





Guild Reviews

Maayakoothu
Crime, Drama, Fantasy (Tamil)
A writer's tale unravels-a magical and mystical ride through realms unknown.
Cast:
Nagarajan Kannan, Delhi Ganesh, Mu Ramaswamy, Boxer Dheena, S.K. Gaayathri, Rekha Kumanan, Murugan Govinthsamy, Pragatheeswaran, Aishwarya Ragupathi
Director:
A. R. Raghavendran
Writer:
A. R. Raghavendran, M.Srinivasan

A Puzzling Fever Dream Which Mixes Pulp Fiction and Philosophy
Mon, July 14 2025
The opening shot of AR Raghavendra’s head-scratcher Maayakoothu frames two creators and one creation as they discuss the philosophies of their respective artforms. Our protagonist Vasan (AR Raghavendra) is the writer of pulply serialised novels, and we see him deep in conversation with a sculptor he refers to as his mentor. As they discuss the powers they wield as creators, we see the mentor slowly sculpting away at the bust of a man, explaining how a single stroke of his chisel is enough to both bring life and death to his creation.

A Brilliant Case For Relentless Optimism Amid Ruin
Mon, June 30 2025
Vasan (Nagarajan Kannan), an egotistical writer with a god complex, makes a living by writing stories for a small magazine. He avoids mainstream magazines, citing the lack of freedom. Even his magazine’s editor (Delhi Ganesan) calls magazine stories a dying art. But Vasan is adamant and relentless. His resolve is also seen in his writing and his choice of creating tragic stories where the oppressed and people on the fringes of society get tortured. Parallel to Vasan’s narrative, we get three other narratives, and it takes a while to understand that the three stories are by Vasan. One is about a gangster, Dhanapal (Sai Dheena), on the precipice of finishing his 50th murder assignment. The second one has Selvi (Aishwarya Raghupathi), a domestic worker struggling to make money for her son’s school fees, and the third is another tragic tale of an aspiring doctor, the daughter of a poor farmer, who doesn’t have the means to attempt the NEET exam. All three stories teem with archetypal tropes of poverty and oppression that cater to a particular gaze of society. Vasan has an air of superiority while weaving their stories of torture, but his characters start tormenting him, demanding he write more responsibly. He claims his characters are after his life, and thus begins a maze of a story where the lines of reality blur.

Brick
Science Fiction, Thriller (German)
When a mysterious brick wall encloses their apartment building overnight, Tim and Olivia must unite with their wary neighbors to get out alive.
Cast:
Matthias Schweighöfer, Ruby O. Fee, Frederick Lau, Salber Lee Williams, Murathan Muslu, Sira-Anna Faal, Axel Werner, Alexander Beyer, Josef Berousek, Daniele Rizzo
Director:
Philip Koch
Writer:
Philip Koch

Brick is the latest entrant in the puzzle-box movie genre
Mon, July 14 2025
A German film is fast climbing the global charts on Netflix. Brick, a sci-fi thriller that also doubles as a relationship drama, is the latest addition to the puzzle-box/ escape room movie sub-genre, that over the last few decades, has met with middling success. Brick tells the story of a group of tenants who become trapped inside their building when a mysterious, almost alien-like black brick wall ‘grows’ overnight outside their apartments, completely surrounding it. The wall is impenetrable, its strong magnetic energy even managing to make bullets ricochet off it and kill those it has trapped within their four walls. There is no way to escape, and as the minutes tick by, the group finds that the Internet is down, their phones are out and the water supply has run dry (though the electricity, inexplicably, seems to be still working).


