





Guild Reviews


Bandar
Thriller (Hindi)
TV star Samar's life spirals when his ex Gayatri accuses him of rape after he blocks contact with her. Despite his new relationship with Khushi, he faces arrest and encounters a corrupt justice system.
Cast:
Bobby Deol, Sanya Malhotra, Saba Azad, Sapna Pabbi, Joju George, Riddhi Sen, Ankush Gedam, Nagesh Bhonsle, Jeetendra Joshi, Jaimini Pathak
Director:
Anurag Kashyap

Fri, June 5 2026
Samar Mehra is not a has-been actor. His career never took off and at 50, acting opportunities have shrunk considerably, and so have his relationship prospects. Samar — played by an almost opaque Bobby Deol, a necessity for the part and not an encumbrance — sustains by lip-syncing to his old hits (C’mon baby, with him looking like a shiny disco ball, is addictive) at weddings and entertains himself by being on a dating app. His rent is overdue, so is surgery for a bad back. Unmarried, his current on-off date is Khushi (a refreshing Saba Azad). Cynical and exhausted, one night Samar finds his life upended when cops unceremoniously land up and herd him off to jail. A disbelieving and distraught Samar learns that he has been accused of rape by Gayatri (Sapna Pabbi), a woman he claims he had right-swiped on, got intimate with a few times and ghosted when she got obsessive. But in a post #MeToo society skewed against the man in such cases — “I am a victim,” Samar laments. “You are the accused until proven innocent,” his lawyer (Riddhi Sen is solidly cast) says bluntly — he finds that the stakes are heavily stacked against him.

Fri, June 5 2026
Right up, the first person to compliment would be Bobby Deol for playing a washed-up entertainer. It’s not every day that a mainstream actor would play Samar Mehra, a 50+ loser with a somewhat loose abs to match and outstanding EMIs. Man Friday too hasn’t been paid for months. No wife, no marriage, girlfriend Khushi (Saba Azad) was found on a dating app. But hopes of the big break as hero linger, as it does in most actors. And then he’s hit with a rape charge by Gayatri (Sapna Pabbi), a stalker from his recent past. The rawness and the indifference of cops inside a police station may have been seen several times before but Kashyap directs a sequence that’s part humour, part horror especially as a senior in charge (brilliantly played by Jitendra Joshi) takes off on Samar’s WhatsApp chats. His ‘Benjo…’, his way-out explanations, his Trimurti reference to Subhash Ghai, are so well-written and well-enacted that there’s laughter even as the noose tightens around Samar.

Fri, June 5 2026
Do you ever think of being correct, but not politically correct? That is, saying something aloud through any medium that might offend the majority despite being right in your stand. Anurag Kashyap’s Bandar spends its entire 2-hour odd runtime walking this dangerously slippery slope. It tells the story of a man wronged in the era of #MeToo, a movement that has rightfully brought justice to a lifetime of denial for countless survivors. The gender reversal makes the story a tad uncomfortable to endorse, though never difficult to empathize with.

Peddi
Action, Drama (Telugu)
In 1980s rural Andhra Pradesh, A spirited villager unites his community through sports to defend their pride against a powerful rival.
Cast:
Ram Charan, Janhvi Kapoor, Shiva Rajkumar, Jagapati Babu, Divyendu Sharma, Rajatabha Dutta, Dayanand Reddy, Upendra Limaye, Viji Chandrasekhar, Satya
Director:
Buchi Babu Sana

Fri, June 5 2026
Pudathama enti malli? (Will we be born again?), Ram Charan’s character Peddi asks at several points in his new Telugu film directed by Buchi Babu Sana. More statement than question, the line underscores the protagonist’s belief that life comes only once, and his determination to stop at nothing to achieve his goal. Buchi Babu frames Peddi’s fight for his own identity and that of his village like a sports biopic, powered by Ram Charan’s performance, A.R. Rahman’s music and R. Rathnavelu’s evocative visuals. The 189-minute film travels back to the 1990s. When a member of the Indian Olympics Association, played by Boman Irani, witnesses an extraordinary spectacle in and around Vizianagaram, Andhra Pradesh, he is drawn into Peddi’s story. At its core, the film is centred on the struggles of sugarcane field labourers in the region. Yet, its storytelling borrows liberally from sports dramas across languages, evoking everything from Sarpatta Parambarai to Chandu Champion and Bhaag Milkha Bhaag.

