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Image of scene from the film Novak Djoković: The Wolf in Winter
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


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Tatsam Mukherjee | The Wire

Can’t Get to the Bottom of Its Subject’s Combative Complexity

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.

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Rohan Naahar | Independent Film Critic writing for The Federal

Prime Video docu on tennis legend hardly the tribute he deserves

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.

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Image of scene from the film Mutiny
FCG Rating for the film Mutiny: 55/100
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


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Uday Bhatia | Mint Lounge

Actioner offers familiar Statham tricks, but on a boat

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.

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Rohan Naahar | Independent Film Critic writing for The Federal

New Jason Statham action film leaves audience with the illusion of action

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.

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Rohit Khilnani | Bollywood Hungama writing for The Film World

A decent, entertaining action film — but nothing we haven't seen before from Jason Statham.

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.

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Image of scene from the film One Night Only
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


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Shalini Langer | Indian Express

A nice-enough rom-com that aims to be radical

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.

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Image of scene from the film Modha Rathri
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


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Avinash Ramachandran | The New Indian Express

Fri, August 21 2026

Image of scene from the film Ameer Log
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


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Srivathsan Nadadhur | Independent Film Critic

A fun bromance laced with Hyderabadi humour

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.

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Image of scene from the film Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie
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


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Upma Singh | Navbharat Times

प्‍यारे पपीज की रोमांचक फिल्‍म, दोस्ती और साहस भरे कारनामों में सीख भी

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।

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Image of scene from the film Batwara 1947
FCG Rating for the film Batwara 1947: 54/100
Batwara 1947

Action, Drama, War (Hindi)

The story of an elderly Hindu woman who refuses to leave her ancestral home in Lahore, only to have a Muslim refugee family from Lucknow allotted to her house following the events of the 1947 Partition of India and Pakistan.

Cast: Sunny Deol, Preity Zinta, Shabana Azmi, Ali Fazal, Karan Deol, Abhimanyu Singh, Kanikka Kapur, Khushi Hajare, Mithun Chakraborty, Mona Singh
Director: Rajkumar Santoshi


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Stutee Ghosh | Independent Film Critic writing for The Statesman

Despite its execution flaws, it deserves a watch for its brave messaging and noble intent.

Thu, August 20 2026

Do we really need to see another film on Partition? Especially one that comes right on the heels of Main WapisAaunga? Yours truly certainly had her doubts. After all, it’s not the first time Sunny Deol has crossed over to Pakistan. Who could ever forget the jatt driving the truck in Gadar? What was he going to do this time? Fortunately, all questions are answered and all doubts assuaged after watching Batwara 1947. To say that we “enjoy” the film feels perfectly fine as a sentence.However in the context of a movie dealing with Partitionthe word becomes problematic. How can anyone truly “enjoy” a film that spotlights the most painful chapter of our history? How do we grasp the enormity of a tragedy where millions were uprooted and forced to leave overnight leaving behind scars that remain raw to this day?

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Suhani Singh | India Today

How Sunny Deol's 'Batwara 1947' slips on soap opera-like storytelling

Mon, August 17 2026

Filmmaker Rajkumar Santoshi takes the road less travelled, but the crusade for inclusivity loses potency to in-your-face treatment and hammy performances

The first dialogues of period drama Batwara 1947 resonate with the mood of the nation at present. A crowd chants ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ on the eve of Independence. Sunny Deol’s Sikander Mirza, a factory owner in Meerut, is enthused, distributing sweets and decorating the neighbourhood to celebrate the occasion. His is the Nehru jacket-wearing Muslim with no kohl under eyes or cap on head. Soon, he realises that his allegiance to the new nation is irrelevant as his loyalty is only determined by his faith. Muslims, he discovers in disturbing manner, are no longer wanted in Bharat. A reluctant, forced migration via train happens.

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Uday Bhatia | Mint Lounge

Partition film too safe and staid to speak to the times

Sun, August 16 2026

Rajkumar Santoshi's ‘Batwara 1947’, about Muslim refugees from India in Lahore after Partition, has neither the curiosity nor courage to break new ground

Halfway through Batwara 1947, bored out of my mind, I started to wonder how the film might be if instead of Shabana Azmi playing the old homeowner it was Naseeruddin Shah channeling his Ishar Singh from Main Vaapas Aaunga. It’s not that Azmi isn’t effective, just that Mai—a Lahori Hindu who’s lost her family in the tumult of Partition and whose house is allotted to Muslim refugees from India—can only ever be an object of pity. On the other hand, a cranky, rude old timer who resents the Muslims occupying his home… now that might be a challenge to the audience. Rajkumar Santoshi’s film isn’t interested in challenges. It wants to appear bold without actually being bold. It’s adapted from a broad, didactic play by Asghar Wajahat, Jis Lahore Nai Vekhya, O Jamya E Nai, and the film ends up even more of a sermon. Aamir Khan, co-producer with Aparna Purohit, has never stopped lecturing viewers since the 2000s, but at least he usually does his own preaching. Here, confusingly, it’s Sunny Deol, who’s calling for universal brotherhood one minute and horse-whipping a dozen men the next.

