Satluj
Crime, Drama, History (Hindi)
Triggered by the search for his missing aunt, human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra takes on a broken system in a courageous fight to uncover the conspiracy behind thousands of disappearances and extrajudicial killings during the nadir of Punjab’s period (more…)
Operation Safed Sagar
Drama (Hindi)
A squadron of Indian Air Force pilots push beyond their limits to attempt a daring and dangerous mission. (more…)
Musafir Cafe
Drama (Hindi)
Chander feels an undeniable connection with Sudha. Years later, he builds a new life in the hills with Preeti, but memories of the past linger. (more…)
Guild Reviews by Film
Operation Safed Sagar
Drama (Hindi)
A squadron of Indian Air Force pilots push beyond their limits to attempt a daring and dangerous mission.
Cast:
Dia Mirza, Jimmy Shergill, Siddharth, Abhay Verma, Mihir Ahuja, Taaruk Raina, Arnav Bhasin, Prajakta Koli, Adil Hussain, Vinay Pathak
Director:
Oni Sen
Sat, August 8 2026
‘Operation Safed Sagar’ occasionally drags and doesn't shun its propaganda duties. But it's a rare war narrative that keeps a cool head and focuses on strategy, processes and individual skill
Two months into the Kargil War, Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif determines to see with his eyes what his heart already suspects: that they’re losing the battle. At Skardu base, he’s received by Maj Gen Javed Hassan, who invites him to the officer’s mess for a briefing. Sharif fixes with a stare and says, “The truth of democracy is revealed at the polling booth, and the reality of war in the hospital.” The condition of the wounded and general despondency in the hospital tent tells him all he needs to know, prompting a rare act of rebellion and a covert trip to Washington.
Sat, August 8 2026
War dramas can be tricky. They can either become overly jingoistic or simply tell the story with honesty. Operation Safed Sagar belongs firmly in the second category. The six-part Netflix series takes us back to the late 1990s, when India and Pakistan had just held peace talks, but tensions between the two nuclear neighbours were simmering beneath the surface. The makers cleverly use archival footage to establish the political atmosphere of the time and remind us how quickly hope turned into conflict. The series is slick and stylish, yet never loses its rawness or authenticity. It stays focused on one story, the crucial role played by the Indian Air Force’s Golden Arrows Squadron during the Kargil War. Thankfully, it doesn’t get distracted by unnecessary subplots or melodrama.
Fri, August 7 2026
Inspired by the Indian Air Force’s operation in Kargil during the 1999 war with Pakistan, the series has been directed by Oni Sen and boasts of a star cast that includes Jimmy Sheirgill, Siddharth, Dia Mirza and Prajakta Koli, among others.
Like so many visual effects-heavy productions from India, Netflix’s Operation Safed Sagar — inspired by the Indian Air Force’s operation in Kargil during the 1999 India-Pakistan war — sacrifices human drama in favour of flashy computer-generated sequences. These action scenes are obviously challenging for under-pressure VFX artists working on tight deadlines, but they’re also extremely difficult to perform for actors whose faces are concealed behind masks. As visual effects have advanced in recent years, there has been an increase in the production of aerial warfare movies in India. But instead of using these newly available tools to enhance the storytelling, these movies appear to have relied on embellishments to conceal the shortcomings in scripts.
The Last House
Horror, Science Fiction, Thriller (English)
A family suddenly sealed inside their home must work together to survive against dwindling resources and the ominous threat keeping them trapped.
Cast:
Greta Lee, Wagner Moura, Riley Chung, Noah Alexander Sosnowski, Emma Ho, Gabriel Barbosa, Arden Cho, Audrey Anderson, Sid Edwards, Eveline Reynolds-Boison
Director:
Louis Leterrier
Writer:
Matthew Robinson
Fri, August 7 2026
Contrary to its stated purpose of instilling hope, the film, directed by Louis Leterrier and starring Greta Lee and Wagner Moura in lead roles, reveals itself as quite a distressing harbinger of the future.
