Khalifa: The Ruler
Crime, Action (Malayalam)
Aamir Ali, a notorious gold smuggling kingpin who inherited his multi-million dollar criminal enterprise from a lineage of gangsters, is drawn into a web of vengeance, legacy and power. (more…)
Guild Reviews by Film
7 Dogs
Action, Comedy (Arabic)
Interpol agent Khalid Al-Azzazi joins forces with Ghali Abu Dawood from the 7 Dogs crime syndicate to fight drug trafficking.
Cast:
Ahmed Ezz, Karim Abdel Aziz, Monica Bellucci, Nasser Al Qasabi, Sayed Ragab, Tara Emad, Giancarlo Esposito, Max Huang, Salman Khan, Sanjay Dutt
Director:
Adil El Arbi, Bilall Fallah
Writer:
Mohamed El Dabbah
Sat, August 22 2026
Sanjay Dutt chews the scenery, and Salman Khan counts his chickens as this Arabic action spectacle loses its vision in translation
What happens when you inject Hollywood blood into the veins of Arabic cinema? A cinematic coup that stakes a claim on cultural soft power. After headline-grabbing football acquisitions, Saudi Arabia seems to be aiming for global box office dominance by mounting a vanity project. Orchestrated by ‘Bad Boys’ Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, the Arabic blockbuster, 7 Dogs, lands on our shores in the form of an official Hindi dub.
Fri, August 21 2026
In a shack nestles Salman Khan as a small-time informer called Johar; in a bigger shack, Sanjay Dutt holds court as flamboyant goon Ranjit. They’re both big draws in the Middle-East, Salman being the bigger one, but their parts are nothing but glorified cameos.
A global cartel called 7 Dogs. A super-strong drug called Pink Lady. Good guys. Bad guys. And a billion-dollar budget. Make that billions. And there’s your Big Arabic Blockbuster, studded with international stars and locations, its India release buoyed by the presence of Salman Khan and Sanjay Dutt. I must confess that I went into the movie mostly to see what the two Bollywood superstars would do in a film like this one, whose plot-line resembles countless films they’ve been part of. Clearly, the Belgian-Moroccan director duo of two of the ‘Bad Boys’ capers– as well as a couple of episodes in the enjoyable series ‘Ms Marvel’– are capable of mounting films on scale, creating kinetic set-pieces with a high degree of entertainment.
Fri, August 21 2026
A cushy budget and a flashy international cast cannot pep up this by-the-numbers action flick shot in Saudi Arabia
A trivia question for the ages: what film has Monica Bellucci, Giancarlo Esposito, Martin Lawrence, Salman Khan and Sanjay Dutt in its cast? The answer is 7 Dogs, a Saudi Arabian action thriller by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, the directing duo behind the last two Bad Boys movies. The internationalism is more or less the point. Admittedly, there’s always a cheap thrill in watching your favourite faces in a snazzy global production, complete with explosions and gunfights. It’s an old tradition across media. Think of it as the cinematic equivalent of an all-stars charity match — sans the charity.
Khalifa: The Ruler
Crime, Action (Malayalam)
Aamir Ali, a notorious gold smuggling kingpin who inherited his multi-million dollar criminal enterprise from a lineage of gangsters, is drawn into a web of vengeance, legacy and power.
Cast:
Prithviraj Sukumaran, Mohanlal, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Indrans, Shammi Thilakan, Malvika Sharma, Renji Panicker, Mohini, Sanju Sivaram, Anand Manmadhan
Director:
Vysakh
Writer:
Jinu Abraham
Sat, August 22 2026
The Prithviraj Sukumaran film works best when it breaks down the inner workings of a complicated “family business”, even if it feels familiar and comes undone in the last hour.