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Image of scene from the film Max, Min & Meowzaki
FCG Rating for the film Max, Min & Meowzaki: 56/100
Max, Min & Meowzaki

Family, Romance, Comedy (Hindi)

Max and Min are about to break up. They argue endlessly about dividing their possessions, including their cat, Meowzaki, whom they have named after their favorite artist Miyazaki Hayao. Max’s father Ramesh, who lost his wife and has since been suffering from insomnia, meets charming therapist Dhaara. Max’s grandfather Sridhar, secretly enjoys drinking with his new friend Jennifer at the nursing home.

Cast: Adil Hussain, Mandira Bedi, Nassar, Nafisa Ali, Medha Shankr, Vidhatri Bandi, Gitanjali Rao, Sameksha Oswal, Rupak Saluja, Siddharth Menon
Director: Narasimhamurthy Padmakumar
Writer: Narasimhamurthy Padmakumar


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Stutee Ghosh | Independent Film Critic writing for The Statesman

A Quiet, Comforting Whisper in a World of Loud Melodrama

Thu, August 20 2026

Most urban relationship dramas often confuse emotional honesty with high volume !Writer-director Padmakumar Narasimhamurthy goes the other way. There are no explosive confrontations engineered for applause. No manipulative background score insisting you cry. No characters screaming their feelings because the screenplay doesn’t know how else to express them.The film is entirely deliberate in its rejection of cheap melodrama opting instead to observe a splintered family slowly stitching itself back together. This film has the confidence to whisper. The narrative engine is deceptively simple. Young adults Max (Siddharth Menon) and Min (Medha Shankar) are navigating the messy wreckage of a breakup . As they divide up their shared life one sofa and book shelf at a time the ultimate battleground becomes the custody of Meowzaki, a rescue kitten named after their favourite animation maestro, Hayao Miyazaki. The sagacious feline here is a narrative anchor to explore a tender meditation on grief, loneliness and the different ways people survive both.

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Shubhra Gupta | The Indian Express

Adil Hussain holds warm dramedy together

Sat, July 25 2026

Sidharth Menon is a constant presence, and does well as the coming-of-age young man. It is Adil Hussain, as the man who takes the longest, most difficult steps towards self-awareness, who holds this film.

A film made four years back, releasing only now, suddenly feels current. Mention of protests and placards woven into the plot around an unravelling couple makes you feel that it’s reflecting the times we are passing through. But then, who is to say that thorny relationships and problem-ridden times aren’t the story of us, decade upon decade? Max (Siddharth Menon) and Min (Medha Shankr), a pair whose relationship is heading south, find themselves connecting over their cat. Or is it just the handsome creature that draws Min back to Max, especially when things aren’t quite as smooth with the new man in her life? The feelings are relatable: if you’ve been together for a while, parting is never easy, and could perhaps encompass residual warmth alongside resentment and sadness.

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Anuj Kumar | The Hindu

Adil Hussain elevates this antidote to allergies

Sat, July 25 2026

A heartfelt drama about grief, dad issues and complex societal prejudices, ‘Max, Min and Meowzaki’ impresses with its emotional restraint and performances, but some of its messaging feels self-conscious and didactic.

Against the backdrop of a soft monsoon, Max, Min & Meowzaki unfolds as an elegant symphony of human vulnerability. Waiting in the wings for quite some time, at the heart of this coming-of-age, slice-of-life drama are three generations of single men, each carrying a heavy yet silent sorrow. They are men who have forgotten how to speak to one another. Yet to recover from the death of his mother, jingle singer Mahesh or Max (Siddharth Menon), is negotiating with the wreckage of a love story that has just collapsed into a bittersweet breakup with Minara Hussain, or Min (Medha Shankr). His father, Ramesh (Adil Hussain), a man tightly wound in rigid armour, is suffocating under a sleepless, unconfessed grief for his deceased wife and societal biases. The grandfather, an eminent Carnatic singer, Sridhar (Nassar) navigates the fading twilight of his memories, carrying a guilt of not being able to take his son along in the song of life.

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Image of scene from the film The End of Oak Street
FCG Rating for the film The End of Oak Street: 57/100
The End of Oak Street

Science Fiction, Mystery, Thriller (English)

After a mysterious cosmic event rips Oak Street from suburbia and transports their neighborhood to someplace unknown, the Platt family soon discovers that their very survival depends on them sticking together as they navigate their now unrecognizable surroundings.