Parimala and Co
Crime, Comedy (Tamil)
A dark comedy centered around a chaotic family whose tangled relationships and unpredictable situations lead to emotionally charged and absurd moments, blending humor with underlying tension and drama.
Cast:
Jayaram, Urvashi, Sanjana Krishnamoorthy, Ananthika Sanilkumar, Mysskin, Yogi Babu, Sandy, Santosh Shoban, G. K. M. Tamil Kumaran, Swasika
Director:
Pandiraj
Writer:
Pandiraj

Fri, June 5 2026
Circumstance. When a family is facing a particularly distressing period in their lives, what really matters is their response to the circumstances. Over the years, cinema has often told stories of families that stick together to face whatever comes their way. We have seen the Drishyams, the Koodi Vaazhndhaal Kodi Nanmais, the Kolamaavu Kokilas, the Doctors, and even last week’s release, Blast. Families finding themselves painted into a corner, and doing everything possible to get out of it, is a time-tested template, and yet… director Pandiraaj’s latest, Parimala and Co, does the one thing you shouldn’t do when it comes to making a whodunnit family drama. He makes things… boring.

Gullak S05
Comedy, Drama, Family (Hindi)
Set in quaint by-lanes in the heart of India, Gullak is a collection of disarming and relatable tales of the Mishra family.
Cast:
Jameel Khan, Geetanjali Kulkarni, Harsh Mayar, Shivankit Singh Parihar, Sunita Rajwar, Anant Joshi

Fri, June 5 2026
A supersized version of Gullak has arrived for its fifth season. We’ve watched the Mishras grow in their humble abode all these years. In the latest season, the family makes some instrumental decisions that will affect everyone. But while The Viral Fever (TVF) has an emotional end, the show takes some amusing and meaningful detours. It also adds to the lore of the Gullak universe; if you’ve been a fan since the beginning, there are welcome rewards ahead for viewers. Overall, the comfort series continues to delight and make you want to know more about this loyal, caring clan.

Cape Fear
Drama, Crime (English)
A storm is coming for happily married attorneys Anna and Tom Bowden when Max Cady, the notorious killer they are responsible for putting behind bars, is let out of prison and wants revenge.
Cast:
Javier Bardem, Amy Adams, Patrick Wilson, CCH Pounder, Lily Collias, Joe Anders, Anna Baryshnikov, Jamie Hector, Malia Pyles

Fri, June 5 2026
There’s a specific cruelty in asking an audience to hold Robert De Niro‘s memory in their head while watching anything. Scorsese’s 1991 Cape Fear is one of the most viscerally unpleasant American studio films ever greenlit. It was a picture so brutally disturbing that it feels like it physically assaults you. De Niro’s Max Cady showed that when the id snaps and has a grudge, it’s almost like unleashing raw fury from God. Nick Antosca’s ten-episode Apple TV limited series (executive-produced, with some degree of irony, by both Martin Scorsese himself and Steven Spielberg) has the considerable audacity to set up shop in that shadow and try to grow something in the dark. Remarkably, it partly succeeds.

Fri, June 5 2026
The latest star-led prestige drama from Apple TV is Cape Fear. Created by Nick Antosca, the new remake based on John D. MacDonald’s book The Executioners and the previous Hollywood films elongates the story of vengeance. It expands the roles of the Bowden family while creating an aura of ambiguity around notorious villain Max Cady, now played by Javier Bardem. With the backing of Oscar-winning filmmakers Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, the new Cape Fear is a chilling page-turner and psychological thriller you just can’t get enough of.

Brown
Crime, Drama, Mystery (Hindi)
Brown is a recovering alcoholic, who works for Kolkata Police and has to investigate the murder of a young woman from a well-known family.
Cast:
Karisma Kapoor, Helen, Soni Razdan, Surya Sharma, K.K. Raina, Jisshu Sengupta

Fri, June 5 2026
Stop me if you’ve heard this one. A pill-popping, alcohol-swigging, chain-smoking detective is forced back on duty to catch a killer terrorising a decrepit, dingy city. Before the bodies pile up, she must track down and stop the devil whilst confronting her own demons, wading through the ghosts of her past and navigating a moody murder mystery. The air is thick with despair and grief. The (female) victim was found mutilated. The list of suspects is long, ranging from shifty family members to shifty exes to shifty stalkers. Everyone’s fractured, broken, carrying a truckload of trauma.

