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 (more…)
Drishyam 3
Crime, Drama, Thriller (Malayalam)
To protect his family and their dark secret, Georgekutty faces an organized new threat. As walls close in and cracks widen, how much more is he willing to sacrifice ? (more…)
Chand Mera Dil
Romance, Drama (Hindi)
Aarav and Chandni's passionate college romance is struck by adulthood far too soon, forcing the two young lovers to balance their ambitions with responsibility and realize the evolved meaning of love. (more…)
Guild Reviews
Kattalan
Action, Thriller (Malayalam)
Power-hungry forces clash in the Ivory cartel war-a fierce story of control, vengeance, and survival where compassion vanishes and only the ruthless endure.
Cast:
Antony Varghese, Sunil Varma, Dushara Vijayan, Jagadish, Kabir Duhan Singh, Parth Tiwari, Raj Tirandasu, Siddique, Anson Paul, Hanan Shaah
Director:
Paul George
Writer:
Paul George, Jero Jacob, Joby Varghese
Fri, May 29 2026
One can sit through something as intolerable as Kattalan only if one can invent some distraction. A possible diversion could be to keep a count of the humans and elephants killed during the film’s two-hour duration. But halfway through, you are bound to lose track as the killings are just too many, even in a single sequence, to get an accurate number. In the end, one realises that the biggest casualty of this relentless assault on the senses is neither humans nor elephants, but cinema itself. The dishonesty of it all is evident in how it treats its characters. To fill the emotional void at the centre of the film, one or two characters, like a physically challenged young girl, are introduced randomly and immediately turned into victims of some violent act, which would then set off some pathos-inducing background score. The writers are clearly not interested in these characters. They are deliberately using them for the film’s emotional impact and to underscore the need for revenge.
Fri, May 29 2026
First-time director Paul George’s Kattalan is what one may call a graphic novel movie. Almost all of its dialogues can be fit into two sides of an A4-sized page, and the effort that’s gone into it is only to re-create a storyboard that was made as a part of the film’s “writing”. As a film that follows the hyper-violent Marco in the same cinematic universe, Kattalan is a film that feels like it was forced to be made into a pan-Indian title. Apart from a handful of leads, almost the entire supporting cast is imported from all the other film industries of the country. Dialogues switch between Malayalam, broken Malayalam, Tamil, and English, and none of them delivers the impact it is meant to. And when they are not conveying plot points or exposition, Kattalan becomes home to some of the most pompous punchlines in all of our cinema.
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
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.
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, May 29 2026
Shape of Momo is a poignant semi-autobiographical drama set in the hills of Sikkim that quietly examines patriarchy, migration, and the painful process of outgrowing a home you still deeply love. Through a metaphorical title, the film explores how women are constantly “shaped” by societal expectations and inherited conditioning. At its centre is Bishnu, a 32-year-old woman who resists conformity in subtle yet powerful ways. Her quiet rebellion becomes the emotional core of the story. The narrative follows four women across three generations of a male-less household, each negotiating a society that views such a family as vulnerable, unsafe, and incomplete. Bishnu’s mother survives through caution and strategy, her sister embraces the conventional route of marriage and motherhood, while the grandmother clings to pride in her sons — one deceased, the other living abroad in Dubai, forever postponing his promise to take her with him. In the absence of a male figure, the women endure prejudice, threats to their safety, and constant undermining by workers and tenants at their orange orchard. Ironically, the film highlights how society conditions women to believe they need the presence of men for protection often from men themselves.
Fri, May 29 2026
We often believe that Northeastern society enjoys far greater gender parity than the Hindi heartland. Yet, watching Shape of Momo, we realise that while the shape of patriarchy may vary, its taste remains exactly the same. Here, the humble dumpling becomes a brilliant, tactile metaphor for the rigid social architectures women are forced to inhabit. Between the geometry of conformity and imperfection as resistance lies a tender coming-of-age story worth savouring. Often, the luminescence of cinema lies not in loud rebellions but in the mapping of invisible boundaries. Tribeny Rai’s debut feature delivers a gentle, sharp-witted exploration of autonomy, inheritance, and the friction of modern ideals against ancestral soil. Along the way, the film effectively dismantles romanticised views of Himalayan communities, highlighting economic disparities, migrant labour issues, and gender expectations in a cultural context.
