The Girlfriend
Romance, Drama (Telugu)
A young woman explores love, compatibility and self-discovery during college, experiencing relationship complexities and personal growth. (more…)
Perfect Family
Family, Drama (Hindi)
Meet the Perfect Family - the lovable Karkarias. Perfect on the outside, but simmering with resentments, insecurities, and old wounds on the inside. When life hits hard, they’re pushed into family therapy, where issues of trust, loyalty, and communication finally (more…)
Kalamkaval
Crime, Drama (Malayalam)
Early 2010s. A routine Kerala Police inquiry in the quiet village of Kottayikonam takes an unexpected turn when a trail of seemingly minor clues unravels into a string of disturbing cases. The investigation soon crosses into Tamil Nadu, revealing unsolved (more…)
Kaisi Ye Paheli
Mystery, Thriller (Hindi)
In a sleepy hill town in northeast India, a lonely mother tries to reconnect with her estranged policeman son by channeling her inner detective to help him solve a murder. (more…)
Guild Reviews
Akhanda 2
Action (Telugu)
When all hope died, Akhanda arrived. He saved his family, protected his people, killed the wrongdoers, and retreated into isolation. But years later, new threats emerge, putting the world in danger. And as the world burns, Akhanda returns.
Cast:
Nandamuri Balakrishna, Pragya Jaiswal, Samyuktha, Aadhi Pinisetty, Akshara Nunna Sujana, Harshaali Malthotra, Kabir Duhan Singh, Poorna
Director:
Boyapati Srinu
Writer:
Boyapati Srinu
3 hours of WhatsApp forwards and pseudoscience
Sat, December 13 2025
Balakrishna’s presence cannot salvage this loud, incoherent film
Fri, December 12 2025
There is a scene in Akhanda 2: Thaandavam that is almost impossible to describe with a straight face. Somewhere in the snow-capped Himalayas, Balakrishna — as Akhanda, endowed with divine powers — bends over the antagonist to check if his heart still beats. This man has already survived one round of Akhanda’s wrath. His tongue had flown out (I wish I were exaggerating), but he apparently stitched it back on and returns to contribute to this talk-heavy film. This time, Akhanda wants to be absolutely certain. So he pierces the man with his mace, hoists him into the air, and swings him left and right several times.
Christmas Karma
Fantasy, Comedy, Drama (English)
In modern-day London, an unkind British-Indian businessman is compelled by three ghosts to reflect on his life and to consider the needs of those around him.
Cast:
Kunal Nayyar, Leo Suter, Charithra Chandran, Pixie Lott, Hugh Bonneville, Eva Longoria, Billy Porter, Boy George, Bilal Hasna, Danny Dyer
Director:
Gurinder Chadha
Writer:
Gurinder Chadha
The biggest drawback of Christmas Karma is the lack of any perceivable cleverness in the adaptation
Fri, December 12 2025
Jay Kelly
Drama, Comedy (English)
Famous movie actor Jay Kelly embarks on a journey of self-discovery, confronting both his past and present, accompanied by his devoted manager, Ron.
Cast:
George Clooney, Adam Sandler, Laura Dern, Billy Crudup, Riley Keough, Grace Edwards, Stacy Keach, Jim Broadbent, Patrick Wilson, Eve Hewson
Director:
Noah Baumbach
Writer:
Emily Mortimer, Noah Baumbach
A magnetic George Clooney shakes off the stardust
Thu, December 11 2025
Director Noah Baumbach joins forces with George Clooney to deliver a sharply observed, melancholic study of celebrity, memory and regret. Clooney plays Kelly, a Hollywood icon forced to shake off the stardust and confront the impact of his choices. As he drifts between denial and self-awareness, he confronts the fallout of decades lived at the centre of his own universe. What Baumbach attempts, and often pulls off (but not throughout) with considerable elegance, is a meta-fictional story of an ambitious man’s hubris. This is a film about Jay watching his own mythology crumble, only to realise and awaken to a truer, humbler version of himself.
Kalamkaval
Crime, Drama (Malayalam)
Early 2010s. A routine Kerala Police inquiry in the quiet village of Kottayikonam takes an unexpected turn when a trail of seemingly minor clues unravels into a string of disturbing cases. The investigation soon crosses into Tamil Nadu, revealing unsolved mysteries that have lingered for years.
