Sat, July 25 2026

साई राम टुटेजा फिज़िक्स पढ़ाते हैं लेकिन वास्तुशास्त्र और ज्योतिष आदि पर उनका अटूट विश्वास है। वह एक परफैक्ट 90 डिग्री उत्तर दिशा वाला मकान खरीदने के लिए भटक रहे हैं। काफी मशक्कत के बाद उन्हें ऐसा एक प्लॉट मिलता है जिस पर वह मकान बनवा भी लेते हैं। पर जहां उस मकान पर कई दूसरे लोगों की नज़र है वहीं भ्रष्ट सरकारी अफसर भी बीच में फच्चर फंसा रहे हैं। ऐसे में साई राम क्या करेंगे? सहारा लेंगे अपने विश्वास का या फिर चलेंगे तिकड़म भरी कोई चाल? यह फिल्म ‘उत्तर दा पुत्तर’ (Uttar Da Puttar) इन्हीं सब बातों को हल्के-फुल्के ढंग से देखती और दिखाती है।

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Sat, July 25 2026

Musafir Cafe, the new show on Netflix, is refreshing and real. Organic chemistry among the trio, strong portrayal of urban women balancing career and family, and earnest performances from Massey, Pinto, and Makwana make this a must watch.

Vikrant Massey’s Musafir Cafe, a slow romance drama, comes at a time when there is anger on the streets of India and spy thrillers and murder mysteries are dominating screens- big and small. The eight-part series, produced by Massey, who also plays the lead in the show, takes a practical approach to modern-day relationships, where love alone is not enough to make a relationship work. It reiterates that timing is everything, and that two right people can drift apart if the timing is not right. Created and written by Sharanya Rajgopal and based on Divya Prakash Dubey’s novel of the same name, Musafir Cafe is refreshing, real and breaks the clutter of action thrillers that have been releasing of late.

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Sat, July 25 2026

Vikrant Massey as Chander tries his best to be believable, and he really does come close to it. Mahima Makwana as the steady third wheel is commendable too.

A three-way modern romance set in a small town. That’s the pitchline of Musafir Cafe, based on a novel of the same name by Divya Prakash Dubey, created by Sharanya Rajgopal and directed by Ruchir Arun, and the eight-part show takes the memo very seriously indeed. Chander and Sudha — someone here is evidently a fan of Dharamveer Bharati’s classic novel of the same name — meet and ignite in Bhopal. Having quit his software job in the US, he works in a dull government office, nursing a dream of opening his own cafe in the hills, while meeting suitable girls with a view to marriage.

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Sat, July 25 2026

What keeps you going in this soft and sonorous eight-episode drama is its refreshing quality

Love conquers all… only here, the heroine, Sudha (Vedika Pinto), believes: “Sahi pyar hamare liye sahi ho yeh zaroori nahi (It’s not essential that true love is right for us).” She meets her suitor Chander (Vikrant Massey) for a matrimonial alliance. He is a software engineer who wants to set up a cafe in the mountains, hence the title of the series. Sudha is a lawyer whose ambitions touch sky high and marriage figures nowhere in her scheme of things. They fall in love and the villains here are not ma-baap or a ‘judgy’ society, but a clash of aspirations. As the storyline set in Bhopal moves in two timelines set apart by eight years, we clearly see they have moved on. Chander has not only realised his dream in Mussoorie, but found love again in Preeti (Mahima Makwana).

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Sat, July 25 2026

Sidharth Menon is a constant presence, and does well as the coming-of-age young man. It is Adil Hussain, as the man who takes the longest, most difficult steps towards self-awareness, who holds this film.

A film made four years back, releasing only now, suddenly feels current. Mention of protests and placards woven into the plot around an unravelling couple makes you feel that it’s reflecting the times we are passing through. But then, who is to say that thorny relationships and problem-ridden times aren’t the story of us, decade upon decade? Max (Siddharth Menon) and Min (Medha Shankr), a pair whose relationship is heading south, find themselves connecting over their cat. Or is it just the handsome creature that draws Min back to Max, especially when things aren’t quite as smooth with the new man in her life? The feelings are relatable: if you’ve been together for a while, parting is never easy, and could perhaps encompass residual warmth alongside resentment and sadness.

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Sat, July 25 2026

A heartfelt drama about grief, dad issues and complex societal prejudices, ‘Max, Min and Meowzaki’ impresses with its emotional restraint and performances, but some of its messaging feels self-conscious and didactic.

