Sun, August 30 2026

Director Vignesh Srikanth's Once More, starring Arjun Das, Aditi Shankar and Sona Olickal, is a romantic drama that works in parts. The film tries to explore closure, second chances and finding love again, but occasionally falls back on familiar cliches.

If you are a believer in destiny, life is all about second chances. Once More takes that idea and builds a romantic drama around a man who has almost forgotten what happiness feels like. Raghuvaran is stuck in a depressive state, barely pushing through each day, when Anjali, a woman who is quite literally walking sunshine, enters his life. She refuses to let him remain in his shell and slowly gives him another shot at happiness.

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Fri, August 28 2026

Director Vignesh Srikanth’s romance drama finds charm in its quieter moments, but its emotional core wobbles in the latter half

Guy sees girl. Guy follows girl. Guy stalks girl. Eventually, girl falls for him. This is a template Tamil cinema has used several times over the last few years; some heroes have actually made entire careers doing just this. It is due to this overall situation that Once More’s first sequence grabs your attention. Raghu (Arjun Das) is seated at the Velachery bus stop — his bike has broken down, and he has to find some other means of transport to get home. With cab drivers unwilling to take up the ride, Raghu is wondering what to do. Enter a bright red car, with his college junior, Anjali (Aditi Shankar), offering him a lift.

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Sun, August 30 2026

Director Vishnu Edavan's Hi, starring Nayanthara and Kavin, is a harmless romantic comedy that has some delightful stretches. The film aims for low-stakes and achieves them too.

Rom-coms have a timeless charm. They make you smile, tug at your heartstrings and, at their best, leave you walking out of the theatre with a little more hope than you walked in with. But very few films manage to get that emotional balance right these days. Last week, the Malayalam film Bethlehem Kudumba Unit did it effortlessly. This week, Tamil film Hi attempts to recreate that magic with a story rooted in romance, family and second chances. But does it work? Let’s find out.

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Sun, August 30 2026

Three years after being announced, Toxic has reached theatres with its gangster world intact, but its women viewed largely through Raya. The central disappointment is that the promised female gaze never meaningfully shapes the film's perspective.

Three years after Yash and Geetu Mohandas announced Toxic, the film is finally in theatres. And after all the waiting, the anticipation and the speculation, one question remains stubbornly unanswered: where is the female gaze Geetu promised? In a throwback interview, Geetu described Toxic as a “gangster film”. She said, “It’s a gangster genre with a female gaze. How about that?” When the teaser dropped in July, that was the question everyone asked. Now, after three hours of Toxic, a more pointed one takes its place: does the film ever really see its women at all? Rewind to 2023. When Yash and Geetu Mohandas announced their collaboration, eyebrows went up. Here was a star coming off the monumental success of the KGF franchise, joining forces with a filmmaker known for her distinct, uncompromising voice. Would these two very different cinematic worlds click, or would the pairing end up a spectacular miss? There seemed to be little room for anything in between.

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Fri, August 28 2026

The film moves at breakneck speed, leaving you no room to breathe

“Violence is my mother tongue, the universal language.” Indeed, this dialogue delivered by Kannada ‘rockstar’ Yash with the panache it deserves says it all. ‘Toxic’, as the name suggests, is about repressed emotions, which in their own convoluted way define toxic masculinity. Before we arrive at this emotion-charged and relevant conclusion, there is a set violence piece in this gangster drama every 10 minutes. The film moves at breakneck speed, leaving you no room to breathe — and often not in a good way. Just when you recover from the onslaught of the piling body count, yet another dance of death unfurls. Who is killing whom is not as important; half the time you don’t know either, as the symphony of violence unspools right through the film.

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Fri, August 28 2026

Toxic is 3 hrs 14 mins long.If you remove all the shots of the lead played by Yash walking around in slow motion - you’re down to about 2 hours 30 minutes. Remove all the shots of Yash smoking a cigar/cigarette - around 2 hours. Remove the violent fights involving axes, guns, knives, grenades, chainsaws and what appears to be the entire inventory of a hardware store — and you’re left with roughly 60 minutes. Which, frankly, would have been the perfect length, because the entire film is summarised in the last 20 minutes anyway.