Superman (2025)
Science Fiction, Adventure, Action (English)
Superman, a journalist in Metropolis, embarks on a journey to reconcile his Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing as Clark Kent.
Cast:
David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, Nicholas Hoult, Edi Gathegi, Anthony Carrigan, Nathan Fillion, Isabela Merced, María Gabriela de Faría, Skyler Gisondo, Sara Sampaio
Director:
James Gunn
Writer:
James Gunn

Superman: The Long Review
Sun, July 13 2025

Superhero Times
Sat, July 12 2025
Following the release of Man of Steel (2013) and the critically panned Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), which failed to perform well at the box office, the Kryptonian superhero was granted a hiatus. This film has been in the works for some time; however, when Justice League (2017) encountered production difficulties, the sequel to Man of Steel was also sidelined. James Gunn, who directed the three Guardians of the Galaxy films for Marvel, has transitioned to D.C. with this new Superman project. Although Guardians franchise featured a team of superheroes while this one primarily focuses on a solo hero (with the Justice gang making a brief appearance), there is a significant difference in the tone of the two movies. Guardians was predominantly a light-hearted film that utilized humor to navigate its narrative, whereas Superman does not follow the same pattern. He faces a serious mission to thwart the nefarious schemes of Lex Luthor. With Lois Lane present, there is an opportunity to incorporate some romantic elements, and some of the most delightful moments arise from Krypto, the Superdog. . But otherwise, Superman plays it by the numbers.

Bow, Wow, We’re Cute
Sat, July 12 2025
It requires metahuman skills to keep rebooting and refreshing a comic book character that was created in the 1930s. Writer-director James Gunn does it with Krypto. When a gasping-for-life Clark Kent/Superman (David Corenswet) is dragged to his secret crystalline home to be revived, Krypto the dog saves not just the superhero from an alien planet but also Gunn’s film. Bow-wow, wag-wag, Krypto gets the applause each time he flies in for a timely rescue. He also gets the laughs with his overenthusiastic greetings, his jumps and his boundless energy. Truly, a doggie version of almost killing with love. Amidst a whole lot of confusing metahumans, some good, some bad, an assortment of black holes and universes that include a pocket universe, and powers that provide sci-fi and CGI experts with lucrative employment, Gunn brings in one more aww-inspiring moment – an alien infant that must be rescued from CGI fire by Superman, good metahuman Mr Terrific (Edi Gathegi) and Krypto. With Krypto slobbering all over the infant, the cuteness quotient shoots up.


Aap Jaisa Koi
Romance, Comedy (Hindi)
Shrirenu lives by tradition. Madhu lives unapologetically. When their paths cross, a tender romance unfolds — awkward, sweet but shadowed by patriarchy.
Cast:
R. Madhavan, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Namit Das, Manish Chaudhary, Ayesha Raza Mishra, Anubha Fatehpuria, Kumar Kanchan Ghosh, Shashie Vermaa, Karan Wahi
Director:
Vivek Soni
Writer:
Radhika Anand, Jehan Handa

A polished but superficial romance
Sun, July 13 2025
In Aap Jaisa Koi, director Vivek Soni takes on the delicate subjects of late-blooming romance, masculine vulnerability, modern love, and old-fashioned chauvinism. The film, now streaming on Netflix, stars R. Madhavan and Fatima Sana Shaikh as two professionals navigating a hesitant, imperfect courtship. R. Madhavan plays Shrirenu “Shri” Tripathi, a 42-year-old Sanskrit professor from Jamshedpur whose gentle, brooding nature hides years of emotional repression, social awkwardness, and societal taunts—including from his brother and best friend. He finds an outlet through an app aimed at lonely hearts called ‘Aap Jaisa Koi’. Fatima Sana Shaikh portrays Madhu Bose, a French teacher from Kolkata. She’s confident and open-minded, but carries her own emotional history. Madhu and Shri become an unlikely match, introduced by a kindly intermediary. She is everything Shri is not, and her interest in him makes him suspicious. In the company of Madhu, 42-year-old Shri, for the first time in his life, experiences female attention and intimacy.