Against the backdrop of a soft monsoon, Max, Min & Meowzaki unfolds as an elegant symphony of human vulnerability. Waiting in the wings for quite some time, at the heart of this coming-of-age, slice-of-life drama are three generations of single men, each carrying a heavy yet silent sorrow. They are men who have forgotten how to speak to one another. Yet to recover from the death of his mother, jingle singer Mahesh or Max (Siddharth Menon), is negotiating with the wreckage of a love story that has just collapsed into a bittersweet breakup with Minara Hussain, or Min (Medha Shankr). His father, Ramesh (Adil Hussain), a man tightly wound in rigid armour, is suffocating under a sleepless, unconfessed grief for his deceased wife and societal biases. The grandfather, an eminent Carnatic singer, Sridhar (Nassar) navigates the fading twilight of his memories, carrying a guilt of not being able to take his son along in the song of life.

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Sat, July 25 2026

Sat, July 25 2026

Jan Neta (originally Jan Nayagan in Tamil) is actor-turned-Chief Minister Vijay’s swan song. It’s journey to the screen has been almost as dramatic as the film itself, with controversies involving piracy, the censor board and even the courts. After prolonged delays, what is billed as Vijay’s farewell to cinema now that he has taken a full-time plunge into politics, has finally reached theatres. Leaving fandom aside, however, Jan Neta is an endurance test. Like many Indian mainstream entertainers, it desperately wants to be socially responsible while simultaneously allowing its hero to flatten several dozen villains—preferably in slow motion. Directed by H. Vinoth, the film demands unwavering devotion from Vijay fans. Everyone else may find themselves frequently checking their watches.

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Fri, July 24 2026

Director H Vinoth's film, starring Vijay, Mamitha Baiju and Bobby Deol, wants to be both a commercial entertainer and a TVK manifesto, and ends up doing justice to neither.

Crores of people are flocking to theatres across the globe to watch Jana Nayagan and bid farewell to the man who entertained them for over three decades. Every cheer, every whistle and every celebration is for one person. Thalapathy Vijay. No, strike that. It’s Chief Minister Vijay now. Is Jana Nayagan an emotional goodbye to an actor or a rousing welcome to the Chief Minister? Neither, as it turns out — it’s mostly just a film that can’t decide what it wants to be.

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Fri, July 24 2026

‘Jana Nayagan’ was supposed to be a celebration of Vijay's cinematic career as well as lay out his party’s ideological framework, but achieves neither

H Vinoth’s Jana Nayagan, more importantly Vijay’s Jana Nayagan, or even more accurately Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay’s Jana Nayagan, finally sees the light of day. An obvious propaganda vehicle, Vijay’s cinematic swansong was slated to release in January this year. But the film faced release troubles when the censor certificate was withheld without reason, forcing the makers to approach the courts. The court and censor battle stretched long enough that several things came to pass. The film mysteriously leaked online. Tamil Nadu then had its state elections in April, in which Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam emerged as the biggest party, leading to him taking oath as the state’s Chief Minister on 10 May. It was such an eventful, unprecedented couple of months that the film always had an uphill task, a mere underscoring of the occasion.

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Sat, July 25 2026

In an era of action movies, loud comedies and preachy social dramas, Adarsh Baal Vidyalaya strikes a refreshing balance. The Prime Video series is rooted, relatable and genuinely funny, while quietly delivering an important message about education, hope and the people who refuse to give up on a system that often lets them down.

Kay Kay Menon is outstanding as the unconventional school principal, bringing warmth, wit and effortless charm to the role. He anchors the series with a performance that is both hilarious and deeply humane. Kay Kay once again shows why he is one of India’s best actors. Equally impressive is young actor Prasanna Bisht, who leaves a lasting impact with a natural and endearing performance. Prasanna has moved on quite swiftly from playing a student in Farrey just 2 years ago to playing a teacher here. One of the series’ biggest strengths is its writing. The humour never feels forced, and the emotional moments never become melodramatic. The show makes its point in subtle ways, allowing the characters and situations to speak for themselves rather than delivering sermons. It celebrates teachers, students and the spirit of never giving up, all while keeping the laughs coming.