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Sat, August 29 2026

Matt Johnson’s Anthony Bourdain origin story works better without the baggage of being a biopic of the celebrated, often-mythologized chef

In 2013, five years before he died by suicide, Anthony Bourdain did a Reddit AMA session. To a question of “What kind of person were you in your twenties?” he replied, in his trademark, staccato, punch-in-the-gut style: “I was a complete asshole. Selfish, larcenous, druggy, loud, stupid, insensitive and someone you would not want to have known. I would have robbed your medicine cabinet had I been invited to your house.” In a contrast to this, for devotees of Bourdain’s no-bullshit, tough guy, masculine mythmaking, the Anthony of Tony can seem timid. He can’t mumble a retort in front of his demanding mother. The only punch he pulls is through a Bruce Lee poster on a wall. But then this is far before his celebrity chef, lunching-with-the-President days. This is an origin story.

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Sat, August 29 2026

Nimisha Sajayan is at her contained best and Barun Sobti is the invisible heartbeat of this sensitive, investigative-thriller, assuredly helmed by Ambiecka Pandit and backed by Sudip Sharma

“Baby tu best hain,” Nimisha Sajayan’s junior cop Babita often gets this consolation-prize of a compliment whenever she keeps her own needs aside to fulfill the wishes of others in Babita Singh Reporting. The character, written by Amita Vyas for a film directed by Ambiecka Pandit, is meek and unobtrusive. She was employed in the police force on compassionate grounds after her father died on duty. It’s a job she feels she didn’t earn and she moves around as if she is reminding herself that every day.

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Fri, August 28 2026

Goes past the messy homes and humming markets to reflect the daredevilry of a protagonist coming into her own. What ensues is a raw and thrilling marriage of momentum and meltdown across awkward inquiries made within junkie hideouts, suspicious relatives, battered classmates and Ravan's effigy.

‘Tu best hai, Baby.’ This oft-paid compliment to police officer Babita Singh aka Baby comes at the price of bending over backwards for her self-serving superior at work. The reason why she lets him throw her under the bus is to meet her family and society’s constant expectations. Caught in a perverse cycle of people-pleasing both professionally and personally, Baby barely realises its damage to her psyche until an unfortunate incident throws her off balance and sets free a rebellion long in the making.

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Fri, August 28 2026

Works better as a coming-of-rage origin story than as a thoughtful crime drama.

A suspended police officer returns to her hometown to find her childhood friend murdered. The Sudip Sharma (Paatal Lok, Kohrra) voice is instantly recognisable in Prime Video’s latest original film, Babita Singh Reporting. Sharma serves as producer on the film, directed by Ambeicka Pandit (Black Warrant) and written by Amita Vyas. The world, atmosphere, and ‘vibe’ are immediately familiar, and not just because this is yet another moody crime drama—the staple genre of the streaming age. Officer Babita Singh AKA Baby (a terrific Nimisha Sajayan) is, in spirit, the rookie cousin of Paatal Lok’s Hathiram Chaudhary. Like him, she’s an underestimated, overlooked cop who’s determined and recklessly brave. Self-destructive as it may be, she isn’t capable of looking the other way or, as Hathiram would say, putting naukri over duty. But unlike the tired, jaded Hathiram, Babita is the wet-behind-the-ears junior officer at the very start of her career. This film is the origin story of her becoming.

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Thu, August 27 2026

1999-ம் ஆண்டு நடந்த கார்கில் போரின் பின்னணியில், அணு ஆயுதப் போர் மூளும் அபாயத்துக்கு இடையே நடக்கும் அரசியல், ராணுவ மோதல்களைப் பேசும் நெட்ஃபிளிக்ஸ் இந்தித் தொடர் இது. (தமிழ் டப்பிங் உண்டு).