What if the Covid-19 lockdown never ended? What if the world’s entire population was forever imprisoned in their homes, with family members as their cellmates? What would happen after three weeks, three months, or three years? Netflix’s new original movie, The Last House, doesn’t take this admittedly intriguing premise to its potential. What if the Covid-19 lockdown never ended? What if the world’s entire population was forever imprisoned in their homes, with family members as their cellmates? What would happen after three weeks, three months, or three years? Netflix’s new original movie, The Last House, doesn’t take this admittedly intriguing premise to its potential.
Vadhandhi S02
Mystery, Crime, Drama (Tamil)
Vivek, a diligent cop, takes charge of the investigation of the murder of a beautiful young girl, Velonie. The rumours about her that spring up post her death threatens to irrevocably damage Velonie's image, Vivek must wade through a web of half-truths and confusing leads to solve the case.
Cast:
M. Sasikumar, Anagha, Aparna Das, Vivek Prasanna, Revathy Sharma, Arjun Nandhakumar
Director:
Andrew Louis
Writer:
Andrew Louis
Fri, August 7 2026
Director Andrew Louis' Vadhandhi Season 2, starring Sasikumar, Yashwanth, Vivek Prasanna, Anagha, Aparna Das and Revathi Sharma, begins as an engrossing investigative thriller but loses momentum in the middle before redeeming itself with a satisfying climax.
What starts as the foundation work for an eight-lane highway soon turns into a politically sensitive investigation when a human skeleton is unearthed at the construction site. A punishment posting brings police sub-inspector Moosa Raaza (Sasikumar) to Madurai, where he is entrusted with solving the high-profile case. As Raaza begins piecing together the mystery, the investigation leads him to Mani (Yashwanth), whose past gradually reveals the truth behind the decades-old crime. Although Vadhandhi Season 2 carries forward the franchise name, it tells a completely independent story. Unlike the first season starring SJ Suryah, this one does not require any prior knowledge, making it an easy watch for everyone.
Fri, August 7 2026
The show has a dry texture as it moves from evidence to evidence, building a case. You want to slip into the world even as it is kept at an arm’s length with its showy camerawork and literal dialogue.
In the second season of Vadhandhi, M Sasikumar, yet again, takes up the mantle of the “nice guy”—stiff kindness and earnest intention buoying his character through narrative pretzels. Here, he plays Moosa Raaza, a Muslim Investigating Officer (IO) in Madurai—a punishment posting. He cooks, he is kind, he is deeply religious. A namazi who gets to his knees at each of the five bends of the day—in a court, at the police station—his faith is expressed through actions that dot the show’s landscape. He vowed not to shave his beard after coming back from Hajj, in the hopes of his wife conceiving. This rankles his superiors, who think the beard goes against their decorum. He fights them in the court and wins. His wife gets pregnant and is nursing the unborn child elsewhere. These fights and systemic traumas soon recede into the background as the central plot kicks in. Being a Muslim character does not serve any narrative provocation. Instead, two skeletons found when a mound is dug up to build a highway usher in Moosa’s character arc as he is brought in to investigate. He has the full support of his superior SP Rathika (Anagha Maruthora), who not only trusts his intuitions, but takes responsibility every time it backfires.
Ted Lasso S04
Drama, Comedy (English)
Ted Lasso, an American football coach, moves to England when he's hired to manage a soccer team—despite having no experience. With cynical players and a doubtful town, will he get them to see the Ted Lasso Way?
Cast:
Jason Sudeikis, Hannah Waddingham, Jeremy Swift, Brett Goldstein, Brendan Hunt, Juno Temple, Tanya Reynolds
Wed, August 5 2026
The Emmy Award-winning comedy already said farewell in 2023; now it reverses the previous season as coach Lasso returns to England for a new team.
Apple TV’s biggest comedy, Ted Lasso, was supposed to end its run on a high after a pesky third season in 2023. Originally developed from a sketch comedy starring Jason Sudeikis about an American with no clue about football, the character Ted Lasso became a beloved TV icon. The first season of Ted Lasso was perfect in almost every way, and the latter seasons expanded on the show by trying to add depth to its characters. In doing so, it undid much of what made the show great in the first place. Now, three years after Ted goes back to Kansas City, his former boss Rebecca Walton (Hannah Waddingham) brings him back to AFC Richmond, but for another team.