Fri, May 29 2026
Under its deceptively calm surface, there’s a lot going on in Tribeny Rai’s assured debut Shape of Momo. Based on Rai’s own experiences, the film assimilates several themes– the search for self, the definition of home, gender roles, family ties– in a film which has the courage to back a lead character who refuses to confirm, or to be likeable. While the other themes are familiar, the creation of Bishnu– stubborn and soft at the same time– breaks free from the good-girl trap that most female characters find themselves confined in, in our mainstream cinema. Only recently have we had characters (Varsha Bharath’s ‘Bad Girl’) that have broken free, and in turn, allowed the films to chart unexplored territories.
The Great Grand Superhero: Aliens Ka Aagaman
Comedy, Family, Drama (Hindi)
Cast:
Jackie Shroff, Prateik Smita Patil, Bhagyashree, Mihir Godbole, Durgesh Kumar, Saharsh Kumar Shukla, Kumar Saurabh, Sharat Saxena, Tiger Shroff, Upendra Limaye
Director:
Manish Saini
Writer:
Manish Saini
All FCG reviews of The Great Grand Superhero: Aliens Ka Aagaman
Fri, May 29 2026
There’s a scene in The Great Grand Superhero: Aliens Ka Aagman where Jagdish alias Dadaji (Jackie Shroff) narrates what must be a superhero origin story. Dipu (Mihir Godbole), his grandson, is visibly appalled that the tale, however preposterous it may sound, contains no bombs, explosions, or gunfire. Of all things, it has orange candy. How ridiculous is that, asks the sharp kid, staring at his grandfather like a man completely out of touch with the times. The moment is amusing, but it also defines the spirit of Manish Saini’s film. In an era where children’s cinema has almost disappeared from theatres, replaced either by loud spectacle or violent and jingoistic content, The Great Grand Superhero arrives like a relic from another time. And yet, to call it “small” would be inaccurate.
Fri, May 29 2026
The Great Grand Superhero has one of the most charming setups in recent memory. The first half is funny, poignant, satirical and very inventive. It also has the best child actors since Stanley Ka Dabba, a film it shares an editor (Deepa Bhatia) and narrative spirit with. There’s a new mid-term admission in a small-town school; his name is Deepu (a pitch-perfect Mihir Godbole). Deepu is a clever student; he knows all the answers to all the teachers’ toughest questions. The other kids envy him and find him strange. He confesses to one of them that he’s “different” because his grandfather (Jackie Shroff) is — suspenseful drum beat — a superhero. It’s a secret, he says, that only kids below the age of 18 can know, otherwise the grand old man will lose his superpowers.
Fri, May 29 2026
एक छोटे-से शहर के स्कूल की छठी क्लास में नया आया दीपू अपनी धमक बनाने के लिए गप्प उड़ा देता है कि उसके दादा सुपर हीरो हैं और एलियन्स के साथ उनका मिलना-भिड़ना चलता रहता है। अधिकांश बच्चे उसकी बात मान लेते हैं तो कुछ बच्चे सत्य की खोज में सवाल भी उठाते हैं कि सुपर हीरो हैं तो पॉवर दिखाएं। दीपू सभी को यह कह कर बरगलाता है कि जब एलियन्स आएंगे तो दादा में पॉवर आएगी। और एक दिन ‘एलियन्स’ सचमुच आ जाते हैं और फिर…! अभी तक चार गुजराती फीचर फिल्में और एक हिन्दी शॉर्ट फिल्म बना कर तीन राष्ट्रीय पुरस्कार पा चुके फिल्मकार मनीष सैनी की इस पहली हिन्दी फीचर फिल्म ‘द ग्रेट ग्रैंड सुपर हीरो-एलियन्स का आगमन’ (The Great Grand Superhero: Aliens Ka Aagman) की कहानी का पूरा प्लॉट ही दिलचस्प है। एक संवाद देखिए-‘जब रात को एलियन बच्चे सोते नहीं हैं न, तो उनकी मां उनसे कहती है कि बेटा सो जा, नहीं तो ग्रेट ग्रैंड सुपर हीरो आ जाएगा।’
Spider Noir
Action & Adventure, Crime, Mystery (English)
Ben Reilly, an aging and down on his luck private investigator in 1930s New York, is forced to grapple with his past life as the city's one and only superhero.
