One Battle After Another
Action, Crime, Thriller (English)
When their evil nemesis resurfaces after 16 years, a band of ex-revolutionaries reunite to rescue the daughter of one of their own. (more…)
The Ba***ds of Bollywood
Comedy, Action & Adventure (Hindi)
In this high-stakes drama, an ambitious outsider and his friends navigate the chaotic, larger-than-life, yet uncertain world of Bollywood. (more…)
Jolly LLB 3
Drama, Comedy (Hindi)
The third part of the Jolly LLB trilogy brings back Jagdish Tyagi and Jagdishwar Mishra for the biggest face-off as Janki Devi Solanki awaits justice against industrialist Khaitan in a satire on the judiciary, justice and the gulf between the (more…)
The Trial S02
Drama, Crime, Mystery (Hindi)
A housewife is forced to take full responsibility of her family after her husband is imprisoned over a corruption and sex scandal. (more…)
Guild Reviews
Samsaram Adhu Minsaram
(Tamil)
Ammaiyappan Mudaliar fulfils every need of his four children. However, when the eldest son fights with him and leaves the house, Uma, the daughter-in-law, tries to solve their issues.
Cast:
Visu, Lakshmi, Raghuvaran, Vagai Chandrasekar, Kamala Kamesh, Ilavarasi, Manorama, Madhuri, Delhi Ganesh, Kishmu
Director:
Visu
Writer:
Visu
Reshapes how Tamil cinema portrays the middle-class household
Sun, September 28 2025
Alice in Borderland S03
Mystery, Drama, Action & Adventure (Japanese)
With his two friends, a video-game-obsessed young man finds himself in a strange version of Tokyo where they must compete in dangerous games to win.
Cast:
Kento Yamazaki, Tao Tsuchiya
Thrilling Live-Action Adaptation Of Popular Japanese Manga Raises More Questions
Sat, September 27 2025
Before Squid Game, there was the Japanese series Alice in Borderland about players in life-or-death games. Returning five years after the Shibuya meteorite incident, Alice in Borderland’s third season puts its protagonists Arisu (Kento Yamazaki) and Usagi (Tao Tsuchiya) back in dire danger. As the games resume in Borderland, the games become more elaborate with higher stakes. The events of Season 3 veer away from Haro Aso’s manga while sticking to its essence. The second half picks up to return to the show that entralled fans over five years and should leave them wanting more.
Karam
Thriller, Action (Malayalam)
Former Indian military officer Dev Mahendran and his family find themselves in a perilous situation in a foreign country, Lenarco, during an international conference.
Cast:
Noble Babu Thomas, Reshma Sebastian, Audrey Miriam, Manoj K Jayan, Kalabhavan Shajon, Baburaj, Vishnu G. Varrier, Johny Antony, Shweta Menon, John Kaippallil
Director:
Vineeth Sreenivasan
Writer:
Noble Babu Thomas
A Generic, Lifeless Action Movie Written Around Genre Cliches
Sat, September 27 2025
There were instances during Karam where you are led to believe you’ve entered into the wrong screen at the multiplex. This begins right from the first shot when when we’re asked to guess if a particular chase is taking place in India or elsewhere. Of course we see Noble Babu Thomas (Dev) in the frame and we’re told that he’s just missed a shot at the most notorious militant in the world, but the imagery is so devoid of specificity that it could be any Mallu action hero running away from bad guys in any continent in any part of the world and it wouldn’t make a difference. A scene later, it’s when Dev gets court-marshalled that we learn that these two are Indian soldiers, out to take on a threat against India. The generic Europeanness of the location is something we need to interpret as the story taking place in some idyllic North Indian hill station, along the lines of Shimla.
A staid, emotionally hollow film with nothing new to say
Sat, September 27 2025
To create a humorous situation around the ubiquitous ‘Dolo 650’, like the one in Vineeth Sreenivasan’s Karam, requires a certain amount of ingenuity. But, humour depends on the setting as well as the timing, and this particular attempt at comedy may have worked in a different setting. In Karam, it just happens to be placed in the middle of a person’s attempt to breach and bust a dreaded human trafficking ring, causing the humour to fall flat.
One Battle After Another
Action, Crime, Thriller (English)
When their evil nemesis resurfaces after 16 years, a band of ex-revolutionaries reunite to rescue the daughter of one of their own.
