Dhurandhar
Action, Thriller (Hindi)
After the hijacking of IC-814 in 1999 and the Parliament attack in 2001, India’s Intelligence Bureau Chief, Ajay Sanyal devised an indomitable mission to intrude and rupture the terrorist network in Pakistan, by infiltrating the underworld mafia of Karachi. A (more…)
Guild Reviews
Dhurandhar
Action, Thriller (Hindi)
After the hijacking of IC-814 in 1999 and the Parliament attack in 2001, India’s Intelligence Bureau Chief, Ajay Sanyal devised an indomitable mission to intrude and rupture the terrorist network in Pakistan, by infiltrating the underworld mafia of Karachi. A 20-year-old boy from Punjab, held captive for a revenge crime, is identified by Sanyal to execute his elaborate plan.
Cast:
Ranveer Singh, Sanjay Dutt, Akshaye Khanna, R. Madhavan, Arjun Rampal, Sara Arjun, Rakesh Bedi, Naveen Kaushik, Manav Gohil, Danish Pandor
Director:
Aditya Dhar
Tue, December 23 2025
You cannot separate a film’s politics from its craft—you cannot separate your own politics from your opinion. To do so would be like judging a Dal Makhani on the basis of presentation but not taste. Dhurandhar is vile propaganda whose influence will spread beyond even its target audience of unemployed youth and WhatsApp uncles. We discuss how objectionable every scene involving R. Madhavan is, how abrupt the climax feels, and why director Aditya Dhar is so afraid of examining complexity. We also talk about the incendiary red screen scene and its possible implications, and wonder why they chose to make the protagonist a murderer for hire instead of a real patriot with real motivations to undertake such a high-stakes mission.
Sat, December 13 2025
The soul of Dhurandhar is rooted in quiet deception. Wait, I’m talking about Hamza Ali Mazari’s (Ranveer Singh) mission. He’s a spy operating across borders in this 214-minute film, and given this running time and the number of characters, motivations and political threads it handles, this film could very easily have collapsed into something rambling and frustrating. But it doesn’t, largely thanks to a smart structural decision: chapter segregation. The eight chapters keep the narrative in control, allowing the film to introduce competent characters like SP Aslam and Rehman Dakait as formidable, thinking opponents rather than fragile villains. The nuanced performances help too. Akshaye Khanna is potent, yes, but also so human in confusion and rage.
Wed, December 10 2025
Since deception is the language of a spy thriller, let’s pretend that movies exist entirely in isolation — like an introvert on a Saturday night. Let’s pretend that Dhurandhar, Aditya Dhar’s directorial return after Uri (2019), has absolutely nothing to do with the world around us. (One could argue that it doesn’t, but that’s a mob attack for another day). Let’s also pretend that film criticism is about seeing a movie for what it is, regardless of its moral character or ideology. It’s only fair, given that we all admire great serial killers for being awesome at what they do, legendary dictators for being no-nonsense leaders, wars for being the epitome of courage and technology, and plane crashes for doing tragedy so well.
Four More Shots Please! S04
Drama, Comedy (Hindi)
Four unapologetically flawed women live, love, blunder and discover what really makes them tick through friendship and tequila in millennial Mumbai.
Cast:
Sayani Gupta, Kirti Kulhari, Maanvi Gagroo, Gurbani Judge, Rajeev Siddhartha, Dino Morea
Director:
Arunima Sharma
Writer:
Devika Bhagat
Tue, December 23 2025
Four More Shots Please! returns for its fourth and final season the way it always has: mid-chaos, mid-confession, and mid-freakout. The opening image is telling. There is a wedding underway, and right at its centre is Siddhi Patel (Maanvi Gagroo), spiralling. She is high on brownies, overwhelmed by commitment, and quietly devastated by the absence of her father, whose death still sits like an unprocessed ache. It is a familiar emotional cocktail for this show: intimacy laced with panic, humour doing the work of survival. But after the vows are sealed, the four women make a pact: to confront the patterns they keep dragging from season to season. It is a neat way to begin a finale. It is also, unfortunately, emblematic of a season more interested in tying ribbons than in pulling threads tighter.
