Saibal Chatterjee

Until two prolonged and pointed courtroom soliloquies are staged in quick succession late in the film – one is delivered by Emraan Hashmi, the other by Yami Gautam Dhar, with both actors acquitting themselves to perfection – Haq opts for sustained restraint even in its most dramatic passages. It is this temperance that defines the film. It is rare for a Bollywood film these days not to froth at the mouth when talking about India’s principal minority community and summarily stereotyping it. Directed by Suparn S. Varma and written by Reshu Nath, Haq tackles an emotive and sensitive topic. It could easily have gone overboard. That it does not is the film’s greatest strength.

Notwithstanding the title, The Taj Story does not have much of a story to tell. What it does peddle by way of a narrative has not only been done to death over the decades but has also been debunked in several courts of the land, including the apex one. The writer of the film is constrained to admit as much in a series of title cards before the end-credits begin to roll. The Taj Story is bargain-basement filmmaking that draws inspiration from unsubstantiated history to create a piece of cinema that expects full-on explosions from dud-bombs. It wends its way through prickly territory only to end up without a case strong enough to make itself essential viewing for those who care for the truth.

A genre-breaching inter-species love story, Munjya and Zombivli director Aditya Sarpotdar’s Thamma harks back to a character or two that are integral to the Maddock Horror Comedy Universe (MHCU) while it marks out the way forward for the evolving franchise with a pair of new all-powerful figures who now have their tasks cut out. Does Thamma have enough crackle to be a fitting Diwali release? For the most part, yes. Rooted in all-encompassing folklore, it mashes up a medley of fantasy conventions and rustles up a tale in which the boundaries of credulity are constantly tested but in a fun sort of way.

Underdog stories tend to traverse a predictable arc - from incipient dream to dogged pursuit, from frequent stumbling blocks to rousing, triumphal finale. On the face of it, Bison Kaalamaadan, writer-director Mari Selvaraj’s fifth film, is cast in pretty much the same mould. But that isn’t all there is to it. While the Tamil film largely swings to a familiar beat, it isn’t just another sports drama. Selvaraj puts on it a significant spin that liberates the film from the confines of genre. The urgent social commentary at the core of the film is draped in popular storytelling trappings. The audience gets the best of both worlds.

All that you expect it to be and then some, Kantara: A Legend - Chapter 1 is an audaciously conceived and mounted visual spectacle packed with high points that are strong enough to make amends for the sections that appear a touch laboured and overstretched. Lead actor and director Rishab Shetty leaves no stone unturned to enhance the scale and sweep of Kantara, a pan-Indian hit that paved the way for this ambitious prequel that now also has a sequel in the works. The makers are clearly aware that they always had a hard act to follow.

Love makes the world go round in confoundingly concentric circles in Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari. Given full on flippant treatment, the caprices and convolutions of the Varun Dhawan-Janhvi Kapoor starrer have a free run of the field. The film revolves around four young people who are surrounded by families at variance with their choices. The quartet finds itself on a wild merry-go-round of break-ups, hook-ups and matrimonies.

Another southern superstar vehicle that alternates between soaring high and sputtering cumbersomely, They Call Him OG does not go completely off the rails thanks to the kinetic power that lead actor Pawan Kalyan lends the film. The Telugu superstar goes full tilt at powering an erratic screenplay that delivers an abundance of superficial style. The film has plenty of arrows in its quiver but all of them hit their intended targets. But if you are a Pawan Kalyan fan, that lacuna is unlikely to take anything away from the sheen that the star possesses.

Marking a buoyant return for Anurag Kashyap to the gangster drama genre, Nishaanchi serves up a campy broth with a generous sprinkling of retro Bollywood ingredients that dissolve into each other in unpredictable ways. Written by Kashyap with Rajan Chandel and Prasoon Mishra, Nishaanchi brims with raw action, earthy humour and gnarled emotions that frequently unleash full-blown violence. Notwithstanding its ups and downs, the film retains its crackle all the way through. Set in Kanpur in the years leading up to and beyond the turn of the millennium, the gritty film homes in on a family sucked into the world of crime by rage and retribution. The family of four suffers the repercussions of impulsive acts, including a life-altering tragedy, but is held together by a woman who is no Nirupa Roy. She is the antithesis of the silent, long-suffering mother of Hindi cinema’s chequered past.