Cast:
Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Chase Infiniti, Benicio del Toro, Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor, Alana Haim, Wood Harris, Tony Goldwyn, Shayna McHayle
Director:
Paul Thomas Anderson
Writer:
Paul Thomas Anderson
Viva La Revolución
Sat, September 27 2025
Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another serves as a reminder that it is the same director behind There Will Be Blood (2007), although this film ventures further into uncharted territory. It encompasses political themes, satire, action, and family drama. Above all, this film showcases the filmmaker’s mastery of his craft – from the musical score to the cinematography, there is an abundance of elements to appreciate in this work.
What do you do when all your best efforts hit and absolutely immovable wall?
Fri, September 26 2025
Janaawar: The Beast Within
(Hindi)
As SI Hemant Kumar explores a missing person's case in the jungle town of Chhattisgarh, he is determined to solve it. Trouble follows when that leads to a string of bodies and a likely serial killer.
Cast:
Bhuvan Arora, Bhagwan Tiwari, Atul Kale, Vaibhav Yashvir, Deeksha Sonalkar
Director:
Shachindra Vats
Writer:
Sonali Gupta, Shreyes Anil Lowlekar
(Writing for M9 News)
Slow, Neat Thriller With a Message
Fri, September 26 2025
Police officer Hemant’s week off is cancelled due to two urgent cases: the disappearance of MLA Jagtap’s brother, Sarju, and a gold theft. A mutilated corpse is found, forcing a desperate search for the missing head. Suspects are arrested, beaten, and confess, but the mystery deepens. The trail shockingly leads to Hemant’s ally, whose confession reveals more layers to the crime.
Sixer S02
Drama (Hindi)
A ragtag group of cricketers and cricket enthusiasts come together overcoming personal odds and help each other to give a clear shot at winning the local tennis ball cricket tournament.
Cast:
Shivankit Singh Parihar, Badri Chavan, Rahul Tewari, Karishma Singh, Brij Bhushan Shukla, Vaibhav Shukla, Puneet Batra, Prashant Singh, Suraj Rikame, Anandeshwar Dwivedi
Director:
Divyanshu Malhotra
Writer:
Shivankit Singh Parihar, Harish Peddinti
(Writing for M9 News)
Local Cricket, Silly Fun
Fri, September 26 2025
After a crushing setback in a crucial match, Nikku’s team finds its reputation on the line. As a key player departs, the team descends into disarray, struggling to find its footing. They must overcome these internal conflicts and face a formidable rival in a final showdown. This decisive match will determine not only the tournament’s winner but also their future, both on and off the field.
Opus
Horror, Mystery, Thriller (English)
A young writer is invited to the remote compound of a legendary pop star who mysteriously disappeared thirty years ago. Surrounded by the star's cult of sycophants and intoxicated journalists, she finds herself in the middle of his twisted plan.
Cast:
Ayo Edebiri, John Malkovich, Juliette Lewis, Murray Bartlett, Melissa Chambers, Tony Hale, Stephanie Suganami, Mark Sivertsen, Amber Midthunder, Tatanka Means
Director:
Mark Anthony Green
Writer:
Mark Anthony Green
Despite a spot-on John Malkovich, Opus aims to be Midsommar-lite but doesn't quite get there
Thu, September 25 2025
If you have to cast someone as a 60-plus rock star who was once known as the “Wizard of Wiggle,” had 38 No. 1 hits in the ‘90s and used to date Cindy Crawford among many others — and now runs a (ahem!) cult — there is really only one name that comes to mind: John Malkovich. Besides being one of Hollywood’s most mystifying stars, Malkovich,71, has directed a play in Latvian, designed his own fashion lines, and even starred in a movie called Being John Malkovich that explores entering his mind. He has participated in shooting a film designed to be viewed in the year 2115, a project that highlights his unusual approach to filmmaking. His involvement in Being John Malkovich, he has claimed, was a deliberate choice, as he wanted to be involved in the “weirdest Hollywood movie ever made”. He has also famously said that “he believes he is the least eccentric person he knows.”
Boong
Drama (Hindi)
In the valley of Manipur, Boong (*a little boy) plans to surprise his mother with a gift. In his innocence, he believes that bringing his father back home would be the most special gift. His search for his father culminates into an unexpected gift – a new beginning….