Cast:
Nicolas Cage, Lamorne Morris, Li Jun Li, Karen Rodriguez, Abraham Popoola, Jack Huston, Brendan Gleeson
Wed, May 27 2026
After voicing Spider-Man Noir in the Sony animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018), Nicolas Cage brings a version of the character to the small screen with Amazon Prime Video’s Spider-Noir. The Marvel and Sony co-production is part superhero saga and part classic noir. Interestingly, Spider Noir gives viewers the chance to see the show both in colour and black and white, which can also change perspective on the story. Developed by Oren Uziel, Spider Noir is a character portrait of a broken-down man named Ben Reilly who rises to the occasion when really required. The ongoing mystery woven in the narrative also keeps audiences engaged.
Drishyam 3
Crime, Drama, Thriller (Malayalam)
To protect his family and their dark secret, Georgekutty faces an organized new threat. As walls close in and cracks widen, how much more is he willing to sacrifice ?
Cast:
Mohanlal, Meena, Siddique, Asha Sarath, Murali Gopy, Ansiba Hassan, Esther Anil, Veena Nandakumar, K. B. Ganesh Kumar, Santhi Mayadevi
Director:
Jeethu Joseph
Mon, May 25 2026
“Everything is planned…” When Ajnabee had Bobby Deol exposing Akshay Kumar in a corny yet wildly entertaining climax, we watched with amusement while tapping our feet to an infectious Anu Malik tune. It was never meant to feel intelligent. The same planning by a sharp-minded person made the Malayalam film Drishyam a national sensation. Georgekutty (Mohanlal) put Malayalam cinema on the national movie map, perhaps for the first time in history. Shockingly enough, Drishyam 3, the sequel to Drishyam 2, finds its tension in spontaneity and unpredictability, not foolproof planning. The question is: are we ready for this version of Georgekutty?
Fri, May 22 2026
Fri, May 22 2026
System
Thriller (Hindi)
When Neha Rajvansh, a privileged public prosecutor, meets Sarika Rawat, a courtroom stenographer from a humble background, their lives are thrown into upheaval where power defines truth, blurring the system and raising a question of what justice truly means to them.
Cast:
Sonakshi Sinha, Jyothika, Ashutosh Gowariker, Adinath Kothare, Aashriya Mishra, Gaurav Pandey, Sayandeep Gupta, Preeti Agarwal Mehta, Vijayant Kohli, Diwanshu Gambhir
Director:
Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari
Writer:
Arun Sukumar, Harman Baweja, Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari, Tasneem Lokhandwala
Sat, May 23 2026
I was trying to keep an open mind about Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari’s System when Neha (Sonakshi Sinha) says, “Uski vibe hamesha off thhi par woh murderer type kabhi nahi laga.” And that was that. I don’t expect every lawyer to speak in iambic pentameter or quote Thomas Cromwell. I do, however, feel it’s not unreasonable to have a protagonist in a legal drama—one who’s trying hard to prove she’s not a lightweight—speak like a professional and not some millennial at brunch. Neha is a public prosecutor, though she’d rather not be. She doesn’t like the sweaty courts, the desperate cases, the grind, her boss. She’s also not particularly competent. The first time we see her in court, the judge explains that she needs to prove the accused actually committed the crime, not that he might have—and she looks shocked. So when her famous lawyer father, Ravi Rajvansh (Ashutosh Gowariker), makes her a deal—win 10 cases in a row and join my practice—it feels like a little exercise in humility, or humiliation.
Sat, May 23 2026
Director Ashwini Iyer Tiwari has been making films for over a decade. And yet, nothing gives away her lack of assurance more than her choice of background score. Iyer Tiwari’s style is what I like to describe as having soap-opera coherence (my mother is a huge fan of these films, which are technically proficient, but ideologically axiomatic). If the choice was ever between thought-provoking and manipulating tears, she overwhelmingly leans towards the latter. Having made films with noble (sometimes, even sweet) through lines, like a mother re (Nil Battey Sannata), or a woman making a comeback to professional sports after a prolonged sabbatical (Panga) – Iyer Tiwari’s films often find its underdogs in women. But there’s also a lack of rigour in her ideas curdling the simple into gratingly simplistic.