Director Vysakh has made some of Malayalam cinema’s biggest blockbusters, but he still doesn’t have a clue about how to handle romance. In a fairly straightforward first half hour of the film, you’d expect to understand the Ali family’s hierarchy and criminal legacy; Vysakh forces a “cute” love story between Prithviraj Sukumaran’s Aamir Ali and a girl named Fiza. There’s some background here about Aamir’s ailing grandpa and how he wants to see him get married as his dying wish, but you can smell the fluff from miles away.
Fri, August 21 2026
Director Vysakh's Khalifa, starring Prithviraj Sukumaran and Neil Nitin Mukesh, is a template masala entertainer that lacks heart and conviction. The film relies heavily on Prithviraj's swag rather than a compelling story.
Prithviraj Sukumaran needs a win, and Khalifa: The Ruler arrives at just the right — or perhaps the most crucial — moment. After Vilayath Buddha and I, Nobody failed to make a mark at the box office, all eyes are now on Vysakh’s action thriller to turn things around. But does Khalifa have what it takes to end Prithviraj’s box-office dry spell? Let’s find out! Khalifa opens with a grand wedding, after which the bride’s brother, Samad, is detained by the police. From there, the narrative unfolds around Aamir Ali (Prithviraj Sukumaran), who has taken refuge in London. With a warrant issued against him for murder and a notorious reputation as a gold smuggler, the film explores the circumstances that led Aamir to this point.
Thu, August 20 2026
Director Vysakh’s ‘Khalifa’, starring Prithviraj Sukumaran, suffers from an outdated story and a flat narrative, with even a cameo from a superstar failing to make up for its shortcomings
When a star plays a notorious smuggler, there has to be a compelling reason for him to become one. Vysakh’s Khalifa provides Aamir Ali (Prithviraj Sukumaran) a reason with some emotional pull. A one-liner for the film could be this: ‘a heart-rending story of a man who becomes a master gold smuggler to repay his honest father’s debts caused by corrupt politicians’. However, the narrative lacks the intended emotional pull or the expected thrills. The similarity to umpteen films released in the 1980s and 90s adds to the movie’s dullness.
Keu Bole Biplobi, Keu Bole Dakat
Drama, History, Action (Bengali)
A biopic of Ananta Singha. Some calls him dacoit, some calls him a rebellion. This adaptation gives the viewer a chance to know him as a whole, a person and as a revolutionary communist leader.
Cast:
Jeet, Tota Roy Chowdhury, Kaushik Sen, Rajatabha Dutta, Chandan Sen, Loknath Dey, Sreya Bhattacharya, Priyanka Sarkar, Rajat Ganguly, Shankar Chakraborty
Director:
Pathikrit Basu
Sat, August 22 2026
Pathikrit Basu’s biographical drama about Indian revolutionary Ananta Singh uses history as a crutch to give its superstar a free run
It’s easy to process the crushing familiarity of a movie like Keu Bole Biplobi Keu Bole Dakat (“Some call him a Revolutionary, some call him a Dacoit”). Mainstream Indian cinema has long run out of ways to stage populist fiction about swaggering vigilantes meting out their own versions of justice. So storytellers often choose the crutch of nonfiction. For instance, KBBKBD is a big fat superstar vehicle posing as a historical action drama. The figure it’s about — in this case, the controversial revolutionary Ananta Singh — is just a narrative vessel. The framework exists almost entirely so that Bengali superstar Jeet can flex his muscles as a Robin Hood-coded rebel and righteous superhero who fights for the oppressed in a broken system.
Dial 1975
Thriller, Drama (Hindi)
In 1975, India was declared in a state of emergency. This movie tells a story of that year and how the first mobile phone arrived to India.