Cast:
Gugun Kipgen, Bala Hijam, Angom Sanamatum, Vikram Kochhar, Hamom Sadananda, Jenny Khurai, Nemetia Ngangbam
Director:
Lakshmipriya Devi
Writer:
Lakshmipriya Devi
A beautiful coming-of-age Manipuri film that bares its soul on its own terms
Thu, September 25 2025
In a country that is so diverse that there is a new language, a new cuisine, a new landscape, a new cultural ethos, and even a new set of rules and regulations every 100-200 kilometres, perspective is everything. That is why it feels futile to try to make sense of the things that are ‘different.’ Why not just embrace the vibrance of diversity without trying to burden it with the monotony of uniformity? When Lakshmipriya Devi’s Boong presents us with her view of Manipur, it doesn’t ask us to analyse the differences, but to appreciate the similarities. And the best way to do it is to tell a film through the eyes of a boy, who might be corrupted by the world around him, but he has the excuse of saying, “But I didn’t know better.”
A Small Film With A Big Soul
Wed, September 24 2025
Boong tells the story of little Brojendro “Boong” Singh (Gugun Kipgen), a naughty Manipuri kid from Imphal who sets out to search for his absent father in the bordertown of Moreh. It’s been years since his dad left home, phone calls have stopped being returned, but young Boong wants to surprise his single mother Mandakini (Bala Hijam) with the ‘gift’ of the man’s return. He leaves him voice messages to no avail. Their village mysteriously receives news of the man’s death, but Mandakini refuses to believe it. Boong notices her distress, so his journey with best friend Raju (Angom Sanamatum) into the unknown — into neighbouring Myanmar, even — is framed as a bittersweet Home Alone-coded adventure. The two boys reach their destination by hiding in a wreath next to the corpse of a friend’s grandfather in a hearse.
Palpable tension reverberates throughout the film.
Mon, September 22 2025
The Ba***ds of Bollywood
Comedy, Action & Adventure (Hindi)
In this high-stakes drama, an ambitious outsider and his friends navigate the chaotic, larger-than-life, yet uncertain world of Bollywood.
Cast:
Lakshya Lalwani, Farhan Qureshii, Sahher Bambba, Mona Singh, Raghav Juyal, Anya Singh, Rajat Bedi, Manish Chaudhary, Bobby Deol, Manoj Pahwa
Director:
Aryan Khan
Writer:
Aryan Khan, Bilal Siddiqi, Manav Chauhan, Dev Singh
(Writing for The Common Man Speaks)
Unabashedly whacky take on Bollywood with an overdose of expletives
Thu, September 25 2025
The Ba***ds Of Bollywood revolves around Aasmaan Singh (Lakshya), who dreams of becoming a famous movie star. After arriving in Mumbai from his hometown Delhi and struggling for some time, he gets an opportunity to showcase his heroic skills and bags the film Revolver. The movie becomes a hit and he achieves initial stardom. Aasmaan stays with his uncle Avtar (Manoj Pahwa), who has been struggling all his life to become a singer and musician, and his loyal best friend Parvaiz (Raghav Juyal). His mother Neeta (Mona Singh) once dreamt of becoming an actress but could not be more than a background dancer. His father Rajat (Vijayant Kohli) is suffering from a liver disease.
(Writing for M9 News)
Noisy Parody, Little Fun
Mon, September 22 2025
Aasman Singh is an overnight sensation, having made a remarkable acting debut and working wonders. He gets into a salty banter with Karishma, the daughter of a star, Arjun Talvar, at a roundtable interview. Cashing in on the controversy, Aasman and Karishma are paired in a new film, and love is in the air. Yet, their romance struggles to take off, thanks to an ugly tiff, an underworld deal and a long-buried secret.
(Writing for The Voice of Fashion)
Aryan Khan flips the script
Mon, September 22 2025
For as long as Bollywood has existed, dynasties have shaped its stories, both on and off screen. Shah Rukh Khan, however, was the self-made outlier—the Delhi boy who rewrote the rules of stardom. His son Aryan Khan inherits not just wealth and visibility, but the paradox of being heir to self-made Bollywood royalty. So, when Aryan steps forward as writer-director of The Ba***ds of Bollywood, the series is inevitably being measured against not just his craft but his surname also. From its opening frames, The Ba***ds of Bollywood announces itself as more than just another OTT drama. Aryan’s debut as director is glossy, meta, and occasionally satirical, as eager to lampoon the industry as it is to luxuriate in its glossy surfaces. The series is, in many ways, a tug-of-war between love and resentment: for the power of Bollywood mythology, for the spectacle of its excess, and for the suffocating hierarchies that govern who belongs and who does not. That tension animates the show, and also exposes its unevenness.
