Tech News

Disney+ Hotstar January 2023: Taaza Khabar, The Menu, The Last of Us, and More

Disney+ Hotstar has announced a list of 29 movies and web series for release on its streaming platform in January 2023. Well, to be precise, there’s only one film in the mix, which heads to streaming, following a brief stint in theatres — The Menu. In it, Anya Taylor-Joy and Nicholas Hoult travel to a coastal island to dine at an exclusive restaurant, where the acclaimed Chef Slowik (Ralph Fiennes) has prepared a lavish menu, with some horrifying surprises. The Menu releases January 4 on Disney+ Hotstar. Follow that up with a healthy serving of the live-action adaptation of the acclaimed PlayStation video game, The Last of Us, which sees Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey venturing into the infected, post-apocalyptic America, in search of answers. Episode one releases January 16 on the platform — reportedly 85 minutes long — after which the remaining eight episodes follow a weekly release cycle.

Popular YouTuber Bhuvan Bam headlines the Indian catalogue for Disney+ Hotstar in January 2023, with a comedy-drama series. Taaza Khabar follows a Mumbai-based sanitation worker, whose poverty-stricken life turns upside-down upon receiving some surreal powers. With new goals to accomplish and equally hard-hitting karma, all episodes will be available to stream on January 6. That should do for Indian releases this month, with even the lengthy Aashiqana season 2 ending its run in December.

Watch the Teaser for Hotstar Specials’ Taaza Khabar

Bhuvam Bam in a still from Taaza Khabar
Photo Credit: Disney+ Hotstar

From the galaxy far, far away, we’ve got Star Wars: The Bad Batch, which returns for its sophomore run, as our friendly troopers navigate the empire after the fall of the Republic. The first two episodes drop on January 4, followed by a weekly schedule. After that, check out Japan’s serene surf culture in the episodic documentary, Chasing Waves, which captures the culture and tension leading up to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Starring real-life pro surfers, including the 2021 Olympic Silver medallist Kanoa Igarashi, all eight episodes will be up for streaming on January 11, on Disney+ Hotstar.

If anime is your jam, get ready for Tokyo Revengers season 2, which adapts the Christmas Showdown arc, resuming at the point where lead Takemichi Hanagaki and Chifuyu Matsuno got shot by Tetta Kisaki, the top-ranking official of the Tokyo Manji Gang. Season 2 is also expected to introduce new characters, as we head into battle against the 10th Generation Black Dragon. Tokyo Revengers season 2 episodes drop on a weekly schedule, starting January 8. While Detective Conan’s main arc is still a long way from finishing, why not delve into a live-action drama adaptation of The Files Of Young Kindaichi? This new, reimagined series features 10 select episodes, giving the original 1995 series a “contemporary perspective.”

Will Trent is another new addition to Disney+ Hotstar this month, which highlights the abandonment issues of the eponymous special agent (Ramón Rodríguez), as he navigates through life to earn the highest case clearance rate. The series premieres January 4, with the remaining six episodes coming in the following weeks. Those looking for some fresh American cartoons to watch — because The Simpsons did everything first — check out Koala Man, which seems to draw heavy inspiration from the likes of James Gunn’s Super, albeit not as grounded. In it, an Australian family man lives a not-so-secret identity as the Koala Man, snuffing out petty crimes as a vigilante, despite being incredibly bad at it. Michael Cusack (Smiling Friends) voices Kevin/ Koala Man, while Sarah Snook (Succession) breathes life into his tired wife Vicky. Koala Man premieres January 10 on the platform.

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Pedro Pascal in a still from The Last of Us series
Photo Credit: HBO

Beyond that, there’s Hulu’s Extraordinary, a world where everyone develops superpowers at the age of 18, except for our 25-year-old lead Jen (Máiréad Tyers). Her insecurities about being left behind are amplified by her dead-end job and her occasional hook-up, who has no plans of committing any time soon. Will the tiny bit of hope help Jen find her “maybe superpower”? Find out when all eight episodes of Extraordinary become available to stream on January 25, on Disney+ Hotstar. Meanwhile, thriller fanatics can tune into The Watchful Eye on January 31, in which a young woman, hired as a live-in nanny for a wealthy family, observes the deadly secrets of its members.

Seeing as there are no new specials from Disney or Marvel this month — besides Willow’s continued run — all that’s remaining are some Korean and Japanese dramas. Lovers turn into political enemies in Bloody Heart, a fictional Joseon Dynasty-set drama, where the emperor Lee Tae and queen Yoo Jeong are forced to abandon their affection for each other. New episodes drop every Wednesday and Thursday, starting January 18. There’s a treat for K-pop fans as well in Super Junior: The Last Man Standing, a docu-series that captures the boy bands’ story from their early days. All episodes stream on January 18.

In addition to the aforementioned two — Tokyo Revengers season 2 and The Files of Young Kindaichi — Japan has one more Disney+ offering. In Lost Man Found, Saturo Matsudo (Taiga Nakano), an aspiring actor moves to Tokyo hoping to fulfil his dream, struggling through poverty and trouble breaking into the show business. All that changes one day when he stumbles upon a flight ticket belonging to a talent agency CEO. New episodes stream every week, starting January 25.