Unmadham
Thriller (Malayalam)
A police constable reopens a long-forgotten case and experiences an unsettling world.
Cast:
Kunchacko Boban, Lijomol Jose, Raina Radhakrishnan, Gokulan, Vigneshwar Suresh, Siddique, Kottayam Nazeer, Arun, Unni Lalu, Sudheesh
Director:
Kiran Das
Writer:
Shahi Kabir
Mon, August 3 2026
Spider-Man: Brand New Day
Science Fiction, Action, Adventure (English)
Fighting crime full-time as Spider-Man in a world that doesn't remember him—and the pressure of seeing his old friends move on without him—sparks a change in Peter Parker he may not have the power to control. But that transformation might also be the only thing that can stop a shocking new threat to the city and those he loves - a powerful villain no one can even see.
Cast:
Tom Holland, Zendaya, Sadie Sink, Jacob Batalon, Jon Bernthal, Tramell Tillman, Michael Mando, Mark Ruffalo, Liza Colón-Zayas, Marvin Jones III
Director:
Destin Daniel Cretton
Writer:
Erik Sommers, Chris McKenna
Mon, August 3 2026
Sat, August 1 2026
Sat, August 1 2026
It may be a brand-new day in Spider-Man’s life, but he is still doing more or less what he has always done—swinging off buildings, fighting crime, nursing a broken heart and grappling with an identity crisis. The last two may be relatively new, but the core remains unchanged. Marvel Studios entrusted Destin Daniel Cretton, the director of the remarkable indie Short Term 12 (2013), with bringing a more human touch to the web-slinger, and that is perhaps the film’s only real novelty.
Satluj
Crime, Drama, History (Hindi)
Triggered by the search for his missing aunt, human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra takes on a broken system in a courageous fight to uncover the conspiracy behind thousands of disappearances and extrajudicial killings during the nadir of Punjab’s period of insurgency.
Cast:
Diljit Dosanjh, Arjun Rampal, Suvinder Vicky, Geetika Vidya, Kanwaljit Singh, Saurabh Sachdeva, Jagjeet Sandhu, Geeta Agrawal Sharma, Amit Dhawan, Vikas Mohla
Director:
Honey Trehan
Writer:
Utsav Maitra, Niren Bhatt, Honey Trehan
Fri, July 31 2026
Wed, July 8 2026
Mon, July 6 2026
Honey Trehan's film, which was taken down within days of release, is a troubling yet essential account of state crackdown during the Punjab insurgency
“Hisaab toh Punjab ka hai hi complicated (Punjab has a complex history),” says Arjun Rampal’s CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) officer and the film’s narrator in Honey Trehan’s profoundly relevant Satluj. The director is in no mood to shy away from the state’s turbulent past or let the wrongdoers off the hook in this drama that has seen its share of trouble with the censors. Much like its real-life protagonist Jaswant Singh Khalra (played by Diljit Dosanjh), a human rights activist, Trehan has been resolute in his mission, refusing to flinch to the powers that be—in this case the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). His persistence paid off as Satluj, formerly titled ‘Punjab ’95’, finally released on ZEE5 in the iteration its creator wanted—though only briefly.
Bhai Tera Star Hai
Comedy (Hindi)
Cast:
Raghav Juyal, Sanjay Kapoor, Niharika NM, Vikalp Mehta, Barkha Singh, Vivan Bhatena, Niki Aneja Walia, Parvathy Omanakuttan, Chandan Roy Sanyal, Tina Desai
Director:
Vivek B Agrawal
Writer:
Vivek B Agrawal, Sudipto Sarkar
Fri, July 31 2026
The Raghav Juyal-starrer isn’t the madcap it aspires to be
The good news is ‘Bhai Tera Star Hai’ is not your regular underdog story of an upstart reaching for the stars, even though the opening song would have you believe so. The not-so-good news, however, is that the Raghav Juyal-starrer isn’t the madcap it aspires to be. Director Vivek B Agrawal and co-writer Sudipto Sarkar do try not to follow the beaten path, but that by itself isn’t enough. The moment Sanjay Kapoor appears as bar owner Fatty, who doubles up as a betting don, you know the makers are aiming for the experimental touch. And the very second you see dialogues popping up on the screen as comic book graphics, you expect an innovative idea.