18,000 அடி உயரத்தில் பாகிஸ்தான் ராணுவத்தின் ஊடுருவலை முறியடிக்க, இந்திய விமானப்படையின் ‘கோல்டன் ஏரோஸ்’ (Golden Arrows) ஸ்க்வாட்ரன் நடத்திய சவாலான வான்வழித் தாக்குதலை விவரிக்கிறது இந்தத் தொடர். ஸ்க்வாட்ரன் லீடர் அஜய் அஹுஜா (சித்தார்த்), விங் கமாண்டர் டோனி (ஜிம்மி ஷெர்கில்) இணைந்து தங்கள் இளம் விமானிகளைப் போருக்கு எப்படித் தயார்படுத்தி வழி நடத்துகிறார்கள் என்பதே இதன் விறுவிறுப்பான மையக்கதை. நிஜப் போர் வீரர்களாக சித்தார்த்தும் ஜிம்மி ஷெர்கிலும் எந்தவிதமான மிகைப்படுத்தலுமின்றி, தங்களின் முதிர்ச்சியான நடிப்பால் கதாபாத்திரங்களுக்கு உயிர் கொடுத்திருக்கின்றனர். பாகிஸ்தான் பிரதமர் நவாஸ் ஷெரீஃபாக வினய் பதக், அவரைத் தந்திரமாக இயக்கும் ஜெனரல் முஷாரஃபாக மனு ரிஷி சத்தா ஆகியோரின் நடிப்பும் தொடருக்குப் பெரும் பலம். அபய் வர்மா, மிஹிர் அஹுஜா, பிரஜக்தா கோலி, தியா மிர்ஸா எனத் துணைக் கதாபாத்திரங்களின் பங்களிப்பிலும் நேர்த்தி.

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Mon, August 10 2026

Sat, August 8 2026

‘Operation Safed Sagar’ occasionally drags and doesn't shun its propaganda duties. But it's a rare war narrative that keeps a cool head and focuses on strategy, processes and individual skill

Two months into the Kargil War, Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif determines to see with his eyes what his heart already suspects: that they’re losing the battle. At Skardu base, he’s received by Maj Gen Javed Hassan, who invites him to the officer’s mess for a briefing. Sharif fixes with a stare and says, “The truth of democracy is revealed at the polling booth, and the reality of war in the hospital.” The condition of the wounded and general despondency in the hospital tent tells him all he needs to know, prompting a rare act of rebellion and a covert trip to Washington.

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Thu, August 27 2026

Mon, August 24 2026

Sat, August 22 2026

The Telugu film brings to the fore the pertinent issue of empowering daughters to speak up, anchored by Ravi Teja and child actor Nakshatra’s performances

At the first sign of abuse, a character in the Telugu film Irumudi asks his daughter not to blow it up into a big issue. She wants to raise a complaint, but he states that fear is the best safety armour for a girl child. Another character empowers his daughter to be transparent and share all the happenings at school and the village without fear. These contrasting approaches of two fathers become the film’s biggest takeaway. The other significant takeaway is how Irumudi marks the return of Shiva Nirvana and Ravi Teja to form after a few middling films.

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Thu, August 27 2026

Sun, August 23 2026

With a fun mix of relatable characters and snappy dialogues, Girish AD’s ‘Bethlehem Kudumba Unit’, starring Nivin Pauly and Mamitha Baiju, is a charming age-gap romance

Of all the things Justin (Nivin Pauly) and Ashley (Mamitha Baiju), the protagonists of Bethlehem Kudumba Unit, bond over, music is perhaps what triggers the initial spark. He dusts off an old cassette player, and she brings in her box of cherished old audio cassettes, which she refused to leave behind when her strict mother asked her to while shifting houses. She is surprised that he has heard of the alternative rock band ‘Breeders’, her favourite. It changes her serious, old-man image of him. When Ashley lands in this neighbourhood with her family, reluctant to leave her small home in the village, she is a little circumspect and even melancholic, as one of the characters puts it. Soon, she gels in, as if she has found her tribe. Girish AD does something similar with the audience. He places us firmly amid this bunch of closely-knit characters, all with relatable qualities, quirks and failings, making us feel as if we are among a group of our own friends. It also feels as if everyone here, except Ashley and her family have known each other all their lives, for such is the easy camaraderie and the sharpness of the repartees.

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Sat, August 22 2026

Gireesh AD's film has a narrative softness that’s obsessed with making you feel, rather than telling you about it

Set aside all temptations to speak about small town Angamaly as a character in Bethlehem Kudumba Unit, because even a guitar has a full character arc in Gireesh AD’s effortlessly charming film. The first scene of the film is Ashley (Mamitha Baiju) getting ready to say goodbye to her group of close friends as we hear chatter about her moving to a college in Ernakulam. They click selfies, hug each other all teary eyed and as a farewell gift, her friends gift her a new guitar. It takes an hour more, but it’s when we see the wallpaper on Ashley’s screen that we’re told about a band named Room 17 and of how she was its lead guitarist. When her new neighbour Justin (Nivin Pauly) identifies the band that features on this wallpaper, it immediately brings Ashley closer to Justin, someone she thinks off as the only person around her who’s even heard of that band.