Cast: Anne Hathaway, Ewan McGregor, Christian Convery, Maisy Stella, Jordan Alexa Davis, P.J. Byrne, Bethany Anne Lind, Emily Kuroda, Denitra Isler, Hudson Meek
Director: David Robert Mitchell
Writer: David Robert Mitchell


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Tatsam Mukherjee | The Wire

A Joyous, Straight-Shooting Echo of the Spielbergian Blockbuster

Wed, August 19 2026

With dinosaurs, wormholes and ‘80s suburbia, David Robert Mitchell revisits the Spielbergian blockbuster without sacrificing his own quirky voice.

There is enough in the opening stretch of David Robert Mitchell’s The End of Oak Street to echo the Spielbergian blockbuster: the ‘80s American suburbia, chirpy adolescents on bikes, irritable siblings at the dining table and a seemingly-happy family unit led by parents going through a marital hairpin bend of their own. Denise Platt (Anne Hathaway) aspires to be a novelist and she is secretly working on something that seems borrowed heavily from her own family life. In the novel, she is considering a divorce. In real life, her husband Greg (Ewan McGregor), has just been laid off. He is working as a pizza delivery person, something Denise is not very happy about. However, as much as she tries to bury her disappointment, something extraordinary happens, forcing the family to reckon with their inner cracks.

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Shalini Langer | Indian Express

Anne Hathaway, Ewan McGregor can’t save dinosaur romp

Sun, August 16 2026

Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor do the best they can with their flimsily written roles, as do actors playing their children.

For the foreseeable future, dinosaurs will not be going extinct in Hollywood. The challenge now is how to make this era meet that era. Writer-director David Robert Mitchell (with the impressive It Follows behind him), has half an idea to pull this off. Since it involves a wormhole, and “ripples in space”, it’s just as well that he doesn’t labour the point too much. But then, labouring isn’t the strength of The End of Oak Street.

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Sucharita Tyagi | Independent Film Critic

The fear and introspection that a well-made creature feature with commentary might bring, is missing

Sat, August 15 2026

Image of scene from the film Vishwanath & Sons
FCG Rating for the film Vishwanath & Sons: 64/100
Vishwanath & Sons

Drama, Romance (Tamil)

Sanjay Vishwanath is an acclaimed professional handgunner in his 40s with a major stake in fame and wealth. When he comes across a woman named Maddy in her 20s, their dynamic poses many issues that they must come to terms with.

Cast: Suriya, Mamitha Baiju, Radhika Sarathkumar, Raveena Tandon, Rajiv Menon, Sunil, Nassar, Bhavani Sre, Harsha Chemudu, Cell Murugan
Director: Venky Atluri
Writer: Venky Atluri


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Tusshar Sasi | Filmy Sasi

Suriya’s feel-good drama is undone by its messiah complex

Mon, August 17 2026

Indian male superstars have a difficult time from their 40s onwards. From soft romances and emotional dramas in their youth, they graduate to violent action films, with VFX often taking care of their once-famous physiques. These trends originate from society’s age-old belief that one is supposed to behave a certain way after a certain age. For sure, things are changing, which is why rare attempts like Vishwanath & Sons, with a major star like Suriya looking and playing his age, are welcome. Is Venky Atluri’s film the game-changer we need in 2026?

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Vishal Menon | The Hollywood Reporter India

A Plasticky Family Drama That Is Just About Watchable Thanks To Suriya

Sun, August 16 2026

It feels like it’s been forever since we saw Suriya in a film where he’s finally allowed to relax and just be. If not anything else, this could be reason enough to indulge in the corny world of 'Vishwanath & Sons'

What you’re likely to feel about Venky Atluri and Suriya’s Vishwanath & Sons will largely depend on how you feel about Mamitha Baiju’s performance in it. She plays Maddy, a surrogate mother who enters the life of Vishwanath’s titular son when he’s emotionally blackmailed into finding an heir to his $5.4 billion fortune. Atluri could have used several descriptors to explain Maddy’s character to Mamitha Baiju, but there’s no denying the hangover of a thousand loosu ponnus of Tamil cinema who had to walk, just so Mamitha could run.

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Sudhir Srinivasan | The New Indian Express writing for sudhir-srinivasan.com

A Film That Won’t Stay With a Feeling

Sun, August 16 2026

hings happen in Vishwanath & Sons. Lots of things, in fact, but you never learn about their weight. A young woman subjects her body to pregnancy just so she can fund her education. Later, almost on a whim, she decides to give up this hard-earned education. Meanwhile, a man who seems perfectly content being single is rather quickly persuaded to get himself a child. These are momentous choices with profound ramifications, and yet, we are never truly allowed to understand their emotional significance, the marks they leave on the interior lives of these characters.