Sparks fly, and don’t
Sat, July 12 2025
Cute girl, nerdy boy — could be a romcom. A Sanskrit teacher meets one who teaches French. He is a virgin at 42, she is 32 and not squeamish about her sex life. Certainly not a cute meet, but unusual enough to pique our interest. On paper, the plot makes for some fireworks. After all, what can be more fascinating than Jean-Paul Sartre and Kalidas coming together! As the love story of Shrirenu Tripathi (R Madhavan) and Madhu Bose (Fatima Sana Sheikh) unfolds, the uncommon premise holds out, but not with magic in entirety. The heart of the film is in the right place. It opens with a tribute to KJo’s iconic ‘dosti pyaar hai’, a nudge to the fact that the film is produced by Dharma Productions’ digital arm Dharmatics Entertainment. Like many of its films in the recent past, it wears its progressive values on its sleeve. Patriarchy is on play in the Tripathi household where elder brother Bhanu (Manish Chaudhary) is every inch a male chauvinist, demanding complete subservience from his culinary-adept wife Kusum (Ayesha Raza) and daughter, whom he constantly beseeches to learn household chores. One scene with reference to ‘silbatte wali chatni’ is a direct nod to the much-acclaimed ‘Mrs’.

(Writing for OTT Play)
Leave Bengalis Alone
Sat, July 12 2025
Success improves most things except Hindi cinema. Past proves that acceptance of a certain kind of film often spawns inferior versions of the same. Many are guilty, but perhaps none more than Dharma, the production company that has made a business model out of a single premise: youth sparring with age. In Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001), filmmaker Karan Johar, also the co-owner of Dharma, played with traditional trappings as a young man resisted parental pressure without standing up against it. Success followed, and so did similar iterations; in 2023, he fortified the defiance of young love in Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani (2023) and two years later, his banner has bankrolled Aap Jaisa Koi, a shell of a film that is all framing. The point of contention remains the same: tradition holds the sword to love. But Vivek Soni’s film is also generously influenced by Rocky Rani, and as a result, the discord comprises as much old order stacked against new as the new carrying the vestige of the old. And, yet again, women and the Bengali community (I will circle back to this) shoulder the responsibility for the moral rehabilitation of the men.


Maalik
Action, Thriller, Crime, Drama (Hindi)
Set in the rural, rusty and politically charged Allahabad of the 1980s, Maalik is a peek into the making of a dreaded gangster from a humble background with intoxication of power to rule the world.
Cast:
Rajkummar Rao, Manushi Chhillar, Saurabh Shukla, Prosenjit Chatterjee, Anshumaan Pushkar, Rajendra Gupta, Swanand Kirkire, Huma Qureshi, Saurabh Sachdeva
Director:
Pulkit
Writer:
Pulkit, Jyotsana Nath

(Writing for The Daily Eye)
MAALIK IS BLOOD, DUST, SWAGGER
Sun, July 13 2025
Another gangster film, you ask? Yawn… stretch… cue eye-roll? Well, hold that sigh! Because Maalik isn’t just another entry in the long line of blood-splattered, dialogue-heavy desi crime sagas. This time, it’s Rajkummar Rao—yes, our usually understated poster boy for indie angst—getting absolutely ripped and unleashing his inner baddie, all while juggling social commentary like it’s part of a gym circuit. Directed by Pulkit, Maalik is set in Allahabad, in the turbulent years between 1988 and 1990—a time when moustaches were thick, tempers were thicker, and justice was mostly served with a hockey stick. Rao plays Deepak, a humble farmer’s son whose slide into the underworld is triggered by the usual recipe: a cocktail of caste-based humiliation, wounded family pride, and a healthy dose of “Why should I till the land when I can rule it instead?”

Tired and tested
Sat, July 12 2025
The year is 1990, the place is Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh, and violence is the running theme of ‘Maalik’. Though Bengali superstar Prosenjit Chatterjee’s swag as a police officer is on ample display, the film belongs to Rajkummar Rao. As and in ‘Maalik’, he is menace personified, a gangster who kills without flinching, who rules through dread and fear. Rajkummar has donned a new avatar, far removed from his usual romcom films. The incredible actor that he is, he lives the character, channels the anger within, seethes, fumes and kills like never before. But when the hero is also the anti-hero, the makers could not resist the temptation to give him a romantic backstory, in this case his wife Shalini (Manushi Chillar).