Fri, June 5 2026
Seven episodes of Brown later, I couldn’t help but make my way to a place I never visit: ChatGPT. I keyed in a series of prompts which looked exactly like this: Serial killer + Murder mystery + Kolkata + Anglo-Indian community + Alcoholic and troubled cop + Food + Rabindrasangeet + Noir feel + Shadowy spaces + Kolkata landmarks + Sepia frames. In less than five seconds, I was staring at a plot uncannily similar to what I had just watched. It had even suggested a title for the story: “Sepia Nights”. ‘Sepia’ is, of course, described as “a deep reddish-brown colour”. ‘Brown’ is the operative word here. Before you rap my knuckles for venturing even close to AI, Brown has already beaten me to it. The series, now streaming on ZEE5, is nothing more than an algorithmic amalgamation of everything that Kolkata is. More importantly, it shows more of what Kolkata isn’t. Granted that Brown is a serial-killer thriller and not a geography lesson. But for a story that relies so much on atmospherics, it is a shame that director Abhinay Deo, along with his team of writers (Suri Gopalan, Diggi Sissodia, Sunayana Kumari and Mayukh Ghosh) choose to present the city through such a stereotypical, trite lens.


Maa Behen
Comedy, Thriller (Hindi)
In this dark comedy, a woman calls her estranged daughters in the middle of the night with chilling news — there's a dead body in her kitchen.
Cast:
Madhuri Dixit, Triptii Dimri, Ravi Kishan, Dharna Durga, Jatin Sarna, Geetanjali Kulkarni, Arunoday Singh, Shardul Bhardwaj
Director:
Suresh Triveni

Fri, June 5 2026

Fri, June 5 2026
A middle-aged widow (Madhuri Dixit) finds herself in a ‘killer’ soup. She is stuck with the dead body of a next-door neighbour (Ravi Kishan) in her living room. It’s the middle of the night. The panic-stricken woman calls up both her Patna-based daughters — the older one (Triptii Dimri) who slaves away at her husband’s home, and the younger one (Dharna Durga) who’s desperate to go viral as an influencer. The two warring sisters arrive at their mother’s the next morning and wonder how to solve the crisis. When they ask her what happened, she narrates an over-elaborate adventure of self-defense. It sounds like a farfetched lie; they do not believe her. But they go about dealing with the body anyway. What follows is a quirky small-town dramedy that features the squabbling and spirited ladies, the man’s suspicious family, a kidnapping case, a lovelorn cop, an entitled husband, a bag of cash, an upcoming wedding, and a cryptic ransom call.

Fri, June 5 2026
Can you really, truly ruin a perfectly interesting ensemble and the kernel of an idea that could have blown up into a fully feminist fun film, by not knowing quite how to build on it? Maa Behen, bearing a title which cheekily wants to subvert that familiar invective prevalent in much of North India, in whose fictional town this film is set, gets lost in flabby, confused writing. And yet again, you wonder how films which squander their potential, and a great cast — apart from Madhuri Dixit-Tripti Dimri-Dharna Durga, this has the terrific Geetanjali Kulkarni and Shardul Bhardwaj among others — keep rolling out. Ma Rekha (Madhuri Dixit) with her two wildly different daughters, Jaya (Tripti Dimri) and Sushma (Dharna Durga), is the fulcrum, around which revolve patriarchal fathers-in-law who can’t make tea for themselves, entitled brothers-in-law who demand fresh rotis hot off the tawa, careless husbands (Shardul Bharadwaj) who double up as flirtatious jeejas flirting with uncaring saalis, and sundry other men who are either clueless or indifferent.