Cast:
Kay Kay Menon, Kirti Kulhari, Pravessh Rana, Vishwanath Chatterjee
Director:
Navneet Behal, Vibhu Kashyap
Sat, August 22 2026
The Emergency-era thriller, starring Kay Kay Menon and revolving around the race to weaponise India’s first wireless phone is scattered, strange and disorienting at best
It’s not often you go into a film blind — and come out blinder. But Dial 1975 is that rare Hindi thriller. When you have an intriguing logline like “a gripping race to control India’s first wireless telephone takes place during the Emergency,” it takes some doing to make the furthest possible iteration of it. There were times I had to look up the premise again to make sure I wasn’t watching the wrong film. A semblance of a storyline pops up every now and then, and I can’t be sure, but it’s a pot-of-gold plot featuring an ex-soldier-turned-baddie (Kay Kay Menon), an ex-con-turned-goodie (Pravessh Rana), the goodie’s girlfriend (Kirti Kulhari), a bag full of cash (currency notes), missing tapes, a German guy with the precious invention, and a battle between government loyalists and rebel factions to procure said phone.
Fri, August 21 2026
Streaming on Waves OTT, directors Navneet Behal and Vibhu Kashyap bring a film seeing a delayed release of almost a decade, but still appears incomplete.
There is a long history of small-budget films that escaped the limitations of finance and showed the world what true innovation really is. Generations of filmmakers have relied on techniques indistinguishable from magic tricks to make up for budgetary constraints. Scores of these movies are now regarded as classics. Dial 1975, which dropped on the OTT platform Waves this week, isn’t one of them. The film features a trio of talented actors and traps them in a production so amateurish that it could be mistaken for a student project. The starting premise is familiar. It’s the Emergency (of the ‘70s) and civil rights have been greatly restricted by the administration of a prime minister, who, however, is never seen or heard in the film. It is up to the prime minister’s loyal aides to ensure that even the mere thought of rebellion is quelled before it can morph into something more damaging.
Fri, August 21 2026
इस फिल्म ‘डायल 1975’ की कहानी कुछ यूं है कि… यार, मैं न बता रहा कहानी। पूरी फिल्म देख ली, इत्ती लंबी और उलझी हुई कहानी है कि देखने में माथा खराब हो गया, अब बताने में भी होगा। एक काम कीजिए, खुद ही ट्रेलर में देख लीजिए, अगर वह भी समझ में आ जाए तो। हां तो, अब आपकी समझ में आ गया होगा कि… बताइए क्या समझ में आया? नहीं आया न कुछ? चलिए मैं कोशिश करता हूं। जून 1975 में तब की ताकतवर प्रधानमंत्री इंदिरा गांधी ने भारत में इमरजैंसी लगवा दी थी। उन दिनों हर तरफ नज़र रखी जा रही थी, फोन-शोन रिकॉर्ड हो रहे थे, ऐसे में एक फोन-कॉल रिकॉर्ड होता है कि जर्मनी से एक ब्रीफकेस आ रहा है जिसमें आने वाले ज़माने का एक यंत्र है। इसकी डील चार लाख रुपए में एक होटल में होगी। अब बहुत सारे लोग इस डील के आगे-पीछे घूम रहे हैं। किसी को उस कॉल-रिकॉर्डिंग की टेप चाहिए, किसी को वह ब्रीफकेस, किसी को चार लाख रुपए तो किसी और को कुछ और। इन सारी चाहतों को पूरा करने के लिए अलग-अलग लोग, अलग-अलग लोगों को ज़िम्मेदारी देते हैं और ये अलग-अलग लोग बहुत सारे अलग-अलग लोगों को मारे जा रहे हैं।
Blood Sacrifice
Drama, Crime, Mystery (Swedish)
Following the brutal murder of two police officers, a tenacious detective reluctantly joins forces with his estranged ex-cop father to catch the killer.
Cast:
Jakob Oftebro, Peter Andersson, Electra Hallman, Alexander Abdallah, Henrik Norlén, Lisette Pagler, Magnus Krepper, Irina Björklund, Anders Mossling, Anna Maria Käll
Director:
Kristoffer Nyholm
Writer:
Aron Levander, Emily Robson
Sat, August 22 2026
The series taps into the fissures within the Swedish policing systems.