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Fri, July 24 2026

The dry 7-episode dramedy is centered on a Delhi government school full of misfits who must transform to cure a broken system

Adarsh Baal Vidyalaya revolves around a ramshackle public school and its many colourful faces. It may not directly belong to the ‘Rural Cinematic Universe,’ but you can tell that it comes from the house of former TVF collaborators (you can take the makers out of a streaming brand, but you can’t take the streaming brand out of the makers). It’s the same shtick of Panchayat (ramshackle village office), Gram Chikitsalay (ramshackle government clinic) and Maamla Legal Hai (ramshackled district court): slice-of-life dramedies where everyone is a ‘sample’ character, every crisis is lighthearted, every episode has a centrist moral stance, and every monologue belongs to the Rajkumar Hirani school of happy problem-solving. The genre fatigue is real. The language is faded, like a gravy-stained page of a book that’s worn out from overuse.

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Fri, July 24 2026

Created by Sameer Saxena and Biswapati Sarkar, the satirical-drama scores best when the jokes subside

Why should one go to school? If you ask the students of Adarsh Baal Vidyalaya, they might answer: to play cricket with their headmaster, or to enjoy kheer in the midday meal. For girl students, it means a 5k deposit in their parents’ bank accounts, a government incentive for women empowerment (the money is then used by parents to pay for the girl’s dowry). But then one of the female students states she doesn’t want to study anymore. She would rather marry her hip-hop dancer boyfriend. When a teacher tries to convince the girl, she declares: It’s my choice. It’s an amusing conundrum. What is actually the real purpose of education? It’s a question that the Prime Video series Adarsh Baal Vidyalaya, from the house of Posham Pa Pictures (Kaala Paani, Maamla Legal Hai), keeps circling back to. Is it for these kids–most of them who come from marginalised backgrounds–to make money and pull their families out of poverty? Because that they can do by network marketing or working at a local tobacco factory. What can really a school provide them? When the boyfriend doesn’t come to pick her up, the above-mentioned girl takes up a cycle and rides on her own. She doesn’t have to wait for anybody anymore. Education gives independence.

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Fri, July 24 2026

Milap Zaveri’s latest romantic drama is unwatchable in so many ways that you wonder if it even wants to be a movie

There are bad movies, and then there are movies that make you cringe so hard that you can’t bear to look at the screen. So I grimaced and looked away during Milap Zaveri’s Tera Yaar Hoon Main, the way a squeamish viewer does when confronted with graphic violence and gore. But looking away from the screen meant that I had to make peace with the young couple making out in the row ahead. So I turned my face to the other side, but there was another couple enjoying the privacy of the matinee show. Lest they found my frantic head-turning creepy, I concluded that the safest thing was to look at the screen again. But for how long? The film continued to make direct eye contact with me. This became a circular loop of embarrassment and coyness for 145 minutes, and now I’m so dizzy that I should be seeing stars but I’m not (because 0 stars out of 5).

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Fri, July 24 2026

फिल्मों के बारे में भले ही ये मशहूर है कि सिनेमा मतलब एंटरटेनमेंट, एंटरटेनमेंट, एंटरटेनमेंट। लेकिन कुछ फिल्में ऐसी भी होती हैं, जो आपको जागरूक करती हैं, कचोटती हैं, आंखें खोलती हैं और झकझोर कर रख देती हैं। साउथ इंडियन फिल्मकार चेतन डीके की पहली हिंदी फिल्म ‘द इंडिया स्टोरी’ का उद्देश्य भी मनोरंजन की बजाय फसलों में कीटनाशकों के बढ़ते उपयोग से सेहत पर पड़ रहे दुष्प्रभाव के प्रति लोगों को जगाना है। फिल्‍म शुक्रवार, 24 जुलाई को देशभर के सिनेमाघरों में रिलीज हुई है। आइए, जानते हैं कि यह कैसी है-

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Fri, July 24 2026

Director Ravi Namburii and writer-producer Sai Rajesh’s emotional narrative gets off to a great start, only to squander its potential

It is unfair to analyse a film as two halves. In the case of debut director Ravi Namburii’s Telugu film Chennai Love Story, however, it becomes inevitable. Sai Rajesh, who has written the story, screenplay and produced the film, introduces a twist at the mid-point that changes how the audience is likely to perceive the film. Everything from this point depends on whether one gives in to an idea that defies logic and what it entails, even if the story thankfully ends on a pragmatic note.