Rajkummar Rao is Trapped in a Stale Gangster Saga
Sat, July 12 2025
Maalik opens with a shootout in 1990, Allahabad. A dacoit-like gangster named Deepak (Rajkummar Rao), a.k.a Maalik (“owner”), is wounded and bullet-riddled. The police have surrounded the hideout. The Bengali superintendent (Prosenjit Chatterjee) cracks a movie joke on the loudspeaker while telling him to surrender. Maalik shoots back through the window. The film then rewinds to a few years ago, starting in earnest to show how Maalik reaches this moment. It’s a narrative older than time. You’d think that if something evokes memories of Satya, Agneepath, Vaastav, Sarkar and every other popular mafia-origins movie, it must be a solid contender. But the opposite is true here: Maalik feels like a childhood film-making wish being fulfilled — an all-you-can-eat genre buffet assembled from scraps of classics — rather than an inventive or original shot in the dark.


Oho Enthan Baby
Romance (Tamil)
After Meera discovers his issues and leaves, filmmaker Ashwin channels his pain into a movie script. While pitching it, he questions if he wants this ending for his real story.
Cast:
Rudra, Mithila Palkar, Anju Kurian, Mysskin, Redin Kingsley, Karunakaran, Geetha Kailasam, Balaji Sakthivel, Sujatha Babu Ramesh, Nirmal Pillai
Director:
Krishnakumar Ramakumar

A Derivative Yet Endearing Romantic-Drama
Sat, July 12 2025
Any film that begins with a narrator introducing the hero immediately raises a suspicion. If cliches are alphabets, it is A. Oh Enthan Baby kicked off with Vishnu Vishal’s (who has played an extended cameo) narration introducing his brother Rudra as Ashwin, and the dutiful brother also preps us that the film is about three of his romances in different stages in life. As you get ready for further such datedness, director Krishnakumar Ramakumar manages to surprise you. The first surprise came in the form of scenes parodising Vijay and Ajith Kumar. It was bold and funny, and I was piqued. While there were no such risks again as the film followed many of the rom-com tropes, it managed to be enjoyable, thanks to the director’s nonchalant and self-aware treatment of a rather tested story.

A romance story that has its moments
Sat, July 12 2025
Pray, what is love? Is it in the initial attraction that happens between two individuals? Is it in the sweet nothings that they share?

A funny, feel-good drama that falls prey to cliches
Fri, July 11 2025
Gone are the days when feel-good romantic entertainers filled theatres every week. And even when they do, most of them tend to feel flavourless, prompting us to revisit old classics from the ’90s and 2000s. When the trailer of ‘Oho Enthan Baby’ was released, it gave the vibe of a vibrant love story that speaks about the relationship troubles of today. Has ‘Oho Enthan Baby’ struck the right chord with the audience? Let’s find out! Ashwin (Rudra), a struggling assistant director, gets the opportunity to narrate his stories to actor Vishnu Vishal (as himself). He is accompanied by his manager, King (Redin Kingsley), who is a sounding board that tells only the truth. Vishnu rejects the first two ideas and asks him to narrate a love story as he hasn’t done one in his career. Ashwin hesitates at first, and then narrates a coming-of-age love story that has an abrupt ending.


Aankhon Ki Gustaakhiyan
Drama, Romance (Hindi)
Explores the romance between two visually impaired characters, navigating both the joys and complexities of modern love.
Cast:
Vikrant Massey, Shanaya Kapoor, Zain Khan Durrani, Saanand Verma
Director:
Santosh Singh
Writer:
Mansi Bagla

Attempts to recreate the magic of old-school romantic films but struggles with an implausible screenplay
Sat, July 12 2025

Out of Sight, Out of Mind
Sat, July 12 2025
It’s been years since I’ve laughed so much in a cinema hall. I needed it. Movies are truly the best medicine. There’s only one problem, though. Aankhon Ki Gustaakhiyan is not a comedy. It’s not supposed to be funny. If anything, it’s the opposite of a comedy — a dead-serious romantic drama that takes an old proverb too far. In an age where most Bollywood films use self-awareness as a front for mediocrity, it’s kind of disarming to watch a bad film that doesn’t know it’s bad. I almost admire it. We often complain that nobody makes timeless Hindi love stories anymore. Aankhon Ki Gustaakhiyan is why. It’s a high-risk genre: the line between being lyrical and being incapable of touching grass is wafer-thin. One person’s Dreamy is another’s Delusional. But naming the movie after a song from a Sanjay Leela Bhansali classic can’t be a prayer.

