Keyur Seta

Director Sameer Tewari’s Baapya is about the acceptance of an individual who undergoes a sex change surgery. The story revolves around Anil Borkar aka Anya (Girish Kulkarni), who is a fisherman residing in a village in the Konkan region. It has been 10 years since his divorce from Shailaja (Rajshri Deshpande), who now stays in Mumbai. Anya currently lives with his second wife Vishakha (Devika Daftardar), his son Sanjay aka Sanju (Aaryan Menghji) from his first marriage and two little daughters from his second. Vishakha loves Sanju as her own son. There comes a situation where Anya and Shailaja need to sign a few papers together regarding a property they co-owned before their divorce. For this, Shailaja needs to visit the village registrar office. When Shailaja arrives at the office on the given day, Anya, Sanju and others get the shock of their lives when they realize that she has undergone a sex change surgery and has now become Dr. Shailesh.

Krishnavataram Part 1: The Heart is adapted from the Gujarati book ‘Satyabhama’ by Raam Mori. The film narrates quite a few important chapters from the life of Lord Krishna (Siddharth Gupta). It focuses on his life after he gets Mathura residents along with himself shifted to the west coast of India in Dwarka. The story basically follows the three women that enter at different stages in his life – Radha (Sushmitha Bhat), Satyabhama (Sanskruti Jayana) and Rukmini (Nivaashiyni Krishnan). Along with that, the film also depicts how Krishna fulfils his responsibility on earth as the eight avatar of Lord Vishnu.

Raja Shivaji leaves no stone unturned when it comes to recreating the bygone era. The production design and costumes are both eye-pleasing and appropriate for that period. The visual quality is further enhanced with the camerawork of the veteran cinematographer Santosh Sivan. However, the film suffers when it comes to the crucial aspects of writing and direction. The screenplay lacks proper flow as a large number of events are presented in a haphazard manner, especially before Riteish’s late entry. Things get streamlined once he enters the scene but only to some extent. The narrative comes somewhat on track once the battle lines are drawn between the protagonist and Afzal Khan but their all-important meet gets stretched.

Nukkad Natak is a coming-of-age Hindi drama about two youngsters. Molshri (Molshri) is a rebellious student studying at the prestigious ZIT. She is full of fighting spirit and can’t stand injustice. She leads their university’s street play (nukkad natak) group called Abhay. Shivang (Shivang Rajpal), her classmate, is the opposite as he is shy and introverted. Joining Abhay through Molshri’s insistence provides him with new meaning in life as they throw light on various social evils through the group.

Super Duperr is a Marathi movie based on a conflict between two families that are poles apart. Rohit (Lalit Prabhakar) and Isha (Vidula Chougule) are a live-in couple from Mumbai. They are deeply in love but aren’t thinking about marriage. Rohit and Isha are struggling to make a mark in the field of singing and acting respectively. Once when they host a wild party at their rented apartment with their friends, they are forced to vacate the society as it doesn’t go down well with its members.

Dhurandhar The Revenge continues the story of an Indian spy Jaskirat Singh Rangi aka Hamza Ali Mazari (Ranveer Singh), who has infiltrated Pakistan’s underworld and politics. After Rehman Dakait (Akshaye Khanna) gets killed at the end of the first film, his enemy Arshad Pappu (Ashwin Dhar) starts ruling over the underworld of Lyari in Karachi. This infuriates Rehman’s cousin and second in command Uzair Baloch (Danish Pandor). Hence, he, Hamza and others wage a war against Arshad and his gang. Finally, Uzair kills Arshad in the most brutal manner and reclaims his gang’s reign over Lyari. However, circumstances ensure that he goes away from the scene and Hamza becomes the king of Lyari and Sher-e-Baloch. Meanwhile, he gets to know that ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) head Major Iqbal (Arjun Rampal) and his associates are planning another terrorist attack in India.

Dramas about dysfunctional families or families with grudges have been a regular feature in various languages in Indian cinema. Tighee is also a family drama that tackles issues between three family members. However, it stands apart as it’s a modern saga that takes a contemporary route. While the yesteryear family dramas mostly revolved around conflicts between sons, this one features two daughters. Even the issues between them are new age as they are independent in their own journeys. Apart from the characters and the storyline, what makes Tighee a product of 2026 is its making. Debutant director Jeejivisha Kale has presented the drama in a new-age manner. Even the high points in the narrative are devoid of any melodrama. She has displayed maturity in her first feature film itself. She is ably supported by the nuanced and mature writing.

Khalid Ka Shivaji (Marathi movie with a good amount of Hindi) tells the story of Khalid (Krish Raj More), a fourth standard student. He stays with his father Hayad (Priyadarshan Jadhav), mother Ruksana (Snehalata Tagde) and grandmother (Sushama Deshpande) in a small village in Maharashtra. His family is struggling to make ends meet. Khalid and his rest of the class is taught the story of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj eliminating Afzal Khan. Khalid’s classmate Ganya (Ankur Wadhave) is highly arrogant since his father (Khemraj Bhoyar) is the village Sarpanch. After learning the aforementioned story in the class, Ganya mocks Khalid as ‘Afzal Khan’ since the latter is a Muslim. Ganya is joined by a number of other students.