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Sat, July 18 2026

Directed by Wash Westmoreland, the award-winning series wraps up with a bittersweet movie that allows fans a proper goodbye

While it is disappointing that Heartstopper never got a fourth season, viewers should be satisfied that the new movie Heartstopper Forever allows the coming-of-age tale to grow up and go out on its own terms. Writer Alice Oseman has adapted the sixth and final volume of their own webcomics. Over the past four years, we’ve watched characters Nick and Charlie met, become friends and fall in love. In the final movie, the two teenagers take tentative steps towards their futures and tackle misunderstandings in their relationship. The movie is a bittersweet ending to a show that makes audiences feel like part of this supportive world.

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Sat, July 18 2026

Sat, July 18 2026

With his gracious version of Homer’s Greek epic, Christopher Nolan liberates us from the contortions of mythology

The homework required to process The Odyssey is a key part of the experience. Familiarising yourself with the fabled source material (Homer’s ancient Greek epic) goes hand in hand with re-acquainting yourself with the fabled director’s filmography. If you’ve been watching Christopher Nolan’s movies over the years, you’ve essentially seen the making of The Odyssey in real time. It’s not just the recurring themes of adrift men looking for a way home — to children, to comrades, to companions, to family, to themselves. It’s also in the physical images of Nolan-telling scattered across this narrative. There are flashes everywhere. A confused man wrestling with memory on the sea-shore (Inception); the piecing together of a disorienting past (Memento); an injured hero returning to rescue a city under siege (The Dark Knight trilogy); a blind worker, twins, and the obsession to win as a plot device (The Prestige); wars fought on hostile water and lands (Dunkirk); Trojan-Horse-coded deception by a Matt Damon character and a father chasing a belated promise (Interstellar); a thinker haunted by the consequences of his genius (Oppenheimer); a sleepless and guilt-riddled veteran (Insomnia); the blurred lines of time and tide (all of them). The film-maker has been adapting Homer for more than two decades. Like the protagonist, he finally returns home with The Odyssey, but not before defying the genre gods and braving the blockbuster elements.

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Sat, July 18 2026

A Christopher Nolan film is always a reason for that extra excitement for any cinema buff. If Billy Wilder famously wondered, “How would Lubitsch do it?”, film lovers today often find themselves asking, “How would Nolan do it?” Whether it is space travel or a biopic about the scientist who created the most destructive weapon known to mankind, Nolan brings his own unique vision to storytelling. What makes his films special is the way he crafts them, using every cinematic tool at his disposal. In fact, he constantly pushes the boundaries of the medium.

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Sat, July 18 2026

Set in rural Telangana, director Bharat Dharshan’s Telugu film turns a familiar tale of family dynamics and personal dreams into a partly engaging dramedy with a quirky central hook

In the opening portions of Oh! Sukumari, a young girl hears her teacher describe happiness as a large family bound by love and togetherness. Having lost her mother, she quietly holds on to the hope of finding that kind of home someday. Elsewhere, an ageing patriarch mourns a family that seems to value him more for his wealth than his presence. Their shared longing for love and belonging forms the emotional core of the film. Director Bharath Dharshan brings these seemingly disparate lives together with humour. Oh! Sukumari belongs to the recent wave of low-stakes rural comedies that find charm in the everyday lives, dreams and struggles of ordinary people.

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Sat, July 18 2026

Every plot point is told from a broad, generic standpoint with nothing left to guess

If Shaji Kailas began his career today, he would wrestle with the idea of starting out as a celebrated food vlogger. Even when he’s setting up major action sequences, he seems obsessed with the idea of staging confrontation around food. Speaking strictly of its novelty, this could be something as inane as framing an intro shot while placing a hot, steaming glass of lemon tea at the foreground. But the ideas that cracked me up in his new film were the subtle innuendos he’s packed in to trigger a conflict. Take the instance of five masked assassins walking into a small restaurant with the intention of creating trouble. One of them looks at the waitress and shadily asks if she will give him some “buns and milk”. It’s meant to sound as off as it does, but the dialogue delivery of the actor makes it sound crass. When the film’s hero, Paulson (Joju George trying his best), walks in upon hearing this, he sends the bad guy flying with a kick to his groin. As he flies across the screen, we see two eggs flying with the same velocity, landing at the centre of a frying pan. A second later, Paulson slashes a sword across another bad guy and instead of zooming in on the damage this causes, we cut to a shot of a banana that gets sliced into two.

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