Daayam
Drama (Malayalam)
The unexpected demise of her mother turns teenager Kalyani’s life upside down. As the relatives disperse, she and her father are left alone, struggling to cope with the void in their midst. In the weeks that follow, it is not just the grief she has to deal with, but also some harsh realisations about the patriarchal and hypocritical society around her. As events unfold, Kalyani finds herself becoming more and more disillusioned with the progressive, considerate father she used to idolise. The film portrays the girl's journey of coming to terms with her loss and finding a way forward.
Cast:
Aathira Rajeev, Pradeep Kumar, K.R. Aromal, Ranjini George, Rini Udayakumar
Director:
Prasanth Vijay
Writer:
Indu Lakshmi
Sun, December 21 2025
Daayam, which is a Malayalam film, takes place in a town in Kerala. Kalyani (Aathira Rajeev) is going through the most emotionally challenging period of her life after her mother passed away a few days back in the most unexpected manner. Her house is full of relatives as they need to complete a few rituals for the departed. There are murmurs about all not being well between her mother and father Raghu (Pradeep Geedha) in recent times. Kalyani mentally takes stock of these situations as she tries settling into a new life with her father.
Fri, December 19 2025
In his sophomore venture, Daayam (Inheritance), Prasanth Vijay tiptoes gently and noiselessly into the inner world of a girl dealing with the premature death of her mother. The result is a subtle, mellow study of bereavement and its upshots. The independent Malayalam-language film makes a sharp departure from the conventions of the coming-of-age genre. It uses the muted and delicate narrative approach of the kind that marked the director’s critically acclaimed 2017 debut, The Summer of Miracles.
Fri, December 19 2025
Grief does not always arrive as a torrent. Sometimes, it seeps in ever so slowly, evoked by things which used to be mundane till a few days ago. In Prasanth Vijay’s film Daayam (Inheritance), being screened in the Malayalam Cinema Today section of the 28th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK), an old voice note from her deceased mother about some daily chores brings 17-year old Kalyani (Aathira Rajeev) to tears.
Pharma
Drama, Family (Malayalam)
A young medical representative struggles against the pharma game, masters it and eventually fights against it.
Cast:
Nivin Pauly, Veena Nandakumar, Rajit Kapoor, Narain, Shruti Ramachandran, Binu Pappu, Muthumani Somasundaran, Aalekh Kapoor, Aswathy Manoharan, Sruthi Jayan
Director:
P. R. Arun
Writer:
P. R. Arun
Sun, December 21 2025
Nivin Pauly delivered the only and greatest comeback of the week. A character in the film calls him the Comeback King and by the end of the show, you realise why. Pharma, being his foray into the OTT space, brought back memories of the films that the actor nailed in the past. While the past few years have seen fewer films and fewer hits, it feels like a huge relief to see him having so much control over his craft in PR Arun’s Pharma. The eight-episode series, streaming on JioHotstar, is a delightful thriller, though with minor shortcomings.
Fri, December 19 2025
There’s something about PR Arun’s Pharma that takes you back to the whistleblower dramas of the 90s. Although it’s set in the dubious world of pharma and the corrupt practices there in the late 2000s, it recalls films like The Firm and The Street Lawyer, both based on John Grisham novels, in the way it takes an insider’s efforts to redeem himself for a major corporation to be taught a lesson. The arc of Pharma too is familiar and predictable but through its lead actor Nivin Pauly, one can sense the earnestness with which the series was written, especially when it handles a subject that requires patience to understand. By placing this subject within the realm of an experimental drug meant to be consumed by pregnant women, the importance of its message outshines the way it tries to say it.
