Srivathsan Nadadhur

Tarini Bandyopadhyay, a widowed elderly Bengali man with a son, has long stints at many publishing houses, but never takes it upon himself to be an author, despite being a gifted communicator and storyteller. After his retirement, he’s hired by an Ahmedabad-based businessman Ratan Garodia, suffering from chronic insomnia, to tell stories in the hope of finding sleep.

After losing his parents in an accident in childhood, Ravi is raised by the Bhatts and has a loving brother in Aditya. He grows up a history enthusiast and bumps into a judge Dixit, who reminds him of his duty as a Shiledar and reveals the mystery behind his parents’ death. Soon implicated in a crime, Ravi embarks on a quest to uncover a hidden treasure.

Radhe Mohan Sharma, a railway ticket checker, stumbles upon a minor discrepancy in his bank account, setting off a chain of events, leading him to uncover a massive financial fraud orchestrated by a powerful banker named Micky Mehta, the founder of Do Bank. While unearthing a billion-dollar scam and facing immense pressure and threats, Radhe does what it takes to expose the truth.

A group of Indian fighter pilots, led by Om Ahuja (Akshay Kumar), is tasked with the destruction of a fleet of modern American F-104 Starfighters at the Sargodha airbase in the 1965 war. Meanwhile, a young pilot T Krishna Vijaya (Veer Pahariya), disobeys orders and ventures into enemy territory to rescue his fellow pilots. Haunted by the disappearance of his protégé, Ahuja embarks on a quest to uncover the truth while facing resistance and bureaucratic hurdles.

Kenneth Fernandes, a recycling artist in Mumbai, and Dia, an aspiring songwriter in Pune are strangers who have never met, yet share identical dreams. While Kenny finds a true friend in an acquaintance Roop, Dia struggles to be herself in a strained relationship with her long-time boyfriend Ishant. The duo’s search for dream partners leads them on a whimsical journey, filled with unexpected encounters and humorous mishaps.

While remakes are commonplace in feature films, the concept of targeting hyper-local markets using already successful material is gaining traction in the OTT space as well. The digital medium has thrived on the idea of ‘overcoming the two-inch barrier’ (subtitles), allowing stories to transcend language barriers. Yet, platforms continue to commission near frame-by-frame adaptations to attract a new set of viewers Over the years, villages have served as backdrops for various genres, ranging from political sagas to dramas, comedies, thrillers, action-packed entertainers, and romances. Amazon Prime Video’s eight-episode series Sivarapalli, a remake of TVF’s hit show Panchayat, takes a middle path, exploring the familiar terrain of rural drama through the perspective of an urban youngster.

Dominic and the Ladies’ Purse is an unlikely Gautham Menon film in a positive sense, from the way it’s visualised, shot and edited. The leisurely yet consistently engaging investigation thriller is built on a juicy premise centred around a lost ladies purse that leads a former cop-turned-detective to a missing couple, a mystery that only gets murkier with time. Even while catering to the star in Mammootty, the film doesn’t lose its way and culminates with a pulpy, edge-of-the-seat finale. Sushmitha Bhatt is a surprise find, with Gokul Suresh, Viji Venkatesh and Vineeth chipping in with impressive performances.

Balakrishna’s resurgence in recent films such as Akhanda and Bhagawant Kesari can be attributed to filmmakers Boyapati Sreenu and Anil Ravipudi making the star more relatable to the masses beyond his larger-than-life quirks. While the ethos of a typical Balakrishna film has not changed drastically, the fresh narrative styles have breathed a new lease of life into time-tested templates. In Daaku Maharaaj, it is evident that director Bobby Kolli was keen on a new visual aesthetic to a star-led vehicle. The action is stylised and slick; there is a genuine effort at charismatic world-building and the ‘punch lines’ are minimal (going by the standards of popular Telugu masala potboilers). Hero worship is woven into the narrative rather than appearing forced. Despite these merits the film falls short, owing to its lack of conviction in the execution. It neither plays to the galleries nor embraces the new dictum wholeheartedly. A handful of sequences draw attention and can be termed paisa vasool, but the film on the whole is not satisfying.