Thu, July 30 2026
Raghav Juyal stars as a struggling actor in a struggling comedy that turns us into struggling viewers
Movies can be forgettable for many reasons — objectively bad, boring, self-indulgent, long, unfunny, silly maybe. But Bhai Tera Star Hai is memorable for how forgettable it is. It is aggressively high on film-making and random chaos, like a dog on a deadly sugar rush after wolfing down hash brownies by mistake. I went in blind (my fault), and of all the things I expected it to be, the actual movie has absolutely nothing to do with the title. Given that it stars Raghav Juyal, you’d imagine this might be a high-pitched comedy that extends his scene-stealing Ba**ds of Bollywood performance and reframes him as the spoofy protagonist. But no. Not even close. Juyal is not only wasted, he is reduced to a hammy mess in a peculiar production that defies labels.
The Devil's Mouth
Horror, Thriller (English)
A group of college friends' Thailand adventure turns deadly when they become trapped in submerged caves with a dangerous predator. As oxygen runs low, past conflicts emerge in their desperate fight for survival.
Cast:
Kathryn Newton, Lana Condor, Nico Hiraga, Gavin Casalegno, Tommi Rose, Tayme Thapthimthong, Sahajak Boonthanakit, Harrison Luna
Director:
Jeff Wadlow
Writer:
Aja Gabel, Myung Joh Wesner, Jeff Wadlow
Fri, July 31 2026
Directed by Jeff Wadlow — who has significant experience in the slasher genre, having made movies such as Cry Wolf and Truth or Dare — The Devil's Mouth, much like its protagonists, loses its way and begins going around in circles.
What if the endlessly affable characters of Manjummel Boys (a 2024 Malayalam survival thriller) were constantly bickering, entitled 20-somethings instead? Chances are, you’d begin to wish that the cave they’re trapped in swallows them whole before rescue services could be alerted. This is the central problem with The Devil’s Mouth, the new survival horror movie on Prime Video. Instead of rooting for its protagonists to make their way out of the mess they’re in, you kinda-sorta-maybe start rooting for their adversary — a lost bull shark in basically the same predicament as they are. Both parties cross streams one day after a series of events that are too boring to get into here.
The Legend of Karna
Animation, Action & Adventure, Drama (Hindi)
A warrior from the Mahabharata who is born to Kunti and the Sun God Surya but raised in a charioteer’s household. He possesses the gift of bow mastery that rivals the greatest warriors of his age, compelling him to enter a grand tournament usually reserved only for kings and princes, altering the course of an empire forever.
Fri, July 31 2026
A retelling of the Mahabharata from the warrior Karna’s perspective, the series has been created by Sharad Devarajan and Jeevan J. Kang, but the characters are two-dimensional, and the philosophical rumination integral to the text is dispensed in sound bytes ready-made for reels.
The fundamental issue with adapting mythological epics in India is that there’s very little adaptation going on, avoiding straying too far from the source. But the issues with SonyLIV’s new animated series, The Legend of Karna, are twofold. Not only does the show struggle to find anything new to say about one of the greatest stories ever told, the Mahabharata, but it also can’t decide whom it is targeting. Too verbose for children and too simplistic for adults, The Legend of Karna ultimately finds itself in no man’s land, fighting a war that it was always going to lose. The irony. A retelling of the Mahabharata from the warrior Karna’s perspective, the series has been created by Sharad Devarajan and Jeevan J. Kang, with none other than Anup Soni, of “Saavdhan Rahein, Satark Rahein” fame, voicing the titular character. The Legend of Karna, to its great misfortune, finds itself sandwiched between Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey and the upcoming two-part Ramayana starring Ranbir Kapoor. Needless to say, it cannot compete with either of those projects in terms of production values or scope. There was, however, an opportunity to present a more internal take, especially since the writers were under no burden to flesh out the scores of characters in the Mahabharata.