Blindingly Bland
Sat, July 12 2025
Cough, cough. Saba Shergill (Shanaya Kapoor) has blindfolded herself on the train to Mussoorie to prep for an audition to play a visually challenged girl. For no apparent reason, Jahan (Vikrant Massey) gets a slap from her as an introduction. But, cough, cough, he’s a musician, he should understand another artiste. The cough disappears, inexplicably. She’s stranded in Mussoorie, inexplicably. She clings to the stranger on the train, inexplicably. Even moves into his hotel room. “Come, I’ll show you around my house,” he says, inexplicably. When did a hotel room turn into a house? Jahan has an assistant-cum-driver, a general factotum. Who talks of a chidiya (sparrow) that talks (everybody laugh, Saba and Jahan do) and tells them a ghost story (everybody shiver, Saba and Jahan do, she even moves into his bed).

Four Years Later
Drama (English)
Newlyweds Sridevi and Yash's marriage faces an early test when Yash's medical traineeship takes him to Australia for four years, forcing them into a long-distance relationship.
Cast:
Shahana Goswami, Akshay Ajit Singh, Kate Box, Taj Aldeeb, Roy Joseph, Luke Arnold
Director:
Mohini Herse, Fadia Abboud
Writer:
Mithila Gupta, S. Shakthidharan, Nicole Reddy

(Writing for Scroll.in)
An emotionally resonant show about love tested by distance
Fri, July 11 2025
Four Years Later is a sympathetically crafted and emotionally dense Indo-Australian show that explores the fragility of love stretched across distance and time. Created by Mithila Gupta, who co-directs with Mohini Herse and Fadia Abboud, the Lionsgate Play series follows a long-distance marriage that quietly frays under the pressures of migration and cultural displacement. The English-Hindi language show centres on Sridevi (Shahana Goswami) and Yash (Akshay Ajit Singh). Their story begins in Jaipur. A traditional arranged marriage introduction develops into mutual attraction. Almost immediately after the wedding, Yash departs for Sydney to pursue a medical traineeship, leaving Sri behind to live with his conservative family.

Desinguraja 2
Comedy, Romance, Drama (Tamil)
College buddies become a police chief, inspector, and criminal. Their reunion years later sparks chaos as friendship collides with duty, mixing action and comedy with colorful characters.
Cast:
Vimal, Pujita Ponnada, Jana Nathan, Harshitha Bandlamuri, Joohi Jayakumar, Pugazh, Ravi Mariya, Singampuli, Chaams, Swaminathan
Director:
Ezhil
Writer:
Ezhil

Poor Humour, Confusing Plot Make For A Disappointing Sequel
Fri, July 11 2025
Director Ezhil captured a particular sense of humour with his films Desinguraja and Velainu Vandhutta Vellaikaaran, where the villain and the conflict have no serious bearing on the film. The plot or the semblance of such is just a device to hold together a series of gags with eccentric characters that had a decent hit rate. Ravi Maria’s Bhootham and Robo Shankar’s MLA Jacket Janakiraman climactic scene in Velainu Vandhutta Vellaikaaran is the pinnacle of the success of such humour. Ezhil, naturally, has attempted to emulate the same with his new outing Desinguraja 2, which has backfired. The reason could be that the latest doesn’t seem to have even the wafer thin plots his previous ventures had. Also, the humour here is tasteless and desperate leaving you with a bad aftertaste.