Made in India: A Titan Story
Drama (Hindi)
In a market ruled by smuggling and foreign brands, a determined Indian man Xerxes Desai, with the help of his team, dares to build a world-class watch from scratch. Battling rejection, failure, and global humiliation, they transform Titan into a symbol of national pride and innovation.
Cast:
Naseeruddin Shah, Jim Sarbh, Vaibhav Tatwawadi, Lakshvir Saran, Kaveri Seth, Namita Dubey, Joy Sengupta, Ashwath Bhatt, Prateeksha Lonkar, Paresh Ganatra
Director:
Robby Grewal
Writer:
Karan Vyas

Fri, June 5 2026
Director Robbie Grewal’s series chronicling the origins of the Tata Empire’s iconic watch brand, for The Hollywood Reporter India. Based on Vinay Kamath’s book Titan: Inside India’s Most Successful Consumer Brand, the show follows how, through the 70s and 80s, Tata executive Xerxes Desai (Jim Sarbh) founded Titan and built a world-class watch under the guidance of JRD Tata (Naseeruddin Shah). Suchin finds the Amazon MX Player series warm, deeply felt and immensely huggable, drawing an unavoidable comparison to Rocket Boys given the shared heart-first DNA. He argues that more than a corporate success story, this is a tale framed as a fable of national pride, but one that soars because of its delicate love for its characters rather than its milestones. Across six achingly sincere episodes, he cares about the Titan story because he cares about the figures behind it.

Fri, June 5 2026
In theory, nothing about Made In India: A Titan Story is supposed to work. Starting with that corporate-core title. It’s hard not to be wary of well-mounted business success stories about brands and institutions that still exist. There’s the thinnest line between promotional productions and historical dramas. This six-episode series is adapted from Vinay Kamath’s book about the rise of Titan, the world-class watchmaking company founded by Xerxes Desai in pre-liberalisation India. It’s not exactly a rags-to-riches tale; it opens with Desai well into his career, and already an integral part of The Tata Group. It’s not your typical underdog tale either; Desai’s mentor is grand old J.R.D Tata himself, so even when Titan runs into its many bureaucratic and funding roadblocks, it’s not like the team has the odds entirely stacked against them. There’s also the ready-made patriotism angle; Titan unfolds to put the country on a map dominated by shiny Swiss companies. On paper, the series has all the ingredients of a persuasive marketing campaign. For a viewer, it’s the equivalent of trying to root for a nepo-baby in a landscape full of outsiders.

Fri, June 5 2026
Decades before the phrase became a sarkaari slogan, a world class product became a shining example of the dictum, Made In India. India’s first Quartz watch, Titan by the Tatas, proudly manufactured in India, for Indians, by Indians, was launched back in the late 80s. The timepiece that took on the entrenched might of old favourite HMT, and the ingrained habit of winding a knob, took its time getting there. Incorporating the setbacks and breakthroughs, it is a fascinating story of individual passion and solid teamwork, backed by the goodwill of one of India’s most powerful business houses. Under the charismatic-yet-mercurial leadership of the legendary Xerxes Desai, whose mentor was JRD himself, ‘The Titan Story’, based on Vinay Kamath’s book as an inside-look, is a saga which elicits multiple feelings: the confidence in an on-the-rise India, based on high-quality technology and best ethical practices, the demands of successful entrepreneurship, the power of an idea, the people who remained steadfast to their purpose, all wrapped up in popular Bollywood songs-driven nostalgia.


Shape of Momo
Drama, Family (Nepali)
Bishnu returns to her Himalayan village after quitting her job, only to face mounting family pressures and societal expectations. As tensions rise with her pregnant sister's arrival and a budding relationship with a "suitable" boy from her community, Bishnu must choose between conforming to tradition or claiming her independence.
Cast:
Gaumaya Gurung, Pashupati Rai, Shyama Shree Sherpa, Rahul Nawach Mukhia, Janaki Kadayat, Sonam Bomzon, Bhanu Maya Rai
Director:
Tribeny Rai
Writer:
Kislay Kislay, Tribeny Rai

Fri, June 5 2026
All Bishnu wants is to show she can do it all. Lift a gas cylinder. Ensure the family in the orange orchard pays up. Get her elder sister to finish her graduation. Get into a relationship. And not care ‘ki log kya kahenge’. But patriarchy lurks like a dark shadow in the village to which she has returned after a stint in New Delhi. And women have made peace with their roles and gender dynamics. So when Bishnu behaves like the man of the house, there are clashes with her mother and sister. For Bishnu’s mom, asserting independence is a way of disbanding from the community; for Bishnu, it is just the natural way to be. For her pregnant sister, there are regrets; for Bishnu, it’s never too late to do what you want. “I’ll see what kind of a husband a judgemental person likes you gets,” remarks her sister while her mother has had it with her temper and irritable behaviour.