Cast:
Madhuri Dixit
Director:
Nagesh Kukunoor
Writer:
Nagesh Kukunoor, Rohit G. Banawlikar
Sat, December 20 2025
A serial killer is on the loose in Mumbai, targeting his victims with a coil of lurid green rope, arranging them in different poses in different locations. A grizzled cop (Priyanshu Chatterjee) with a long memory remembers a much older series of killings 25 years back in Pune, whose perpetrator has been in prison for that long. Are these copycat killings? But who would know about those murders, carefully buried in dusty case files? Cue Mrs Deshpande (Madhuri Dixit) who is whistled up by the senior policeman to help them crack this case, whose victims seem to have no connection to each other other than a striking similarity in the modus operandi of their murders. She’s been far away from Mumbai, in Hyderabad central jail, being a model prisoner, suspiciously good, in fact.
Fri, December 19 2025
Nagesh Kukunoor’s had quite the year: an uncanny performance in Paatal Lok 2, the maker of the meticulously dramatised The Hunt: The Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Case, and now the director of a series in which Madhuri Dixit plays a serial killer. It’s no small deal, particularly because Dixit’s role in and as Mrs. Deshpande feels like a spiritual sequel to her role in Anjaam. This six-episode series is based on a French thriller called La Mante, but Dixit’s homemaker is very much the future of that vengeful widow who slaughtered all the evil men that ruined her life. As a character, Mrs. Deshpande is less personal and, in keeping with the times, more patriotic. The stillness about her borders on inertia. Her vague modus operandi revolves around finishing off societal villains like paedophiles, rapists and corrupt politicians. (Add film critics to her list this month). An ethical vigilante of sorts, the show opens with the middle-aged woman being summoned from Hyderabad jail when a copycat killer seems to be on the loose. The style of murder is hers, so she is the only one who can help an absurdly trustful police team to solve the case. A young inspector named Tejas Phadke (an awkward Siddharth Chandekar) leads the investigation, and he’s very suspicious of Mrs. Deshpande — who has renamed herself as Zeenat — and her chequered history. He takes a while to warm up to her in the safehouse. She loves cooking for everyone, but he wonders what plan she’s cooking.
Fri, December 19 2025
A body is staged leisurely before the murderer vanishes. It’s déjà vu for Mumbai’s Commissioner of Police Arun Khatri (Priyanshu Chatterjee) who dials the central jail in Hyderabad. Mrs. Seema Deshpande (Madhuri Dixit), the serial killer he had imprisoned twenty-five years ago, is still behind bars. Who’s the copycat killer who has patterned himself/herself on Mrs. Deshpande’s modus operandi?
Alaav
Drama (Hindi)
Alaav, is the story of Bhaveen Gossain, a 63-year-old son, taking care of Savitri, his ailing 95-year-old mother in their home nestled in a quiet suburb of New Delhi, India. Bhaveen rarely steps out of his house as he is completely devoted to looking after his mother. From waking up in the morning until going to sleep, Bhaveen is the sole caregiver for his mother, Savitri.
Cast:
Bhaveen Gossain, Savitri Gossain, Anita Kanwar, Jiji Bhattacharji, Pakhi Jain
Director:
Prabhash Chandra
Writer:
Prabhash Chandra
Fri, December 19 2025
There came a scene in Prabhash Chandra’s Alaav (which as the English title Hearth & Home) when my jaw dropped on the floor. A 60-something Bhaveen is helping his 90-something mother, Savitri, relieve herself. It’s the part of a caregiving film, where most filmmakers prefer implying it by either starting the scene before or after the said deed. But in Alaav, the camera (thanks to the dependable ingenuity of cinematographer Vikas Urs) remains strategically placed, straddling a pencil-thin ethical line – where on one side they could be accused of being voyeuristic and exploitative; on the other end, it could be held for trying to lessen the blow of a hard-hitting reality. Remaining true to its static, observational style – the scene went on for longer than I was ready for, making me shift in my seat uncomfortably. It’s only then did I recognise what Chandra was trying to highlight – the selflessness of it all. We hear truisms like ‘being of service’ to something bigger than us, but nothing quite tests it like when we take care of a loved one in a hopeless situation, and when everything is only steadily regressing.
Thu, December 4 2025
Life stands still and yet flows inexorably in Alaav – Hearth and Home, written and directed by Prabhash Chandra. The uncompromisingly austere film approximates the restrained tempo of existence when old age takes its toll on both the giver and recipient of geriatric care. With its meticulously composed frames and strikingly unhurried rhythm, Alaav delineates the weight of ageing and its repercussions on a 95-year-old woman and her sexagenarian son sheltered in a well-appointed Delhi home.
