To stave off possible boredom while at home, every week Marhaba delves in to the wonderful world of popular culture to find the best new TV series, movies, books and music.

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Coming to Netflix this week is Hasmukh, a 10-episode Hindi series that offers a new twist on the old serial killer formula. Hasmukh is a shy, small-town comedian who has stage fright but is desperate for his big break. He gets it by murdering someone who has angered him, and gives the best performance of his life.

hasmukh

Now a viral sensation, the only way he can maintain his fame is by committing murder. So he becomes a vigilante, and the series follows the insane lengths Hasmukh goes to in order to remain a comedy genius. Is he now a comedian who murders or a murderer who tells jokes? Yes, the show has parallels with Dexter, but it is far more absurd!

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MisbehaviourAs mentioned in our previous listings, many of this year’s movies are being released early digitally. One of this week’s on-demand movies is Misbehaviour, with the digital release being brought forward by three months. Based on a true story, the film stars a number of British actors – Keira Knightley, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Jessie Buckley, Lesley Manville, Keeley Hawes, Rhys Ifans, and Phyllis Logan – with the obligatory American actor, in this case Greg Kinnear.

There has been some good chatter about this movie, which centres around the Miss World competition that took place in London in 1970, hosted by American comedy legend, Bob Hope. The viewing figures for Miss World was unbelievable back then and was the most-watched show – over 100 mn tuned in around the world. The new Women’s Liberation Movement took exception to the way women were being portrayed, however, and decided to storm the stage and disrupt the live broadcast. As if that wasn’t enough, when the competition resumed the winner was not the Swedish favourite, but Miss Grenada, the first woman of colour to win the title. The movie captures how people’s perception of women was changed overnight as well as the Western ideal of beauty. The film is available on all platforms including Amazon Prime and iTunes for a limited period.

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This Is Big How the Founder of Weight Watchers Changed the World and Me, by Marisa MeltzerWe hope everyone is managing to take care of themselves during this period of self-isolation, eating well and exercising. No doubt a few of us are using this time to shed a few pounds, and perhaps following Weight Watchers, the global diet phenomenon. In This Is Big: How the Founder of Weight Watchers Changed the World – and Me, by Marisa Meltzer, writer Meltzer relates how self-improvement has played an important part in her life, having started her first diet at just the age of five. Forty years later she sees an obituary for Jean Nidetch, the New York housewife who founded Weight Watchers in 1963. Nidetch’s incredible story interweaves with Meltzer’s own, who herself subscribed to Weight Watchers along with a number of fad diets. It is an open and personal story that captures America’s obsession with thinness and the way Weight Watchers, now rebranded as WW, has touched the lives of hundreds of thousands of women. The book is funny, honest, familiar, heartbreaking, and unforgettable – it shows how one’s personal transformation is so much more than a number on the scale.

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Listening to the radio today was a reminder about an album that came out in late February by legendary English heavy metal singer and patriarch of bonkers reality TV family The Osbournes. Ozzy’s latest album Ordinary Man is his 12th studio album and comes almost 10 years after his last offering.

Ordinary ManOrdinary Man is simply one of his best in decades, receiving a number of positive reviews. In fact, it has been so well received Osbourne announced he was starting work on the follow-up album to come out in late 2020. Osbourne has publicly stated that he put his heart and soul into this album, and you can tell he had a blast making it. The title track is a collaboration with Sir Elton John and Slash from Guns n Roses on guest guitar, while ‘It’s a Raid’ features Post Malone, and there is a special bonus track ‘Take What You Want’ (Osbourne, Post Malone and Travis Scott). The album is a welcome return for the Prince of Darkness following recent news regarding his health, and fans will be anxiously waiting for the follow-up later in the year.


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