Freedom
Family, Action, Thriller (Tamil)
In 1991, refugees wrongly accused in a high-profile assassination were jailed in Vellore Fort. Though later proven innocent, many remained imprisoned. In 1995, 43 escaped—some recaptured, others fled abroad seeking freedom.
Cast:
M. Sasikumar, Lijomol Jose, Bose Venkat, Malavika Avinash, Manikandan, Mu Ramaswamy, Sudev Nair, Ramesh Khanna
Director:
Sathya Siva
Writer:
Sathya Siva

Sasikumar's action drama, based on true story, is lost opportunity
Fri, July 11 2025
The early 90s were testing times for Sri Lankans. For those who grew up listening to the gut-wrenching stories of torture and killings amid a civil war. Any story that’s centred on Sri Lanka will always hold high emotional intensity. When a filmmaker crafts a story based on Sri Lanka, political correctness aside, the film should encapsulate the trials and tribulations that the people went through. ‘Freedom’ is one such film which is inspired by true events, which have ample scope to move you, shock you and enthral you. But, did the film manage to make the desired impact? Let’s find out! In 1991, many Sri Lankan refugees sought shelter in Tamil Nadu and were put in camps all across the state. However, when former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated, these refugees became suspects to the police. The police took some of the men and women into the camps for investigation and held them captive at the Vellore Fort. They chose Vellore Fort because of the high walls and trenches surrounding the old fort.


The Hunt: The Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Case
Crime, Mystery (Hindi)
Follows the events leading up to the tragic 1991 assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and the intense manhunt that unfolded after , unraveling a complex web of espionage, intelligence failures, shifting allegiances, and the profound human cost involved in the pursuit of justice.
Cast:
Amit Sial, Sahil Vaid, Bagavathi Perumal, Danish Iqbal, Girish Sharma, Vidyuth Gargi, Shafeeq Mustafa, Anjana Balaji, Sai Dinesh Badram, Sruthi Jayan
Director:
Nagesh Kukunoor
Writer:
Rohit G. Banawlikar, Sriram Rajan
All FCG reviews of The Hunt: The Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Case

राजीव गांधी हत्याकांड पर सधी हुई ‘द हंट’
Thu, July 10 2025
21 मई, 1991 की रात तमिलनाडु के श्रीपेरंबुदूर में एक महिला ने अपनी कमर में बंधे बम से अपने साथ-साथ वहां चुनाव प्रचार करने के लिए पहुंचे पूर्व प्रधानमंत्री राजीव गांधी को भी मार डाला था। पूरे विश्व को चौंका देने वाली इस घटना के तुरंत बाद भारत सरकार ने एक स्पेशल इन्वेस्टिगेशन टीम (एस.आई.टी.) बनाई थी जिसने कदम-दर-कदम आगे बढ़ते हुए और एक सिरे से दूसरा सिरा जोड़ते हुए 90 दिनों में इस हमले की साज़िश रचने वालों को अपनी गिरफ्त में ले लिया था। इस पर पत्रकार अनिरुद्ध मित्रा ने एक किताब ‘90 डेज़’ लिखी थी जिस पर निर्देशक नागेश कुकुनूर ने यह वेब-सीरिज़ ‘द हंट-द राजीव गांधी एसेसिनेशन केस’ बनाई है जो सोनी लिव पर रिलीज़ हुई है। एक ऐसी घटना जिसके पल-पल का ब्यौरा दस्तावेजों में, खबरों में मौजूद है, जिसके बारे में सब जानते हैं कि पड़ोसी देश श्रीलंका में अपने लिए अलग क्षेत्र ‘तमिल ईलम’ की मांग कर रहा हिंसावादी संगठन ‘लिबरेशन टाइगर्स ऑफ तमिल ईलम’ (लिट्टे) राजीव गांधी से इसलिए खफा था कि उन्होंने वहां भारत से शांति सेना भेज कर उन्हें काफी नुकसान पहुंचाया था। राजीव गांधी ने ऐलान किया था कि 1991 के चुनाव जीतने के बाद वह फिर श्रीलंका में सेना भेजेंगे। लिट्टे ने इसीलिए उन्हें मारने की योजना बनाई थी जिसमें वे सफल भी हुए। उस घटना के बाद इस साज़िश और तफ्तीश पर ढेरों किताबें लिखी गईं और कुछ एक फिल्में भी बनीं। लेकिन इस वेब-सीरिज़ ने जो दिखाया है वह जैसे इतिहास को जीने जैसा अनुभव देता है।