Bha Bha Ba
Adventure, Drama (Malayalam)
Cast:
Dileep, Vineeth Sreenivasan, Dhyan Sreenivasan, Mohanlal, Sandy, Saranya Ponvannan, Sidharth Bharathan, Balu Varghese, Redin Kingsley, Shameer Khan
Director:
Dhananjay Shankar
Writer:
Fahim Safar, Noorin Shereef
Fri, December 19 2025
Ever since directors like Karthik Subbaraj and Lokesh Kanagaraj made it socially acceptable for a film to be termed a “fanboy sambhavam”, we as the audience were aware that this sub-genre would eventually spread to all languages, catering to almost every fanbase. Dhananjay Shankar’s Bha Bha Ba is among Malayalam cinema’s most desperate attempts at cashing in on this cow and the film tries to do this by milking the fanbases of two of its major stars—Dileep (obviously) and Mohanlal.
Thu, December 18 2025
Bha Bha Ba, short for Bhayam, Bhakthi, Bahumanam (fear, devotion, respect), is billed as Dileep’s “great comeback” that he has been waiting for. From the trailer to the film’s promotional materials, the film is regarded as the actor’s biggest return to comedy, a genre that originally defined his career. With Mohanlal playing a cameo, will Bha Bha Ba help Dileep deliver the “comeback” that he’s hoping for? Keep reading to know what we feel.
Emily in Paris S05
Drama, Comedy (English)
New passions. New fashions. New Emily? A plucky American marketing whiz spreads her wings in life and love after landing her dream job in Paris.
Cast:
Lily Collins, Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu, Ashley Park, Lucas Bravo, Camille Razat, Samuel Arnold, Bruno Gouery
Thu, December 18 2025
The American fashionista Emily Cooper is back, and this time, she’s setting up base in Rome, Italy. Au revoir Paris? Not quite yet. The Netflix series Emily in Paris returns for a fifth season that once again puts our favourite bunch of Parisians through the ringer. There are hookups and breakups, goodbyes and hellos as the characters have some big life decisions to ponder. Created by Darren Star, the romantic comedy has settled in, only to reinvent itself yet again.
Nishaanchi 2
Drama, Crime (Hindi)
After another stint in jail, Tony finds that Rinku, his one true love and hope, has been taken by his brother Dabloo. This shocks him into reforming, but Ambika drags him back into crime, with Kamal on his trail. How Manjari gets to have the last laugh, with Tony, Ambika and Kamal at the forefront, forms the rest of the two-part gangster drama.
Cast:
Monika Panwar, Aaishvary Thackeray, Vedika Pinto, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Kumud Mishra, Raghav Juyal, Gaurav Singh, Saharsh Kumar Shukla, Prateek Pachori, Girish Sharma
Director:
Anurag Kashyap
Writer:
Prasoon Mishra, Ranjan Chandel, Anurag Kashyap
Thu, December 18 2025
Babloo Nishaanchi (Aaishvary Thackeray) is at the end of his rope. Recently released from prison, after a ten-year stint, he finds himself in freefall. A belated discovery about his twin brother and the woman he loved most sends him over the edge. Babloo fumes drunkenly by a pond. He screams into the void. Funnily, the void screams back — there’s a random man on the opposite embankment, mimicking and mocking our hero’s exertions. This scene has the Anurag Kashyap touch: impotent rage and self-pity undercut by absurdist humour.
Fri, November 28 2025
Mon, November 24 2025
Nishaanchi: Part 2 features arguably the best climax that Anurag Kashyap has ever orchestrated. We discuss the two-part experience as a whole, Kashyap’s modern update to old-school Bollywood tropes, and the magnetism of Monika Panwar’s Manjari. We also discuss the film’s broader themes of revenge, the stylistic influences, and welcome Kashyap’s long-awaited return to form.