The Trial S02
Drama, Crime, Mystery (Hindi)
A housewife is forced to take full responsibility of her family after her husband is imprisoned over a corruption and sex scandal.
Cast:
Kajol, Jisshu Sengupta, Kubbra Sait, Alyy Khan, Sheeba Chaddha, Sonali Kulkarni
(Writing for M9 News)
Better Sequel, Still Forgettable
Mon, September 22 2025
The Trial, the Hindi adaptation of the popular show The Good Wife, didn’t particularly have a good start with its first season, although it garnered enough viewership for Jio Hotstar to renew it for another instalment. The show struggled to rise above a collection of stray events in a middle-aged woman’s life, desperately rushing through episodes in a bid to keep a viewer hooked.
Mon, September 22 2025
जानी-मानी अदाकारा काजोल की डेब्यू वेब सीरीज ‘द ट्रायल’ का पहला सीजन काफी चर्चा में रहा था। अपने पति से धोखा खाने के बावजूद समाज में उसका हाथ थामकर खड़ी होने वाली पत्नी, अपनी बच्चियों को प्रोटेक्ट करने वाली एक मजबूत मां और वकालत की दुनिया में फिर से अपनी पहचान तलाशती वकील नोयोनिका सेनगुप्ता के रूप में काजोल को काफी पसंद गया था। अब इसका दूसरा सीजन आया है, लेकिन इस बार वो पहले वाला तेवर और रोमांच नदारद है। इस बार के कोर्ट केसेज जहां फीके हैं, वहीं राजनीति के मैदान में चलने वाली बयानबाजी भी खोखली मालूम देती है। चर्चित अमेरिकी सीरीज ‘द गुड वाइफ’ पर आधारित यह कहानी पिछली बार से ही आगे बढ़ती है, जहां नोयोनिका (काजोल) के ना चाहते हुए भी उसका पति राजीव (जिशु सेनगुप्ता) राजनीति में उतर जाता है। इस कारण उनके रिश्ते में तल्खी बनी रहती है, जिसका असर उनके बच्चों पर भी पड़ता है। उसकी जिंदगी में राजीव की विरोधी नेता नारायणी भोले (सोनाली कुलकर्णी) की भी एंट्री होती है, जो नोयोनिका की लाख कोशिशों के बावजूद उसके परिवार को राजनीति का दलदल में घसीट ही लेती है।
The Trial Season 2 has no reason to exist
Sun, September 21 2025
Remaking The Good Wife was never a good idea. Having a poorly-made second season follow up what was at best an average Season 1 has been disastrous. The Trial, that marked Kajol’s web series debut, recently dropped its sophomore season — making for six episodes of unnecessary melodrama, surface-level courtroom action and a soap opera feel to what should have been a gripping, intense legal thriller. Streaming on JioHotstar, Season 2 takes place three months after the first season ended (which was in 2023). The Sengupta couple — Noyonika (Kajol) and Rajiv (Jisshu Sengupta) are caught in an increasingly fractured relationship. Noyonika is now a much sought-after lawyer while Rajiv is trying to clean his scandal-ridden image by joining politics (but, of course!). Noyonika’s colleague Vishal (Alyy Khan) still holds a candle for her, even as their law firm acquires a new partner (Param Munjal, played by Karanvir Sharma) who has his own rules of how to keep the system going, thus disrupting the balance of power. Malini (Sheeba Chaddha), the Khanna in Khanna & Chaubey, feels increasingly threatened enough to want to start her own firm, seeking Noyonika’s allyship.
Shakthi Thirumagan
Action, Drama, Thriller (Tamil)
A tribal woman is brutally assaulted and killed. Her newborn is mercilessly abandoned in a dump yard, left to die. But fate intervenes — an old man discovers the infant and decides to raise him as his own. The child, named Kittu,After the old man’s death, Kittu is left to fend for himself,determined to confront his mother’s killer.
