Listicle: 10 new shows set in an India you rarely get to see

Pratim Gupta’s show gets a vampire to fall in love with a Kolkata dentist. Of course there’s comedy. But there is also a Kolkata that comes alive in the dark, creates drama out of forgotten corners, and creates a parallel supernatural metro. The show has been praised for its skilful camera work, quick pace and performances by Tillotama Shome and Sikander Kher. Streaming on Netflix.

In Mandawa, rural Rajasthan, women go missing and turn up dead in public toilets, dying seemingly by suicide. Sonakshi Sinha plays the sub-inspector who sets out to investigate. Turns out a serial killer is on a loose. What follows, in this show by Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti, is a race to trap a man targeting unmarried lower-caste women. India’s arid beauty is laid bare. So are its rigid social systems and biases. Streaming on Amazon Prime.

A young paying guest from Indore and his ageing landlord in Pune make for an unusually sweet relationship in Varun Narvekar’s series. Coming-of-age scenes are interspersed with those of grieving and growing old. Puneri sarcasm meets Indori repartee. Dal chawal transcents state lines. Old-word Pune comes alive. Streaming on JioCinema.

Ah, Bihar. Such rich pickings for crime dramas. Sudhir Mishra’s show is based on a short period in 2005, in which Naxalites virtually controlled Jehanabad city and killed 12 members of a local political outfit. The show also weaves in a love story between a college professor and his student. It’s the Bihar that doesn’t make it to the headlines. Streaming on SonyLiv.

An NRI groom is found dead in the fields of rural Punjab, hours before his wedding. Fog hangs low through the town and the series as two policemen try to figure out what happened. Secrets come tumbling out, parochial power plays ensue. Director Randeep Jha sets the scenes in kitschy cafes, cavernous homes, shady streets and desolate farms to show a side of Punjab far removed from flashy music videos. Streaming on Netflix.

Dimple Kapadia plays a powerful matriarch in this crime series directed by Homi Adajania. She runs a drug cartel along the desert border between India and Pakistan. The show follows her quest to find a suitable heir from among three young women. Shot in Jaipur but determinedly off the tourist trails, it’s a world of plush homes, sandstorms, and desperate poverty. Streaming on Hotstar.

Anjan Dutt’s Bengali series follows five friends, on holiday in a misty Himalayan town, who chance upon two dead bodies and a bag full of dollars. It’s a test of morals and friendship. Should they keep the cash? Uncover what happened? The plans soon spiral out of control as the gang tries to get out of the mess they landed in. Meanwhile, the mountain ranges and pine forests stay sunlit and silent, revealing nothing. Streaming on Zee5.

The Tamil show follows three women on a road trip that covers a tribal village in Maharashtra, a campsite in Goa and the hills of Dharamshala. The women set out to clear their minds and find a lost friend. En route, they befriend strangers, discover forgotten hobbies, learn a thing or two about life and find their voice. Series creator Reshma Ghatala gets India herself to reveal visual and cultural surprises. Streaming on Amazon Prime.

A onetime military lieutenant, now a hotel manager, gets unwittingly embroiled in a power struggle with an underworld don. Sandeep Modi’s Hindi remake of the British crime thriller based on John Le Carre’s novel of the same name was shot in Shimla, Kufri and Chail in Himachal Pradesh and in Sri Lanka. The villain’s seaside villa is sprawling. The plot twist is backdropped by the Himalayas. Crime clearly makes for a cushy life. Streaming on Hotstar.

It’s tough to be a young sportswoman anywhere in India. In western Uttar Pradesh, even more so. Kajjri’s father and brother have been brutally killed. A greedy uncle wants to marry her off to a local politician. She elopes with a javelin thrower. Uncle kills his family too. UP’s darkest sides are laid bare as Kajri fights it all. It’s the UP you know, but didn’t expect to see this intimately. Streaming on MX Player.