Akhil Arora

Param Sundari, the new film starring Janhvi Kapoor and Sidharth Malhotra, seems to make things up as it goes along. We discuss the offensive cultural appropriation in every frame of the film, the odd motivations of its protagonists, and the film’s reliance on cultural stereotypes. We also talk about Janhvi Kapoor’s wardrobe, a potentially incendiary scene set inside a church, and how Bollywood filmmakers continue to fail upwards.

Inspector Zende, the new spoof movie starring Manoj Bajpayee and Jim Sarbh, succeeds as a concept but fails in execution. What could’ve been a homegrown homage to The Naked Gun comes across as a first draft in need of clever rewrites. While Bajpayee is going full ham in the central role, matching the movie’s energy, Sarbh seems to have been told to tone it down. The result is a tonally uneven ride that could’ve been worse, but also better.

Songs of Paradise is like a 1950s movie that has time-traveled to the present day. We discuss the film’s old-fashioned narrative and undemanding themes, the chasm of quality between Saba Azad and Sheeba Chaddha’s performances, and the limited ambition of writer-director Danish Renzu. Songs of Paradise could’ve worked as a metaphor for post-Independence Kashmir, but instead, it’s like a bedtime story for five-year-olds.

In the Tamil-language film Maareesan, the plot twist comes not at the end, but midway through. We talk about the sudden change in tone, and how the film handles it. We also discuss Fahadh Faasil’s comedic performance, and wonder why the film is presented through the perspective of his character. But mainly, we talk about the film’s shady morality, which seems to champion extrajudicial killings if the cause is perceived as noble enough.

Tehran—the new John Abraham political action thriller—literally cannot identify the country of Georgia on the map. The movie also goes out of its way to make its protagonist an apolitical man who somehow annoys the governments of three nations, including his own. We discuss the film’s muddled messaging, its bizarre third act, and the arrogance with which it thinks it can get away with claiming Scotland is Iran.

Marketed as the spiritual sequel to Aamir Khan’s 2007 hit Taare Zameen Par—is a shoddily made, preachy, borderline insensitive film with a noble mission. However, just because it aims to raise awareness about an admirable cause doesn’t excuse its cringeworthy tone, Khan and Genelia Deshmukh’s subpar performances, and its casual othering of the neurodivergent community. We discuss the film’s many problems before finally finding one aspect worthy of praise.

Is Dharma trying to actively sabotage Ibrahim Ali Khan’s career? After the unwatchable Nadaaniyan, the studio has released the equally inept Sarzameen, a feature-length debut for director Kayoze Irani. We discuss the film’s unintelligent characters and confusing narrative, and wonder if most of it was left on the cutting room floor. We also talk about some of its more harebrained twists and the unintentional political statements it makes. Sarzameen reeks of something that Netflix and Prime Video passed on, which is probably why it ended up on JioHotstar, a streamer where movies go to die.

The Malayalam-language sports comedy film Alappuzha Gymkhana has no stakes, no villain, and no classic structure. This could either have been a bold decision or an act of self-sabotage. It’s somewhere in the middle. We talk about the film’s underdeveloped characters, its over-reliance on flashy camerawork, and its overlong second half. We also discuss its cultural specificity, its zero-stakes narrative, and its refreshing idea of male friendship.