Cast:
Vijay Antony, Trupthi ravindra, Vagai Chandrasekar, Sunil kripalini, Cell Murugan, Rini Bot, Riya Jithu, Kiran Kumar, Master Keshav
Director:
Arun Prabu Purushothaman
Writer:
Arun Prabu Purushothaman
Promising political drama overpowered by preachiness
Mon, September 22 2025
Power. In this world, which is all about the ones on top governing the kinds of lives lived by the ones on the bottom, power is ultimate. Of course, there is the adage that ‘Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.’ But when presented with the possibility of having absolute power, there are not many who would deny that opportunity. Shakthi Thirumagan is about a person who refuses to deny that opportunity. One which he carefully crafted over time, greased more than a few palms, did more than his fair share of nefarious activities, and gained the key to ultimate power: information. In many ways, Arun Prabu Purushothaman’s Shakthi Thirumagan is a film about how the biggest power in a democracy, even if it might seem increasingly futile in an intolerant world, is the right to ask the right questions to the right people at the right time to get the right kind of information.
Jolly LLB 3
Drama, Comedy (Hindi)
The third part of the Jolly LLB trilogy brings back Jagdish Tyagi and Jagdishwar Mishra for the biggest face-off as Janki Devi Solanki awaits justice against industrialist Khaitan in a satire on the judiciary, justice and the gulf between the privileged and the people on the other side of the spectrum.
Cast:
Arshad Warsi, Akshay Kumar, Saurabh Shukla, Gajraj Rao, Seema Biswas, Amrita Rao, Huma Qureshi, Ram Kapoor, Shrikant Verma, Sushil Pandey
Director:
Subhash Kapoor
Writer:
Subhash Kapoor
(Writing for The Common Man Speaks)
Akshay Kumar, Arshad Warsi & last 30 minutes are the highlights
Sun, September 21 2025
olly LLB 3’s backstory dates to 2011 in Parsaul, a remote village in Rajasthan. An aged farmer Rajaram Solanki doesn’t agree to sell his land to India’s richest businessman Haribhai Khetan (Gajraj Rao) for his ‘Bikaner To Boston’ residential complex project. He is then framed in a fake case about non-payment of dues. He loses the case. Dejected, he dies by suicide. But his wife Janaki (Seema Biswas) vows to get justice, not just for Rajaram but also for various other farmers, whose lives are negatively affected by the project. The story moves few years later in Delhi, where advocate Jagdishwar Mishra aka Jolly (Akshay Kumar) from Lucknow and advocate Jagdish Tyagi aka (also) Jolly from Meerut are always seen fighting over stealing each other’s cases in a lower court. The two can’t see eye to eye. One day, Janaki approaches them with her late husband and other farmers’ case. However, she no fees to pay to any of the two Jollys.
(Writing for The Daily Eye)
Saurabh Shukla and Gajraj Rao make it watchable!
Sun, September 21 2025
Film ideas often originate from a simple “spark”—a personal experience, a keen observation, or even an arbitrary thought—that is subsequently nurtured through creative techniques such as brainstorming, research, and writing. Once an idea takes root and begins to blossom, there’s no turning back for the creator. Following the phenomenal success of Jolly LLB (2013), writer-director Subhash Kapoor drew inspiration from the complexities of the Indian legal system, rather than from a specific case, and capitalized on this concept with the sequel Jolly LLB 2 (2017). Now, the third instalment in the series, Jolly LLB 3, continues this tradition, promising yet another legal comedy-drama that blends elements from real judicial cases into entertaining, and often humorous, narratives that highlight both the legal system and its human side. Directed by Kapoor, the film stars Akshay Kumar, Arshad Warsi, and Saurabh Shukla, with Amrita Rao and Huma Qureshi reprising their roles from the previous films. The plot is inspired by the 2011 land acquisition protests in Uttar Pradesh.
Akshay & Arshad’s film takes a stand for farmers
Sat, September 20 2025
Most of us grew up with elders who constantly chimed, “Do not waste food.” On one hand, it was the sentiment that a wasted serving could have fed someone poor. On the other hand, they knew the effort it takes to harvest a basket full of cauliflowers or tomatoes. Having grown up (and past these ideas), we now casually discard food if the preparation isn’t to our liking. But where do the raw materials come from? After all, a typical Indian dish requires ten ingredients, including oil. In Subhash Kapoor’s Jolly LLB 3, we take a riveting trip down those lanes – into the thankless lives of Indian farmers, steeped in poverty and systemic neglect. As we know, Jolly LLB 3 is a franchise film where a not-so-smart lawyer (Arshad Warsi and/or Akshay Kumar) takes on the system and earns justice for a needy person or community. Also, the guys share a common name. Jolly No. 1 (Arshad Warsi) and Jolly No. 2 (Akshay Kumar) practice in a Delhi court, and their squabbles over hijacking each other’s clients are a running joke.