Sat, May 23 2026
Another week, another commentary on uncomfortable societal truths packaged in the form of a mystery where solid performances and subtext are marred by predictable beats. At first glance, Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari’s System masquerades as a legal thriller, but beneath its polished exterior, it promises to lay bare the facade of institutional neutrality. It positions the courtroom not as a temple of justice, but as a theatre of social stratification where truth is a manufactured commodity. The narrative (penned by Arun Sukumar, Harman Baweja, and Akshat Ghildial) forces a meta-textual collision. Neha Rajvansh (Sonakshi Sinha), a public prosecutor fighting the suffocating shadow of her iconic legal patriarch (Ashutosh Gowarikar), is subtly challenged from the margins by Sarika (Jyotika), a humble yet resilient stenographer who weaponises the very bureaucratic machinery designed to keep her invisible.
Chand Mera Dil
Romance, Drama (Hindi)
Aarav and Chandni's passionate college romance is struck by adulthood far too soon, forcing the two young lovers to balance their ambitions with responsibility and realize the evolved meaning of love.
Cast:
Ananya Panday, Lakshya Lalwani, Aastha Singh, Elvis Jose, Paresh Pahuja, Manish Chaudhary, Iravati Harshe, Charu Shankar, Atul Kumar, Akhil Kaimal
Director:
Vivek Soni
Sat, May 23 2026
Aarav (Lakshya) and his wife, Chandni (Ananya Panday), are cracking under the strain of caring for a newborn. Their frustrations boil over into an ugly yelling match. Aarav grabs her face. He’s motionless for a few seconds, then backs away, mortified. She runs into the other room and balls up in a corner, shaking in shock as he begs her to open the door. The moment when Aarav grabs Chandni is in the film’s trailer. I think it’s there because Dharma doesn’t mind giving the impression that this will be an ‘intense’ love story in the key of Sandeep Vanga or the Anand L Rai/Dhanush collaborations. Yet, Chand Mera Dil is nothing like those films, treating the brief physical contact with utter seriousness. Aarav is immediately contrite, but it doesn’t matter. The entire story turns on this moment. PSA films like Thappad are lauded for presenting characters who won’t stand for any kind of abuse, but Chand Mera Dil is equally steadfast without resorting to moral grandstanding.
Sat, May 23 2026
When the end is obvious with a title that gives away where the hero is headed, writer-director Vivek Soni’s screenplay should’ve been dramatically different, offering an unseen experience at every major turn. Let’s check how he goes about it. It’s one long predictable flashback to Hyderabad where Chandni (Ananya Panday) and Aarav (Lakshya) are engineering students, both brilliant. There’s a fresh touch to the attraction where they twin every day, wearing the same colour, without a word exchanged between them. Until Chandni takes the first step. So far, rather nice. The good is that there is definite chemistry between Chandni and Aarav, leading to relatable intimacy.
Sat, May 23 2026
“The course of true love never did run smooth,” said William Shakespeare. And in an average Hindi film, it often is too tortuous, if not torturous. ‘Chand Mera Dil’, the title, promises a film high on the gossamer shades of romance. Only, as the film opens, for a long time, the only shades you see are the matching colours of our hero and heroine’s outfits. Love-struck Aarav (Lakshya Lalwani) starts twinning with Chandni (Ananya Panday). Obviously, his outfit shade card — ranging from neon and fluorescent yellow to pinks — not only matches her clothes but catches her attention too.
The Man I Love
Drama, Romance (English)
In late 1980s New York, a theater artist living with AIDS takes on one possibly last great role.