Sun, May 31 2026
Why would anyone name a cat Azaadi? Perhaps every time you call your companion animal by that name, you give voice to an ache to break free. At the heart of the Nepali-language film Shape of Momo is Bishnu’s (Gaumaya Gurung) tabby cat, named exactly that. Aazadi isn’t an animal protagonist so much as a metaphor for the film’s politics of gender. The family rues that they should have liked a tomcat instead because a female cat would keep having litters. While it’s a perfectly practical concern in a domestic setting, Tribeny Rai’s debut feature is also about a generational belief that a family is somehow incomplete without a son.

Sun, May 31 2026
Shape of Momo (Nepali title: Chhora Jastai), directed by Tribeny Rai, emerges as one of the most compelling independent films of the year. Set in the picturesque landscapes of Sikkim, this intimate coming-of-age drama explores themes of womanhood, identity, migration, family expectations, and personal freedom. In this review, critic Saibal Chatterjee examines how Rai crafts a powerful narrative about a young woman’s struggle to reconcile her evolving sense of self with the expectations of the community she once called home. First-time director Tribeny Rai’s Nepali-language Shape of Momo starts with a poem that the protagonist, a young woman who has quit her job in Delhi and retreated to her family home in Sikkim, recites, intoning each word with intent and clarity.


Obsession
Horror (English)
After breaking the mysterious "One Wish Willow" to win his crush's heart, a hopeless romantic finds himself getting exactly what he asked for but soon discovers that some desires come at a dark, sinister price.
Cast:
Michael Johnston, Inde Navarrette, Cooper Tomlinson, Megan Lawless, Andy Richter, Haley Fitzgerald, Darin Toonder, Anthony Pavone, Justice, Anthony Casabianca
Director:
Curry Barker
Writer:
Curry Barker

Wed, June 3 2026
n a market and year where Hollywood tentpole has been dominant — think Project Hail Mary, think Michael, think The Devil Wears Prada 2, led by the biggest so far, namely, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie — the last few weeks have seen film buffs worldwide defy every kind of algorithm, glossy packaging and blockbuster potential, to troop into cinemas worldwide for a film which has quickly become what one can only describe as a “phenomenon”. Horror is having a moment on the Holly screen, and Obsession — to quote an unavoidable cliche — is now an obsession.

Tue, June 2 2026
At the heart of Curry Barker’s Obsession lies a simple, contained but brilliant premise: what if your dreams come true; but those dreams turn out to be your worst nightmare. Starting out writing comedy sketches under “That’s a Bad Idea”, this is only the writer-director’s second feature. Maximising the thin conceit and wringing the idea for social commentary, Obsession keeps the audience unsettled, as Barker takes the narrative to ludicrous and shocking heights. Bear (Michael Johnston), a young introverted man, probably in his 20s, is hopelessly in love with friend Nikki (Inde Navarrette). They work together in a music store, living a harmless life in American suburbia: going to trivia nights, taking turns at the karaoke, hopping between bars and house parties. When she puts in her two-weeks notice at the workplace, he must hurry and tell her how he feels. He buys a ‘one-wish willow’ (a bark that is supposed to be split into two after one makes a wish) as her going-away present. Too shy to give it to her after he drops her home, Bear, without thinking too much, wishes ‘Nikki would love me more than anyone in the world’ and then breaks it. Much to Bear’s shock, his wish is granted, as Nikki turns around from near her door-step, walks towards his car, and insists if she can sleep at his house.

Fri, May 29 2026
Boy likes girl. What next? A lot of possible romances end right here. But what happens when the shy boy gets one miracle wish that can turn romance into a love story. A YouTuber on the road to fame after Obsession wowed audiences at Toronto International Film Festival, and got horror impresario Jason Blum onboard as executive producer, director Curry Barker is all of 26. He is also the writer of this tragi-comic horror film, with Cooper Tomlinson who plays one of the key characters, his long-time collaborator. Barker taps right into Gen Z’s au courant crisis and places Obsession in the irresolute territory where love is an all-consuming but never-consummate emotion. Relationships are situationships, and situations are at the mercy of just too many things. Commitment is a word – and world – too long.