Yet another crime thriller in the OTT space, but without a feeling of deja vu or excess of familiarity. Swedish series ‘Blodsoffer’, ‘Blood Sacrifice’ in English, by creator George Kay, the maker of heist drama ‘Lupin’, doesn’t just take you into the blood-soaked killings on the streets of Stockholm, but also into the minds of policemen. What happens when those whose job it is to provide security are the victims? Can they protect themselves? The five-part Netflix series opens with the macabre killing of two police officers. To begin with, we don’t see the dance of goriness. The fact that the killer murders with utmost bestiality is mentioned more than it is shown.
Clean Up Company
Comedy, Crime, Drama (English)
3 boys stumble upon an opportunity to make easy money by getting rid of dead bodies in a small city marred by gang wars. Things quickly take a turn for the worse and they end up neck deep in trouble fighting to survive.
Cast:
Ravi Kishan, Ajitesh Gupta, Jisshu Sengupta, Saswata Chatterjee, Vishal Jethwa, Amey Wagh
Sat, August 22 2026
The generic 8-episode series revolves around three bumbling friends who are hired to get rid of dead bodies in a lawless town
If I had a penny for every show trying to win a Mirzapur-lookalike contest, I’d have enough money to buy a streaming platform that bans men-and-gang-war shows with fake hinterland accents. Or maybe not. I’d probably have enough money to buy myself two beers after reviewing them. Blame inflation. This genre has begun to aim for second-screen viewing, which is strange, because it’s almost like the makers don’t really want you to be too invested but be just interested enough to notice the cast and hear the bullets. It gears into fourth-screen viewing at some points, but then there will be a plot twist that makes you get annoyed for not paying enough attention. It’s a troubling pattern across most Hindi shows of this ilk; Clean Up Company is another brick in this digitally erosive wall.
Novak Djoković: The Wolf in Winter
Documentary (English)
Explore the extraordinary journey of tennis GOAT Novak Djokovic, who began playing on the hardscrabble courts of Serbia and rose to become the most accomplished champion in the history of men's tennis.
Cast:
Novak Djokovic, Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, Rafael Nadal, Boris Becker, Mary Carillo
Director:
Jason Hehir
Sat, August 22 2026
A film on Novak Djokovic deserved to be more contentious and bold. Unfortunately, 'The Wolf in Winter' ends up mistiming the juicy points of a controversial lone wolf.
For the most part, Jason Hehir’s Novak Djokovic: The Wolf in Winter moves along expected lines, like any other sport-celebrity documentaries. The 39-year-old tennis icon talks about the early years, the turmoil of professional tennis as a junior, and his eventual ascent to stardom. The hostility from fans of the Federer-Nadal rivalry, who treated him as an unwelcome entity, as he dominated the 2010s. It’s still familiar territory for most tennis fans.
Fri, August 21 2026
Directed by Jason Hehir, who previously made Netflix’s viral 2020 sensation The Last Dance, the Djokovic documentary not only falls short in its efforts to capture the life and times of one of tennis’ most controversial stars, but it also fails as a piece of filmmaking.
It would be safe to surmise that if you want to stand a chance at beating Novak Djokovic, you play him in an empty stadium, or better yet, fill it with fans. The tennis star will be thrown off track by all the love! Djokovic, widely regarded as the “greatest tennis player in the sport’s history”, famously thrives under pressure. He weaponises the disdain that crowds often show him and turns it into fuel that has pushed him farther than any tennis player in history. He has now reached that stage in his career where a documentary can be made about him. But the one we’ve been presented with by Prime Video is hardly the tribute that the champion deserves.
Mutiny
Action, Thriller (English)
After witnessing his billionaire boss' murder and being framed for the crime, Cole Reed boards a cargo ship on a one-man crusade to avenge his boss' death only to discover an international conspiracy.