Fallout S02
Action & Adventure, Drama (English)
The story of haves and have-nots in a world in which there’s almost nothing left to have. 200 years after the apocalypse, the gentle denizens of luxury fallout shelters are forced to return to the irradiated hellscape their ancestors left behind — and are shocked to discover an incredibly complex, gleefully weird, and highly violent universe waiting for them.
Cast:
Ella Purnell, Aaron Moten, Moisés Arias, Walton Goggins, Frances Turner
Wed, December 17 2025
Fallout first premiered alongside The Last of Us in 2024 and established itself as a worthy addition to the world of video game adaptations. Now, as it returns for its second season, the Amazon Prime Video game doesn’t waste time in setting up the universe anymore. It dives right into the next phase as the main characters are once again separated, off on personal quests to seek answers. The one exception is Lucy (Ella Purnell) and The Ghoul (Walton Goggins), who reluctantly team up. Their dynamic is what drives this exciting new instalment that shifts into second gear, with vast, unexplored locations, new characters, and more.
Sholay
Action (Hindi)
After his family is murdered by the notorious bandit Gabbar Singh, a former police officer enlists the services of two outlaws to capture him and seek revenge.
Cast:
Dharmendra, Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjeev Kumar, Amjad Khan, Hema Malini, Jaya Bachchan, Leela Mishra, Mac Mohan, Viju Khote, A.K. Hangal
Director:
Ramesh Sippy
Writer:
Salim Khan, Javed Akhtar
Mon, December 15 2025
What further encomium can one lavish upon a cult classic that has not merely entertained but profoundly enthralled three successive generations of devoted cinephiles? Little, indeed—save for the recognition that an evergreen classic endures not solely by virtue of the nostalgia that sustains it, but because certain monumental works of art, having already inscribed their place in history, stand as enduring exemplars of sublime creative achievement, etched forever into the world’s collective memory.
Saali Mohabbat
Drama (Hindi)
A small-town housewife, Smita, is devastated to find her husband and cousin dead. What happens when the local cop, Ratan, suspects her to be the one behind their murder?
Cast:
Radhika Apte, Divyendu Sharma, Anurag Kashyap, Anshumaan Pushkar, Sauraseni Maitra, Kusha Kapila, Sharat Saxena, Amrita Kumari, Aalekh Kapoor, Yash Sinha
Director:
Tisca Chopra
Writer:
Tisca Chopra, Sanjay Chopra, Namrata Shenoy
Sat, December 13 2025
A small-town woman, Kavita (Radhika Apte), feels out of place at a South Delhi party. It’s a rainy day; she looks at a tree outside the window. Her husband’s friends are snooty and patronising. He has a roving eye. She catches him making out with one of the guests. She then gathers the high-society gang around her and starts to narrate a story in an earthy accent that makes them smirk. But the smirks don’t last long. Her “fiction” revolves around a housewife named Smita (Apte), a previous version of herself that they don’t know about. It goes thus. When Smita’s provocative cousin Shalini (Sauraseni Maitra) visits, her loan-riddled husband Pankaj (Anshumaan Pushkar) falls for the younger woman and the two start a torrid affair in the house behind Smita’s back. That’s not all, Shalini two-times Pankaj with a crooked cop named Ratan (Divyenndu); she’s stringing along two horndogs because why not. Needless to say, a heartbroken Smita is not pleased. And when a seemingly docile homemaker trapped in a setting full of predators and cheaters is not pleased, darkness is always around the corner.
Sat, December 13 2025
Love, lust and betrayal were the key elements of Chutney, the short film Tisca Chopra had produced back in 2016. Watching Saali Mohabbat reminded me strongly of that short– watch it if you haven’t– written and directed by Jyoti Kapur Das, which had begged to be a full-length feature narrative in the way it peeled back the dark layers that hide behind a seemingly normal household in Ghaziabad. The arrival of a perky young thing creating ripples in a marriage is not a new idea, but Chutney refreshed it with an interesting slate of actors: Tisca herself in the lead as the toothy plain-faced woman with a sharp brain, accompanied by Adil Hussain and Rasika Dugal.