Blast
Action, Drama, Family (Tamil)
Follows a family trained to protect the powerless who become the most dangerous obstacle of all.
Cast:
Arjun Sarja, Abhirami, Preity Mukhundhan, Vivek Prasanna, John Kokken, Arjun Chidambaram, Pawan, Dhileban, Vinod Sagar, Bala Hasan
Director:
Subash K Raj
Writer:
Subash K Raj

Mon, June 1 2026
Choices. A lot about a person can be known by the choices they make. The same holds true for a filmmaker, whose decisions on camera angles, narrative detours, character depth, use of musical cues, and the scenes chosen and left at the editing table prove their mettle. The same holds true for an actor, whose decisions on whether they accept to do a full-fledged role, or a glorified cameo, or an important yet minuscule part, appear in a ‘special’ dance number, or a ‘friendly appearance,’ or play a role that doesn’t add anything anywhere except to the bank balance, decide their worth. But what happens when the Yhprum’s Law is in full force, and almost every choice, despite a few hurdles, ends up for the greater good? You get Subash K Raj’s debut film, Blast, starring Arjun, Abhirami, and Preity Mukhundhan.

Sun, May 31 2026
A middle-class family full of Karate fighters. A Rs 7,000 crore mining project on the line. A corporate villain. And his assassin to get things done for him. When all these collide,you get a script with ample scope for a wild ride. Director Subash K Raj attempts an action-heavy thriller about a happy family that just wants to mind its own business. Blast, at a runtime of nearly two hours and 30 minutes, is a blend of multiple genres. At one point, it is about a middle-class family fighting to protect their peace. When Nila (Preity Mukundhan) is young, her father (Arjun Sarja) teaches her the most important lesson in life: stand up for the victim, even if they are not related to you. This, along with karate training from her father, makes her impossible to dislike.

Fri, May 29 2026
Subhash K Raj’s Blast is a movie that’s written for and around its high moments. It’s almost like Subhash knows how these moments will be received in the theatre, and he also understands the careful plotting and planning that’s required for them to land, once he allows them to. For this, he has figured out his own method to create a reasonably engaging action comedy around an idea that may have been too small, even for a short film.

The Mummy
Horror, Mystery (English)
The young daughter of a journalist disappears into the desert without a trace—eight years later, the broken family is shocked when she is returned to them, as what should be a joyful reunion turns into a living nightmare.
Cast:
Jack Reynor, Laia Costa, May Calamawy, Natalie Grace, Shylo Molina, Billie Roy, Veronica Falcón, Hayat Kamille, May Elghety, Emily Mitchell
Director:
Lee Cronin
Writer:
Lee Cronin

Sat, May 30 2026
எகிப்தின் கைரோவில் டிவி நிருபராக பணியாற்றுகிறார் சார்லி கேனன் (ஜேக் ரெய்னோர்). மனைவி லரிசா (லையா கோஸ்டா), மகள் மற்றும் மகனுடன் வாழ்ந்து வருகிறார். இதனிடையே ஒருநாள் வீட்டுத் தோட்டத்தில் விளையாடிக்கொண்டிருந்த மகள் கேட்டி காணாமல் போகிறாள். எங்குத் தேடியும் கிடைக்காத நிலையில், சார்லியின் குடும்பம் மெக்ஸிக்கோவுக்கு மாற்றலாகிறது. எட்டு வருடங்களுக்குப் பிறகு கேட்டி கிடைத்துவிட்டாள் என்ற செய்தி எகிப்திலிருந்து வருகிறது. ஆனால் இப்போதிருக்கும் கேட்டி சுயநினைவின்றி மனநலச் சிக்கலோடு இருக்கிறாள். உண்மையில் கேட்டிக்கு என்ன நடந்தது, அவளால் வரும் ஆபத்துகள் என்ன என்பதை ஹாரர் விருந்தாக முன்வைக்கிறது படம்.