Cast:
Jason Statham, Annabelle Wallis, Roland Møller, Ramon Tikaram, Arnas Fedaravičius, Jason Wong, Adrian Lester, Chaneil Kular, Simon Kluth, Lee Charles
Director:
Jean-François Richet
Sat, August 22 2026
Jean-François Richet's film, starring Jason Statham, has some terse, gory action but not a lot to chew on in between
Jason Statham isn’t one to go a-wandering. In The Beekeeper (2024), he plays an ex-Marine out to avenge the death of his landlady. In his next film, A Working Man (2025), he’s an ex-Marine who rescues his employers’ kidnapped daughter. In Shelter (2026), he’s an ex-government assassin who protects the daughter of an old friend. And in his latest, Mutiny, he plays an ex-Marine out to avenge the death of his employer. The way you can tell them apart is The Beekeeper has a lot of bee-related puns, A Working Man is written by Sylvester Stallone, Shelter is set in the Scottish Hebrides, and Mutiny takes place on a boat.
Fri, August 21 2026
Directed by Jean-François Richet, Mutiny races along like a speedboat across 95 breathless minutes, but there’s little that sets it apart from the dozens of other action movies that Statham churns out on an annual basis. Indeed, Mutiny is a lot like an extended level of a Hitman video game, played by a child who has no interest in stealth, but would rather complete the mission with brute force.
A week after Emraan Hashmi utilised visa-free entry privileges in Thailand (in last week’s Bollywood release Awarapan 2), it’s Jason Statham’s turn. What’s more unexpected is that Statham’s new movie, Mutiny, has essentially the same plot as that of Awarapan 2 — minus the songs of yearning, of course. Both films involve unpredictable scions of Bangkok businessmen, women and children in need of rescuing and a spunky heroine who teams up with the protagonist. Unfortunately for Statham, his new film is as disposable as its Bollywood counterpart. Directed by Jean-François Richet, Mutiny races along like a speedboat across 95 breathless minutes, but there’s little that sets it apart from the dozens of other action movies that Statham churns out on an annual basis.
Fri, August 21 2026
Jason Statham is back with Mutiny, another action film that gives him exactly the kind of role his fans expect. Statham plays Cole Reed, a former Special Forces operative framed for his billionaire boss's murder — and his search for the truth leads to a massive ship and a much bigger conspiracy.
Jason Statham is back with Mutiny, another action film that gives him exactly the kind of role his fans expect from him. Statham plays Cole Reed, a former Special Forces operative who is now working in private security. His billionaire boss is murdered and Cole is quickly made the prime suspect. He knows he has been framed and sets out to find the people responsible. His search eventually takes him to a massive ship, where he discovers that the murder is connected to a much bigger conspiracy. The story is familiar, and the film doesn’t really try to reinvent the action genre. There is a lot of chasing, fighting and shooting, with Statham moving from one dangerous situation to another.
One Night Only
Comedy, Romance (English)
Two love-starved strangers crash into each other on the one night of the year when single people are allowed to have sex.
Cast:
Monica Barbaro, Callum Turner, Maya Hawke, King Princess, Molly Ringwald, LeVar Burton, Charlie Gillespie, Quintessa Swindell, Mateo Ray Garcia, Okieriete Onaodowan
Director:
Will Gluck
Writer:
Travis Braun
Fri, August 21 2026
Sparks indeed fly and the film becomes an equal parts comedy as the desperate search for consummation leads Monica Barbaro and Callum Turner into several sticky situations.
In One Night Only, Allie (Monica Barbaro) says it’s the “build-up” that is the best part of sex for her. Owen (Callum Turner) says it’s the “after”. Quite like those predictable responses, this latest film by Will Gluck (with other bawdy modern romances behind him, such as Anyone But You, Friends with Benefits, Easy A) is a nice-enough rom-com that pretends very hard to be somewhat radical. And while it is beating about the bush, the film’s “build-up” — despite all the kissing and petting and lovemaking going on around the two leads — is hardly a turn-on. While the “after” is not the movie’s concern.