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Sun, August 23 2026

ஹாலிவுட்டின் புகழ்பெற்ற `இன்சிடியஸ்' (Insidious) ஹாரர் யுனிவர்ஸில் ஆறாவது பாகமாக வந்திருக்கிறது `இன்சிடியஸ்: அவுட் ஆஃப் தி ஃபர்தர்'. `தி ரெட் டோர்' படத்துக்குப் பிறகு நடக்கும் இந்தக் கதை, லேம்பர்ட் குடும்பத்தைத் தாண்டி வேறொரு குடும்பத்தின் கதையைப் பேசுகிறது.

தாயின் துர்மரணத்துக்குப் பின், தன் பழைய வீட்டிலேயே மகள் மாயாவுடன் வசிக்கிறார் பல் மருத்துவர் ஜெம்மா. அங்கே அந்த வீட்டில் அமானுஷ்ய நிகழ்வுகள் அரங்கேற, மறைந்த அமானுஷ்ய ஆராய்ச்சி நிபுணர் எலிஸின் (Elise) ஆன்மாவின் உதவியுடன் தன்னைப் பற்றிய உண்மையை அறிகிறார். அதாவது ஆன்மாக்களின் உலகத்திற்கு (The Further) சென்று வருவது மட்டுமன்றி, நிஜ உலகத்திலிருந்து அங்கும், அங்கிருந்து நிஜ உலகிற்கும் எந்தப் பொருட்களையும் எடுத்துவரும் ‘கூரியர்’ (Courier) என்ற அபூர்வ சக்தி தனக்கு இருப்பதை உணர்கிறார் ஜெம்மா. அவரின் இந்தச் சக்தியைப் பயன்படுத்தி நிஜ உலகைக் கைப்பற்றத் துடிக்கும் அசுர ஆன்மாக்களிடமிருந்து ஜெம்மாவும் அவரது மகளும் தப்பித்தார்களா, அவர்களுக்கு எலிஸ் எப்படித் துணையாக நிற்கிறார் என்பதே திகில் நிறைந்த திரைக்கதை.

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Sat, August 22 2026

The first Insidious film came out in 2011, and since then, the franchise has spawned six films, including the latest, Out of the Further, directed by Jacob Chase, who makes his debut in the franchise. Horror franchises like this are low-hanging fruit for producers and studios. The six films have collectively made more than $700 million at the box office on a combined budget of less than one-tenth of that amount, making the math fairly simple. The franchise has also attracted some reputed names from the world of horror. James Wan, of The Conjuring fame, directed the first two films, while Oren Peli, who made Paranormal Activity, has served as a producer on all six.

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Fri, August 21 2026

It’s only so many ways that you can take this story about the Further farther, told as it has been in four films before.

If the thought of lying defenceless on a chair as a dentist pokes around inside your mouth leaves you queasy, you are in kindred company. This latest chapter in the Insidious franchise does draw on teeth, the full rotting spectrum of them, to add bite to its howls. And who better than beings suspended between life and death (the “Further” world, in the film’s words) for a specimen of ghastly pearly whites)? However, as and when it pulls out, the film is only passingly effective. It’s only so many ways that you can take this story about the Further farther, told as it has been in four films before. And the effort to do that shows, though as mother and daughter, the pair of Amelia Eve (in the role of Gemma) and Island Austin (Maya) are pretty good.

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Sat, August 22 2026

Despite an interesting idea and almost all the required ingredients, Ram and Leela neither has its heart in the right place, nor does this experiment yield promising results

Ideas. Every piece of art is built on an idea, upon which various layers are laid before it reaches its final version. Even if the idea is enterprising, the same can’t be guaranteed for the finished content. Just like how it isn’t enough that a film has its heart in the right place, one can’t really bat for a film just because it is an experiment, or a ‘brave’ attempt. That is the problem that plagues debut director Ramachandran Kannan’s Ram and Leela: neither does it have its heart in the right place, nor does this experiment yield promising results. It tries too hard to play around with the form only to end up as a convoluted mess.

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Sat, August 22 2026

After the success of Amar Singh Chamkila, Imtiaz Ali returns with Main Vaapas Aaunga—a film that desperately wants to build a timeless love story, but forgets to make its lead characters believable. We discuss the movie’s sanitised and one-dimensional depiction of Partition trauma, the bizarre inclusion of stand-up comedy monologues, and question Ali’s “political reawakening”. Along the way, we talk about the disastrous casting of lead actor Vedang Raina, how the film treats historical trauma like a Wikipedia checklist, and why Naseeruddin Shah effortlessly outclasses everyone despite being bedridden.

