Indian web series have had a quality problem that nobody in the industry likes to admit. For every Mirzapur or Panchayat there are 40 forgettable shows that exist because a platform needed content to justify its subscription price, not because anyone had a story worth telling.
This list only includes shows where the answer to “why does this exist” is “because it had something to say” — not “because the platform needed content for Q3.”
1. Panchayat (Prime Video) — Still the Best Indian Web Series
Three seasons in and Panchayat has not dropped in quality. That almost never happens with Indian web series. The show about a city-educated government employee posted to a remote UP village keeps finding new things to say about the gap between India’s urban and rural realities — and keeps being genuinely funny while doing it.
Jitendra Kumar and Raghubir Yadav together is one of the best actor pairings in Indian television history. Watch from Season 1 if you have not started.
2. Mirzapur (Prime Video) — Seasons 1 and 2
The benchmark against which every Indian crime drama gets measured. Mirzapur Season 1 is as good as anything Indian streaming has produced. Season 2 is nearly as good. Watch both.
3. Scam 1992 (SonyLIV)
The story of Harshad Mehta and the 1992 securities scandal told with the seriousness it deserves. Pratik Gandhi’s performance as Mehta is one of the best acting performances in Indian television — ever. The show makes the mechanics of stock market manipulation genuinely comprehensible and compelling, which should be impossible but is not.
4. Delhi Crime (Netflix)
Won an International Emmy for Best Drama Series. Based on the investigation following the 2012 Delhi gang rape case. Shefali Shah leads a cast that treats a horrific real event with the dignity and seriousness it deserves. Not easy to watch. Important to watch.
5. Rocket Boys (SonyLIV)
The story of Homi Bhabha and Vikram Sarabhai — the two scientists who built India’s nuclear and space programmes from nothing after independence. Jim Sarbh as Bhabha is extraordinary. This is the kind of show Indian television should be making more of — stories about real Indians who changed the world that most Indians do not know enough about.
6. The Family Man (Prime Video)
Manoj Bajpayee as a middle-class intelligence officer trying to prevent terrorist attacks while managing a completely normal family life. The show works because it treats both halves of that premise seriously. The action is genuinely tense. The domestic scenes are genuinely funny and recognisable.
Season 2 with Samantha Ruth Prabhu is better than Season 1.
7. Kohrra (Netflix)
A Punjabi-language crime drama that is as good as anything in the Nordic noir tradition it draws from. A murder investigation in rural Punjab uncovers secrets across multiple families and generations. The show takes its time, builds its characters carefully, and pays everything off.
Barun Sobti’s performance as the lead investigator is quiet and magnetic. Watch with subtitles in the original Punjabi even if you do not speak the language — the Hindi dub loses something.
8. Aspirants (YouTube — TVF)
Free on YouTube and better than most shows that cost money to watch. About three friends preparing for the UPSC exam in Delhi. If you know anyone who has been through the UPSC preparation process — or if you went through it yourself — Aspirants will feel uncomfortably accurate.
The show understands that the UPSC exam is not just an examination. It is a years-long psychological test that changes the people who attempt it. Season 1 particularly is close to perfect.
9. Four More Shots Please (Prime Video)
The best Indian show about adult female friendship. Four women in Mumbai navigating careers, relationships, family expectations, and their own contradictions. It is funny, honest, and does not resolve its characters’ problems neatly because real problems do not resolve neatly.
Gets better with each season as the writers become more confident about what the show is.
10. Aarya (Hotstar)
Sushmita Sen’s comeback was not supposed to be this good. Aarya is a crime drama about a woman who discovers her husband’s criminal world after his murder and has to navigate it to protect her children.
Sen carries the show entirely on her performance — composed, dangerous, maternal, calculating all at the same time. Three seasons in and the show has not exhausted its premise.