Nagesh Kukunoor's Investigative Drama Is An Invigorating Page-Turner
Mon, July 7 2025
The Hunt: The Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Case is exactly what the title describes. The new SonyLIV series, helmed by filmmaker Nagesh Kukunoor, is focused on the ninety-day period in which a Special Investigation Team (SIT) pieces together who was behind Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination. The investigative thriller is based on Anirudhya Mitra’s book Ninety Days: The True Story of the Hunt for Rajiv Gandhi’s Assassins and unfolds just like a book you can’t put down as the SIT members figure out which LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) operatives carried out the deadly plan. The show dives right into the main event with the former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, played here by Rajiv Kumar, attending a campaign rally in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu, on May 21, 1991. He is killed by a suicide bomber, Dhanu (Shrutie Jayan), and The Hunt wastes no time with the investigation moving from Madras to Colombo to Delhi and more as the suspects grow and the conspiracy deepens. The series’ strength lies in the extensive groundwork the SIT undertakes to launch a manhunt to find the plot’s leader and his accomplices.

(Writing for M9 News)
Compelling Investigation Drama
Sat, July 5 2025
After Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination in Tamil Nadu, a Special Investigation Team, headed by Kaarthikeyan, discovers vital clues. Despite a leaked press photo compromising the case, key operatives are identified, and the team learns of a foiled second assassination bid. The high-stakes confrontation culminates with Sivarasan, who led the group of assassins, being traced to Bangalore. Amit Sial delivers a commanding performance as the face of the show, portraying Kaarthikeyan, the officer leading the SIT investigation. Despite the precise, firm nature of his character, he brings an innate appeal to his portrayal through his dialogue modulation and body language. Sahil Vaid and Bagavathi Perumal are also afforded ample scope to shine, and their on-screen camaraderie is particularly delightful. Vidyuth Gargi’s firm, stately screen presence works in his favour; the likes of Danish Iqbal, Girish Sharma, and Saurabh Dubey do the needful with their assured acts. The host of actors on the other end of the spectrum, essaying the LTTE operatives, namely Shafeeq Mustafa, Shruty Jayan, Gouri Padmakumar, Nishan Nanaiah, Anjana Balaji, and others, make their presence felt too.


Kaalidhar Laapata
Comedy, Drama (Hindi)
An ageing Kaalidhar escapes his family after overhearing their plans to abandon him. He meets the free-spirited Ballu, and they embark on an adventure to tick things off Kaalidhar's bucket list.
Cast:
Abhishek Bachchan, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Daivik Baghela, Vishwanath Chatterjee, Priyank Tiwari
Director:
Madhumita
Writer:
Madhumita, Amitosh Nagpal

Mon, July 7 2025

The film offers hope and showcases the quiet power of second chances
Sat, July 5 2025

(Writing for Binged)
Slow Yet Steady Feel-Good Saga
Sat, July 5 2025
As the health of the middle-aged Kaalidhar declines, his family attempts to abandon him permanently. After orchestrating a will in their favour, they leave him at a Kumbh Mela. Lost and with nowhere to go, Kaalidhar discovers an unlikely companion in Ballu, an orphaned child from a nearby village, who instils new hope in his life and later reunites with an old flame, Meera. Abhishek Bachchan is finding his groove admirably in his recent outings, more so in the OTT space, with roles that befit his age, physicality and strengths. Kaalidhar Lapata extracts a controlled, mature performance from the actor, who slips into the skin of his role with flair. He has more than solid company in the form of Daivik Baghela as Ballu, who delivers a fabulously spontaneous act. The formidable supporting cast – comprising Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Vishwanath Chatterjee, Madhulika Jatoliya, Priyank Tiwari and Priya Yadav – and the sweet little cameo by Nimrat Kaur, contribute to its overall appeal.