘Unpaused: Naya Safar’ are all currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.