The Bombing of Pan Am 103
Drama, Crime (English)
On December 21, 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over the small Scottish town of Lockerbie, killing 270 people. What followed was the largest murder investigation in the history of Scottish policing, into the deadliest act of terrorism on British soil.
Cast:
Connor Swindells, Patrick J. Adams, Tony Curran, Eddie Marsan, Phyllis Logan, Lauren Lyle, Merritt Wever
Director:
Michael Keillor
Thu, July 30 2026
The six-part British series, created by Jonathan Lee, follows the crash and investigation of Pan Am Flight 103, which was downed in Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988
The British series The Bombing Of Pan Am 103, out now on Netflix, assembles a solid cast of actors from both sides of the pond in a compelling drama that aims to cover it all. However, in doing so, the limited series struggles to find a voice and comes into its own in the climax as it shows the legal fight for justice. The emotional series, though dramatised, follows the incident from takeoff to the international courtrooms where two men were finally held accountable for the plane’s bombing. Creator and writer Jonathan Lee finds it hard to gain a foothold from the beginning, and the sombre series remains flat from thereon.
Musafir Cafe
Drama (Hindi)
Chander feels an undeniable connection with Sudha. Years later, he builds a new life in the hills with Preeti, but memories of the past linger.
Cast:
Vikrant Massey, Vedika Pinto, Mahima Makwana, Adil Hussain, Rajeev Siddhartha, Anubha Fatehpuria, Loveleen Mishra, Sadiya Siddiqui
Director:
Ruchir Arun
Writer:
Sharanya Rajgopal
Tue, July 28 2026
After trudging along cliches of the will they/won’t they rom-com, Musafir Cafe becomes the strongest version of itself in the final two episodes.
Eventually, Sharanya Rajgopal’s Musafir Cafe settles into the cosiness of a novel found in a railway station bookstall. Those unintimidating 200-page paperbacks, which one buys for an overnight journey. Here, it happens in the seventh episode of this eight-episode series. Sudha (Vedika Pinto) is a pretty, impulsive, recklessly-ambitious girl from Bhopal – a version of a metropolitan idea of a small-town firebrand. The kind who discovered ‘Carpe Diem’ in her adolescence and never looked back. She has a job offer from Mumbai, which she reluctantly accepts.
Sat, July 25 2026
Musafir Cafe, the new show on Netflix, is refreshing and real. Organic chemistry among the trio, strong portrayal of urban women balancing career and family, and earnest performances from Massey, Pinto, and Makwana make this a must watch.
Vikrant Massey’s Musafir Cafe, a slow romance drama, comes at a time when there is anger on the streets of India and spy thrillers and murder mysteries are dominating screens- big and small. The eight-part series, produced by Massey, who also plays the lead in the show, takes a practical approach to modern-day relationships, where love alone is not enough to make a relationship work. It reiterates that timing is everything, and that two right people can drift apart if the timing is not right. Created and written by Sharanya Rajgopal and based on Divya Prakash Dubey’s novel of the same name, Musafir Cafe is refreshing, real and breaks the clutter of action thrillers that have been releasing of late.
Sat, July 25 2026
Vikrant Massey as Chander tries his best to be believable, and he really does come close to it. Mahima Makwana as the steady third wheel is commendable too.
A three-way modern romance set in a small town. That’s the pitchline of Musafir Cafe, based on a novel of the same name by Divya Prakash Dubey, created by Sharanya Rajgopal and directed by Ruchir Arun, and the eight-part show takes the memo very seriously indeed. Chander and Sudha — someone here is evidently a fan of Dharamveer Bharati’s classic novel of the same name — meet and ignite in Bhopal. Having quit his software job in the US, he works in a dull government office, nursing a dream of opening his own cafe in the hills, while meeting suitable girls with a view to marriage.