Modha Rathri
Romance, Comedy (Tamil)
Two strangers are brought together at an unusual wedding where, in one night, too many surprises unfold and several lies are told, spiraling into chaos that changes everything.
Cast:
Rishikanth, Anishma Anilkumar, Bagavathi Perumal, Chetan, Abdool Lee, A. Venkatesh, Sangeetha Balan, Shelly Kishore, Karthikeyan DK, Banupriya
Director:
Raja Karuppasamy
Writer:
Raja Karuppasamy
Fri, August 21 2026
Ameer Log
Comedy, Drama (Telugu)
Three carefree friends from a bustling Hyderabad basti spend their days wandering narrow lanes, sharing plates of biryani, and dreaming of a better life. When an old cook's secret recipe brings unexpected success their way, they must choose between fleeting fame and the enduring value of friendship, memories, and the taste of home.
Cast:
Hari Munnangi, Sasidhar Kocharlakota, Manoj Aavula, Vedha Jalandharr, Ravan Nitturu, Sai Yogi, Kommidi Vishwender Reddy, Pawon Ramesh
Director:
Ramana Reddy Soma
Fri, August 21 2026
Director Ramana Reddy Soma paints a vivid portrait of Hyderabad’s cultural landscape in this coming-of-age tale
Many films get caught up trying too hard to make a point. They are too eager to please, rather than to make the audience feel. The main intention of the Telugu indie filmAmeer Log is to let viewers soak in the Hyderabadi way of life. A coming-of-age tale of three aimless friends in a slum serves as the base to capture the identity of a city through its language, humour, food and brotherhood. Ameer Log thrives in its irreverent, laidback setting. Three men in their 20s living in the vicinity of Golconda — Srinu, Mallesh and Rafique — are unaffected by familial pressures to fend for themselves. They are content sipping a dozen cups of chai a day, enjoying a good game of cricket, picking up petty fights with rival gangs and meeting their chacha (Vishwender Reddy Kommidi) on the street to indulge in daily gossip.
Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie
Animation, Adventure, Family, Fantasy, Comedy (English)
The Paw Patrol lands on a mysterious dinosaur island after a storm, where they meet Rex, a stranded pup. When Humdinger's reckless mining triggers a volcano, the team faces their biggest rescue mission yet to save the island.
Cast:
Carter Young, Mckenna Grace, Terry Crews, Meredith MacNeill, Ron Pardo, Jennifer Hudson, Hayden Chemberlen, Fortune Feimster, Jameela Jamil, Rain Janjua
Director:
Cal Brunker
Fri, August 21 2026
मशहूर टीवी सीरीज 'पॉ पेट्रोल' पर आधारित फिल्म सीरीज और 'पॉ पेट्रोल: द माइटी मूवी’ का सीक्वल 'पॉ पेट्रोल: द डाइनो मूवी' शुक्रवार, 21 सितंबर को रिलीज हो गई है
हाल ही में बच्चों और उनके डॉगी के रिश्ते, दोस्ती और हिम्मत की प्यारी सी इमोशनल हिंदी फिल्म ‘ओह माय डॉग’ ने लोगों का दिल जीता। वहीं, अब पपीज के साहस भरे कारनामे वाली हॉलीवुड की चर्चित एनिमेशन फ्रेंचाइजी ‘पॉ पेट्रोल: द डाइनो मूवी’ भी एंटरटेन करने आ पहुंची है। मशहूर टीवी सीरीज ‘पॉ पेट्रोल’ पर आधारित यह फिल्म 2023 में आई ‘पॉ पेट्रोल: द माइटी मूवी’ का सीक्वल है, जो बच्चों को एक मजेदार रोमांचक राइड पर ले जाने के साथ-साथ दोस्ती निभाने, दृढ़ता और अपने भीतर की ताकत पहचानने की सीख देती है।