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Image of scene from the film Thudakkam
Thudakkam

Action, Drama (Malayalam)

When danger strikes, a young woman fights to survive through courage and determination.

Cast: Vismaya Mohanlal, Mohanlal, Aashish Joe Antony, Gibin Gopinath, Bobby Kurian, Kottayam Ramesh, Jaya Kurup, Jaffer Idukki, Gilu Joseph, Sivadas Kannur
Director: Jude Anthany Joseph
Writer: Jude Anthany Joseph, Linish Nellikkal


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S. R. Praveen | The Hindu

Vismaya Mohanlal’s martial arts skills inject life into a typical revenge thriller

Sun, August 16 2026

Despite its familiar tropes and a forgettable cameo from Mohanlal, ‘Thudakkam’ is watchable thanks to debutant Vismaya Mohanlal’s commanding action performance

Rarely have we seen an actor’s name attached to the film’s name. The CBFC certificate for Thudakkam, directed by Judy Anthany Joseph, displays the film’s name as ‘Vismaya Mohanlal’s Thudakkam’, heralding the debut film of actor Mohanlal’s daughter. Mohanlal appears in a cameo role as a martial arts master and tells Meenu (Vismaya) that this is her ‘Thudakkam’ (beginning) and to “make your father proud”. Though Sai Kumar plays her father in the film, what is implied is not lost on anyone.

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Vishal Menon | The Hollywood Reporter India

A Middling Action-Based Message Movie

Sat, August 8 2026

The film constantly breaks the fourth wall to make obvious statements, giving signs of being rewritten to make the film appear softer for the family audience

In the interviews leading up to the release of Vismaya Mohanlal’s Thudakkam, it’s writer-director Jude Anthany Joseph spoke about how the basic concept of the film had been in discussion, as far back as 2020. There’s been a whole host of similar films that have released since, but there’s no denying the film’s obvious lack of sheen because it has hit screens after all of those films have released. In terms of its messaging alone, Darshana Rajendran’s Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaye Hey comes to mind, with recent releases such as Blast in Tamil and Maa Inti Bangaaram adding to an unignorable feeling of déjà vu. In first viewing, Thudakkam also feels like the most dated of these films, relying on a gratingly obvious amount of self-seriousness, as though it’s the first ever film to say what it’s trying to.

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Image of scene from the film Awarapan 2
FCG Rating for the film Awarapan 2: 57/100
Awarapan 2

Action, Drama, Romance (Hindi)

19 years later, Shivam is back. A man haunted by grief and loss, searching for a purpose for his life.

Cast: Emraan Hashmi, Shabana Azmi, Disha Patani, Suvinder Vicky, Vijayant Kohli, Atul Kumar, Aniruddh Rawal, Shriya Saran, Puran Gabbi
Director: Nitin Kakkar
Writer: Balal Siddiqi


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Kartik Bhardwaj | The New Indian Express

Emraan Hashmi still has it in slick, staid sequel

Sun, August 16 2026

The film is a technical if not a spiritual upgrade but it can’t escape the franchising of its lone-wolf protagonist

The thing about nostalgia is that it only works in retrospect. Before getting on with Awarapan 2, I rewatched the 2007 original. The Mohit Suri moper might seem too emo for today but its gloom came from a genuine place of trauma. Criminal and atheist Shivam Pandit (Emraan Hashmi) once fell in love with Aaliyah (Shriya Saran). He was taken by her devotion towards her Allah. He had found somebody to live for, to believe in. But then she was taken away from him, by a bullet that had his name on it. He then walked, lost and listless, on the sidewalks of an unnamed South Asian town, in trenchcoats as life passed by him. Every young guy who had loved and lost felt Shivam’s angst. Every young guy who wanted to feel Shivam’s angst listened to the songs. Heartbreak was now cooler than falling in love. Sadness was aspirational. The angry young man had gone international and he had Mustafa Zahid as his wailing voice.

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Anupama Chopra | The Hollywood Reporter India

A strong hero and old tunes can only take you so far

Sun, August 16 2026

Fox in morning light

Keyur Seta | Bollywood Hungama writing for The Common Man Speaks

Emraan Hashmi’s smashing comeback is an engaging crime drama

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Awarapan 2 is a continuation of Awarapan (2007). Shivam Pandit (Emraan Hashmi) is miraculously saved despite being shot several times after the end of the first film. The second movie continues years later when he is doing an odd job in a town in Rajasthan. He is still mourning the death of Aaliyah (Shriya Saran), who he dearly loved and regularly visits her grave.

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