Sanyukta Thakare

Together written and directed by Michael Shanks has been surrounded with controversy about the origins of the story as the makers face a copyright infringement lawsuit based on how similar it is to another film. The producers of Better Half in their lawsuit claimed that the story was originally pitched to Franco and Brie in 2020, but they turned it down. Husband and wife Dave Franco and Alison Brie are leading Together and were widely praise for their performance after Sundance debut. Rightfully so, as this is one the best psychological thrillers in recent times with chilling and very real, relatable concept. The film begins with an unusual incident taking place in the small town where a couple has already gone missing. Community volunteers can be seen searching the forest walking trails when two dogs of a of volunteer wonders off into a dark cave. They end up drinking from a well in the cave and begin to have some kind of a hypnotic reaction to it. Even after they go home with the volunteer, they continue to behave different, and at night when the dogs won’t stop barking, the volunteer walks in on them having consumed half of each other.

Freakier Friday is directed by Nisha Ganatra, who has also worked on hit comedy shows like Fresh Off The Boat, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Mindy Project and many more. The sequel follows both main characters from Freaky Friday 2003 film, a mother daughter duo who could not see eye to eye even after switching their bodies. Almost three decades later Anna and Tess have returned with more complications in life (two daughters), and a much needed lesson waiting for four of them which will bring them even closer. The film begins with a quiet recap of what everyone has been up to since the OG film’s release in 2003. Jamie Lee Curtis’ Tess Coleman has been happily married, she now runs a podcast from her closet and is a published author, on the other hand, Lindsay Lohan’s Anna has stopped performing and now works for a pop star Emma while being a single mother to a strong-willed teenage daughter, Harper. When a food fight ensues at the school because of Harper and her British nemesis Lily, both Anna and Lily’s father Eric are called to the school.

Weapons, directed and written by Zach Cregger had one of the most amazing promotional campaigns seen in this year for any film. The horror follows the story of a small town where kids ran out of their homes on their own accord never to be seen again. The trailer focused on how these kids seemed freer in the dark night running away from their families. However, the actual film is nothing close to what anyone would have expected. Visually stunning Weapons has an eerie tone to it with a background score as good as that of Nosferatu. The film begins with the narration of a small child, setting up the tone of the story as well as the situation around the incident. She reveals that one morning while the day was as ordinary as one could expect, one class had 17 kids missing. No one showed up to the class that day expect one boy Alex and the teacher Justine Gandy. While the teacher would be the usual suspect if this were a usual crime thriller, the cops and the parents in the town are baffled when ring light cameras and security details of their own homes revealed how the kids on the previous night had just run out of their homes on their own.

Siddhant Chaturvedi and Tripti Dimri led film explores the story of India’s cast system and how it is impacting the youth of today. A decade ago, a film like this would have been about the love story and how the leading characters fought the casteism to be with each other, here it is about how they fought the world just to survive and exist. That big difference makes this film a good watch. Dhadak 2 beings with Siddhanth Chaturvedi’s (Nilesh) first interaction with Tripti Dimri (Vidhi). While she is a guest at a wedding, Nilesh is playing a Dhol for the wedding festivities. She goes on to invite him to play at her sister’s upcoming wedding and gets herself a 20% discount, unknown to the fact that they two will cross paths again somewhere else. They happen to join the same law college but the reasoning behind their decision is what sets them apart.

Rajkummar Rao’s film is an action drama that falls into the same trap of several other releases from the same genre. The film has very little uniqueness to offer as compared to other OTT films and shows based in the same region, with similar dialogues, political issues with violence at the center of it all. From Mirzapur to now Panchayat, Maalik fits right in, without much setting it apart, other than Rajkummar Rao’s performance. But the film’s violence heavy screenplay leaves little focus on his emotional moments. Maalik begins with Rajkummar Rao’s character Deepak punishing and killing a police officer for stopping his trucks at a check point. Without wasting much time, the filmmaker clears the air about who the film will follow and how the events will take place. For the next 30 minutes the makers focused on the political environment of Allahabad and how Maalik intends to make a space for himself.

The film begins with a flashback of Shuvankar’s birth in Chandrapur during a Durga Puja. While everyone is happy about the news of the birth of a son, the tone changes when it’s revealed that a twin daughter is born. Due to the traditional practices of the family and a belief that girls of the bloodline bring ill fate to the world, the daughter is sacrificed in front of a tree. The tree is believed to have been possessed by a very old and powerful demon. Years later, Kajol as Ambika explains a mythological story depicted in a painting about Goddess Kali and her battle with the demon Raktabeeja (Bloodseed). She reveals to the kids in her daughter Shweta’s class how gods had to seek help from Goddess Parvati, who took the avatar of Kali and helped take down the demon to reign over Heaven once again. Inspired by the mythological stories and more history of her dad, Shuvankar’s home town, Shweta wishes to visit their native home for summer vacation, but both parents refuse to take her there. They later discuss how important it is for them to share the truth with her about Chandrapur and why they decided to keep her away from the place.

The makers have returned with another season explores the culinary world through the restaurant and its highly talented staff. The show has been around for three seasons and always give at least 3-4 perfect episodes per season. Can the same be said for this one? Yes. Season 4 takes a little while to kick off but it does. And when it does there is so much more to look for. The new episodes begins right after season 3 as they begin to feel the wrath of a countdown which could decide the future of the restaurant. After finding out about uncle’s diminishing finances, a running clock is added to the restaurant as a reminder how they need to win a star or break even in 4000 hours. However, to do that Carmen and others have to first get through layers of emotional, their own and others. With a wedding and a new baby in the mist, the family drama also continues the influences the decisions in the kitchen.

F1 directed by Joseph Kosinski and written by Ehren Kruge is a film of simpler times. The makers for F1 have chosen to focus on the filmmaking more than its story, but the screenplay doesn’t fall short of theatrics and drama. For a story about racing and its team, there is much to offer from conflict between players, past emotional trauma to new beginnings and team bonding. F1 gives almost everything a 2000s film could present with even better direction and cinematography. F1 begins with Brad Pitt as Sonny Hayes stepping in as a nomad driver for hire at a Daytona racetrack for the overnight shift. He takes over the car towards the end of the line, but leads the game by the morning driver change. 5 minutes into the film, the makers clear the air that Sonny Hayes isn’t in it for the glory. Despite offers to stay on the team full time, Sonny picks up his cheque and moves on to the next one. Dubbed as “the greatest that never was,” he was Formula 1’s most promising phenom of the 1990s.