Sanyukta Thakare

The Bhootnii directed and written by Sidhaant Sachdev, explores the horror comedy genre with 2000s vibe focusing on a love story and a forgotten ghost. The plot of the film has a clear path but the execution takes longer than needed to come to a conclusion. The second half does well with its comic timing and few emotional moments but the horror elements are not good enough to compete with the genre pioneers in Bollywood like Stree franchise. The film begins with the story of a mysterious tree that’s been worshiped by college students for as long as they can remember. Everyone prays to the tree for true love and hopes that the wishes comes true. While everyone believes in the tree, there is more to the story. A group in the college is also protesting against it believing that the tree is haunted and it’s causing death of kids whose true love didn’t come true. Past cases have also been revealed about how by Holi celebration, some former students died by taking their own lives.

Thunderbolts* are the New Avengers, we like it or not, but the world is going to shit and as we know it, the Avengers are not coming to save the day. As Valentina de Fontaine said there are bad guys and there are worse guys, so here we are on another action filled journey. The film comes with a few pleasant surprises. But for now, some bad guys decide to stand up and fill in for the missing good guys. Marvel is making big changes for the new phase and the latest film takes an up-close and personal look at the world and the darkness taking over it. But the Thunderbolts* quite literally bring the light back to New York City and a bit in our hearts.

Directed by Raj Kumar Gupta of Raid and No One Killed Jessica, much was expected from the film, but it remains surface level. The twists and turns expected from the thriller atmosphere are missing mostly in second half. Like the previous film, this too is reportedly based on real incidents with fictional characters where an Income Tax Department officer uses every trick possible to track down white-collar criminal and bring him to justice. Led by Ajay Devgn as Amay Patnaik IRS, Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax and Riteish Deshmukh as Dada Manohar Bhai. Raid 2 begins with Ajay Devgn’s Amay Patnaik taking on a Raja with other government official. However, things don’t go as planned when the royal family refuses to cooperate and starts attacking the team. But Patnaik had ready for that too, he waits at the other end of the palace to make sure he finds the money when its being moved around. After confiscating everything he asks for Rs 2 crore as bribe to let go of the money, gold and the charges.

Another Simple Favour directed by Paul Feig is a sequel to A Simple Favor released in 2018. Both films are based on a book of the same name by Darcey Bell. The sequel is based on the characters written by Darcey Bell but does not explore the same tone or plotline as the previous film. We do get to see many characters return but the twists take wilder turns as the story moves forward. The 2018 film was known for take a deep dive into the thriller genre and exploring the stereotypes in it with two female characters but the sequels drops it all to explore something different. The film begins with Anna Kendrick’s Stephanie Smothers, who has turned into a celebrity and an author. While she is preparing to release her book based on Blake Lively’s Emily aka the allusive blonde in her life, Stephanie is also suffering from PTSD about her crime solving days. She decided to leave it behind after a man shot himself for being accused of sexual harassment and possibly abuse. However, as Miles’ mother she decides to move on with her life. But Emily isn’t done with her yet.

Crayon Shin-chan The Movie; Our Dinosaur Diary released in 2024 in Japan and became one of the highest grossing movies of the year. The film is all set to release in India on May 9 in several dubs including Hindi which essentially has been childhood for several generations. The film brings back every character imaginable from the series back to the big screen with Avengers like event, major villains, and emotional arc with a message for young audience. The film beings with Shin Chan getting ready to celebrate summer vacation, but Nohara family’s fans to go to the beach are cancelled. Shin Chan’s dad is called to office, and it leaves him with the option to go out and play with his friends. The family is seen going through its usual tasks, Shiro is seen taking care of himself, Mrs Nohara taking care of Shin Chan’s dad and Himawari. Shin Chan decides to step out with the gang and go to the park, meanwhile, the country is getting ready to welcome Dinosaurs back to civilization in an island park.

The film begins with a flashback of a small lost bear who goes missing after chasing an orange and falling into a river. But the story begins with Paddington receiving his British passport. To celebrate, he writes a letter to his aunt Lucy about how the city and the Browns have changed since the last time they met. He talks about how the kids have grown up while the parents are hoping to spend more time with each other. Despite the changes and the world growing apart, Paddington still enjoys his life in London. He soon finds out that his aunt has been in bad health from the mother reverend at the home for retired bears. Worried for her, Paddington decides to go to Peri to check on her, and the family agrees to join him. With the new passport and Mr. Brown’s new boss urging him to take risks, the family takes the risk to spend more time together before the kids start their separate lives at college. The trip isn’t as easy as they expected it to be, as after landing in Peru, they find out Aunt Lucy has gone missing.

Andor returned for season 2 earlier this week with the bleak future for the Rebels and the Empire. The show explores the political implications of the war between the Empire and the Rebels as they struggle to take hold on the galaxy. Instead of the usual good verses evil, the series explores a more deeper look into what went down as we see the personal journey of some Rebels, different versions of Rebels as well as the proceedings of how the Empire began to take control of the senate. The season beings with one end goal in mind, aka the Battle of Yavin. Beginning 4 years before the battle, the show follows the course of actions that lead to the establishment of rebel forces on Yavin and the consequences of Empire’s growing power across the galaxy. While some Senators are seen fighting for the rights of the people, other are seen working with the Empire to save their backs. Meanwhile different wars brew across the galaxy, with rebels taking charge on different planets to fight against the Empire.

One of the biggest releases in animation has reached the Indian shores. The film is the second installment in its series title Ne Zha. Set in a fantasy world, it follows a spirit core and demon core that have been born into children and have to go on long tendinous journey to discover themselves. The sequel explores their story as they have already been accepted by their surrounding but still have more inner acceptable to go through. Ne Zha 2 begins with both Ne Zha and Ao Bing getting their own bodies from the gifted seven coloured lotus. However, before Ao’s body is able to take full form he is forced to use his powers to defend Chentang Pass from his father’s wrath. Ne Zha promises to bring back an elixir to revive the lotus and make a new body for him. But his demon core would not let him enter the spirit world to win the elixir in a competition. Ne Zha and Ao Bing then decide to share their bodies to win the elixir.