Sun, June 21 2026

Naseeruddin Shah headlines a film about love and loss and longing.

It has been a week since the end credits rolled for Imtiaz Ali’s Main Wapas Aaunga, but the film has been playing non-stop inside my head and heart. It has been peeling itself, layer by layer, to reveal the nuances that might have been missed when you were bawling your heart out for a love lost, and people displaced. This is the second movie this year to pay spiritual homage to Sargodha — the first was Sriram Raghavan’s tender anti-war film Ikkis, about war hero Arul Khetarpal. I confess I saw the movie through the many stories of escape I had heard in my six years (1997-2003) in Delhi, living in Old Rajinder Nagar, one of the colonies the refugees settled in. Many Papajis and Maajis still shed salty tears for their Pind, for the people, potted plants and property they left behind, never to return to. As we knitted on chill winter mornings when the sun played peekaboo, the creases on Maaji’s face softened, and yet another past memory resurfaced.

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Tue, June 16 2026

In the end, Imtiaz Ali, though sometimes full of feeling, seems full of sermonising.

In a scene during Imtiaz Ali’s Main Vaapas Aaunga, when Nirvair (Diljit Dosanjh) takes the stage at an open mic in London, I braced myself. In my head, Ali is notorious for dipping his toes in subcultures he considers ‘hip and trendy’ (like stand-up comedy here, fresco painting in 2009’s Love Aaj Kal) – including them as passing details in a film, never to be brought up again. Over here, it’s used to establish Nirvair as a young wastrel (from a wealthy family in Amritsar) coasting through life. He can’t stick to a job for more than two months, he can’t commit to his girlfriend, Kaveri (Banita Sandhu). His father (Rajat Kapoor) asks, “Why do you keep running?” – a narrative failsafe, lest the metaphor be lost on someone unfamiliar with an escapist Imtiaz Ali protagonist.

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Sat, August 22 2026

Elan, a Dubai returnee who just lost his job, and Pavithra, a corporate employee and popular influencer, fall in love and marry under unusual circumstances. Developing cold feet on the wedding day, she asks Elan to move into her home instead of his. Though initially repulsed by the idea, Elan relocates to Pavithra’s place as a dependent househusband staying at his in-laws’ residence. Elan the actor, for a debut, fares slightly better than Elan the director. He handles comedy with ease, but the script offers minimal room to prove his acting chops. Saanve Meghhana manages to bring some dignity to Pavithra, saddled with a male-centric narrative determined to caricature her.

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Fri, August 21 2026

Elan makes his acting debut with a fun, crisp take on gender reversal. Starring Saanve Megghana, the film raises interesting questions about marriage and equality, but falters with a shallow climax.

Choices and freedom are equally important for men and women in a relationship built on respect, love and true companionship. But here’s the uncomfortable question that lingers: when it comes to marriage, are men and women really given the same freedom to choose their own lives? Or are some choices still reserved for one gender more than the other? Director Elan’s Pyaar Prema Kalyanam toys with this idea and presents some genuinely interesting arguments around role reversal. Elan (Elan) is a reckless young man with little sense of responsibility. After losing the job in Dubai that his strict, conservative father got him, he returns to India with a simple life goal: fall in love and get married.

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Fri, August 21 2026

In its rush to play it safe, while also trying to check all the right boxes, we feel stuck in a tiring game of tug-of-war between people we never feel at home with

Director Elan’s Pyaar Prema Kalyanam could be termed a spiritual sequel to his first film Pyaar Prema Kadhal, a detail the director will not allow you to forget. At the core of it, they’re both films about the chaos that erupts when the families of a couple, decide to force their opinions onto their children. Both of these films also try to analyse a fairly modern (or seemingly progressive) relationship status from a distance, banking on the comedy that erupts when their orthodox family members try to come to terms with it. Pyaar Prema Kadhal, which released in 2018, did this with a couple that decides to enter into a live-in relationship, that too when one of their families live just one street away from them. In Pyaar Prema Kalyanam, Elan takes it one step ahead; the couple here are sure about getting married, but the groom must leave behind his home to move in with the bride and her family.

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