Cast:
Rami Malek, Tom Sturridge, Luther Ford, Rebecca Hall, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Maisy Stella, Sasha Lane
Director:
Ira Sachs
Writer:
Ira Sachs, Mauricio Zacharias
Fri, May 22 2026
he 80s in NYC was a scene, man. If you’re of a certain vintage, you may have actually heard this line — from the know-it-all seniors when you arrived in any liberal arts college in Delhi University as a newbie, those exalted beings who smoked Charminars and wore drainpipe jeans and floppy hair and big Beatles glasses who were, in hindsight, probably spouting received wisdom. There are no such gaps between perception and knowing in Ira Sachs’ marvellous re-creation of that very specific Reagan era in ‘The Man I Love’, which brings alive the sights and sounds of the city with the kind of pulsating energy that can come only from someone who has lived through it.
Fjord
Drama (Romanian)
After the deaths of Mihai’s parents, Mihai and Lisbeth Gheorghiu leave everything behind and move with their children to a remote village in Norway, hoping to rebuild their lives near Lisbeth’s family. There, they grow close to their neighbors, the Halbergs, whose warmth offers the promise of a fresh start. But the fragile peace begins to unravel when the Gheorghius’ young daughter, Elia, arrives at school covered in bruises.
Cast:
Sebastian Stan, Renate Reinsve, Lisa Carlehed, Ellen Dorrit Petersen, Lisa Loven Kongsli, Henrikke Lund Olsen, Vanessa Ceban, Giulia Nahmany, Ingvild Lien, Turid Vatne
Director:
Cristian Mungiu
Fri, May 22 2026
When a bunch of kids are greeted by a school principal saying jovially, no Draculas here, you are meant to surmise a few things. That the children have a connection with Romania, and that this remote Norwegian town with a fjord on one side and mountains on the other, is a new experience for them. Turns out that The Gheorghiu family, with a Romanian father and Norwegian mother, and their five children — two teenagers, two younger ones, and the fifth, a babe in arms, have relocated from Romania and come to live in Norway. Mihai (Sebastian Stan) is an IT expert, and Lisbet (Renate Reinsve) who works in medicine are here for fresh prospects and fresh air, both of which seems to be in ample supply in this snowy, windy place, which turns out to be not as welcoming, leaving the new entrants facing an uncertain future.
All of a Sudden
Drama (Japanese)
Marie-Lou Fontaine, director of a nursing home in the Paris suburbs, defies convention by adopting the 'Humanitude' method despite her team’s resistance. Her encounter with Mari Morisaki, a terminally ill Japanese playwright, transforms her life. Together, they turn the facility into a symbol of resistance and humanity against the system’s limits.
Cast:
Virginie Efira, Tao Okamoto, Gabriel Dahmani, Kyōzō Nagatsuka, Kodai Kurosaki, Jean-Charles Clichet, Marie Bunel, Jean-Louis Garçon, Evelyne Istria, Lazare Gousseau
Director:
Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Fri, May 22 2026
To say that Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s ‘All Of A Sudden’ (Cannes competition) is a long film – it weighs in at a solid 3.15 hours – is stating the obvious. The Japanese auteur doesn’t do sudden – the title is a nice little touch of unintentional irony; a leisurely unfolding of events is much more his thing. In fact, he doesn’t do events either; capturing moments like no one’s looking is more like it. Here, his deeply observant style suits the central thrust of the film, which is mainly set in a home for the elderly, where the big themes accompanying end-of-life scenarios are a natural outcome.
Sheep in the Box
Drama, Science Fiction (Japanese)
Set in the near future, Otone Komoto works as an architect. She is married to Kensuke Komoto, who runs a construction company. The married couple decide to welcome a humanoid robot into their home as their son.
Cast:
Haruka Ayase, Daigo Yamamoto, Kuwaki Rimu, Nana Seino, Kanichiro, Hinata Hiiragi, Akihiro Kakuta, Kayo Noro, Mari Hoshino, Ayumu Nakajima
Director:
Hirokazu Kore-eda
Fri, May 22 2026
There cannot be anything more timely than the premise of Hirokazu Koreeda’s Cannes Competition entry, ‘Sheep In The Box’, which deals with the evolving nature of grief in the age of AI: a couple who’ve lost their young son bring home a humanoid android, who looks and sounds exactly like their boy. It is when Kakeru ( Rimu Kuwaki) begins to show signs of thinking like their son that Otone ( Ayase Haruka) and Kensuke ( Daigo Yamamoto) start wondering about the larger implications of their actions. The question- does a machine have a soul– has been at the heart of such discussions for a long time.