Headlining the Friday drop are Shanaya Kapoor’s double-role thriller series Student of the Year: After Dark on JioHotstar, Pankaj Tripathi and Aditi Rao Hydari’s first-time pairing in the comedy-drama Parivarik ManuRanjan on SonyLIV, and the campus romantic comedy Must Date the Playboy on Netflix.
'Student of the Year: After Dark' (JioHotstar) — Campus Whodunit
Reimagining Dharma Productions’ glossy St. Teresa’s universe into a dark, six-episode murder mystery, Student of the Year: After Dark marks Shanaya Kapoor’s high-stakes OTT thriller outing:
Premise & Double Role: Shanaya Kapoor plays estranged twins Aayesha Malik and Aditi Malik. When Aayesha—St. Teresa’s reigning queen bee and former child star—is found drowned in a frozen lake just as an explicit clip goes viral, Aditi enrolls in the elite institution under cover to investigate her sister’s inner circle.
Creative Team & Cast: Directed by Reema Maya and produced by Karan Johar, Adar Poonawalla, and Apoorva Mehta, the series co-stars Divik Sharma, Abhinav Singh, Manya Grover, and Deeya Damini.
Streaming Availability: All 6 episodes (Secrets, Trust Issues, Ambition, False Memories, Heartbreak, and Nightmare) are streaming in Hindi alongside Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali, Marathi, and Bhojpuri dubs.
'Parivarik ManuRanjan' (SonyLIV) — Mansion Comedy-Romance
Teaming up on screen for the very first time, Pankaj Tripathi and Aditi Rao Hydari anchor a lighthearted, family-friendly entertainer set in Lucknow:
Premise: Tripathi steps into a charming, soft-spoken lover-boy avatar as Ranjan Dubey, a 40-year-old bachelor living alone in his villa. His quiet routine turns upside down when he hires Helen aka Manu Joshi (Aditi Rao Hydari) as his property manager-cum-housekeeper. As unexpected warmth blooms between the mismatched pair—much to the alarm of nosy neighbors and relatives—a hidden secret from Manu’s past threatens to disrupt their bond.
Creative Team & Cast: Directed by Varun V. Sharma and co-written with Brijendra Kala and Ali Abbas Zafar (who also serves as creative producer), the film features standout comic turns from Brijendra Kala as Raja Ram and Sunita Rajwar as gossip-loving vlogger Tamanna bhabhi.
'Must Date the Playboy' (Netflix) — Fake-Dating Campus Romance
Adding a breezy youth romance to Netflix’s Friday catalog, Must Date the Playboy brings a classic "fake-dating" trope to streaming audiences:
Premise: Directed by T. Suriavelan and starring Chandni Nagadurga and Muzammil Elias alongside Ganga Kannan and Mazhaimegan, the story centers on Vaishnavi "Tara", a reserved college student determined to protect her best friend Kaushi from notorious campus heartbreaker Zayn Ishaan Aravindhan. Tara hatches a plan to pretend-date Zayn to keep him away from her friend—only for hidden motives, jealousy, and genuine affection to complicate the arrangement.
Format & Languages: Available in 23-minute bite-sized episodes in Tamil, Hindi, and English.