Cast:
Vinayakan, Mammootty, Gibin Gopinath, Gayatri Arun, Rajisha Vijayan, Azees Nedumangad, Malavika Menon, Babu Ramachandran, Aravind Deepu, Bibin Perumbily
Director:
Jithin K Jose
Writer:
Jithin K Jose, Jishnu Sreekumar
Mammootty in a poor ‘leave-your-brains-at-home’ thriller
Thu, December 11 2025
It’s one thing to make a biography or documentary on an over-exposed crime episode. It’s another to sprinkle it with cinematic liberties and hope it magically transforms into a chilling superstar saga. Jithin K. Jose’s debut feature Kalamkaval attempts the latter and ends up as an engaging yet deeply implausible effort that feels dystopian. Tragically so, because almost nothing in its setup or screenplay reflects the conservative, observant, and perpetually inquisitive social fabric of Kerala.
Mon, December 8 2025
Mammootty transforms into monster, Vinayakan anchors thriller
Sat, December 6 2025
That Mammootty is playing his darkest role yet is something that’s known to everyone who has watched Kalamkaval’s promos. With his amazing track record of pulling off diverse roles with different levels of complexity, what does Mammootty have up his sleeve this time to blow our minds? Sharing the screen with him is another beast of an actor, Vinayakan. Has Jithin K Jose’s Kalamkaval lived up to expectations and imagination? Let’s find out!
Kaisi Ye Paheli
Mystery, Thriller (Hindi)
In a sleepy hill town in northeast India, a lonely mother tries to reconnect with her estranged policeman son by channeling her inner detective to help him solve a murder.
Cast:
Sukant Goel, Sadhana Singh, Rajit Kapoor, Chittaranjan Giri, Rahul Nawach Mukhia, Nishu Dikshit, Rinchen Sherpa, Bindhiya Dhamala, Rajendra Maskey, Ujjaini Deb
Director:
Ananyabrata Chakravorty
Writer:
Ananyabrata Chakravorty
A whimsical small-town whodunit
Thu, December 11 2025
Do we think enough about the filler conversations our mothers have with us? The questions usually follow a familiar template, beginning with “How was your day?” and ending with “What was for dinner?” If we set aside the romanticized ideas about moms that cinema projects, these exchanges can sound mundane, even annoying. And yet, in a relationship as pristine in theory as this one, it never feels polite enough to say this aloud.
Sukant Goel, Sadhana Singh film comes off as amateurish
Sat, November 29 2025
Truth be told, the only reason why I was interested in Kaisi Yeh Paheli is because I wanted to see what Sukant Goel was up to this time, as I had enjoyed his turn in the sadly-truncated Netflix series Kaala Pani. In Kaisi Yeh Paheli, he plays a son who dislikes his mother intensely, sustaining the emotion even when he is tasked with cracking the case of a young woman’s murder.
Technical Glitches Mar A Good One-Liner
Sat, November 29 2025
Conceptually, Kaisi Ye Paheli goes for broke. The 95-minute independent film, written and directed by Ananyabrata Chakravorty, wears the cloak of yet another small-town whodunnit. There’s a death in misty Kalimpong; sullen cop Uttam (Sukant Goel) and his boss, Tamang (Chittaranjan Giri), are flummoxed by the details: a religious girl poisoned by a holy sweet? The theatrical Bondo (Rajit Kapur, always) is summoned from Kolkata by the powers that be; the senior sleuth has a direct line to “Didi,” and behaves like he’s an amalgamation of Byomkesh Bakshi and Feluda in his head. Meanwhile, Uttam’s home situation is complicated — he resents his widowed mother (Sadhana Singh) for various reasons, not least because she constantly recalls their past life and late husband. The mother-son bond is strained, she aches for his attention, so it’s amusing when Tamang and team unofficially recruit her to be part of the investigation because of her passion for Bengali detective novels. Uttam’s colleagues confide in her like sons in their downtime; it’s a quirky touch without the energy of a quirky touch.
Song Sung Blue
Drama, Music, Romance (English)
Based on a true story, two down-on-their-luck musicians form a joyous Neil Diamond tribute band, proving it's never too late to find love and follow your dreams.
Cast:
Hugh Jackman, Kate Hudson, Michael Imperioli, Fisher Stevens, Jim Belushi, Ella Anderson, King Princess, Mustafa Shakir, Hudson Hilbert Hensley, Shyaporn Theerakulstit
Director:
Craig Brewer
Writer:
Craig Brewer
Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson in an aching duet of love and life
Tue, December 9 2025
“Nostalgia sells,” says Patsy Cline impersonator Claire (Kate Hudson) to an exasperated Mike (Hugh Jackman) in Song Sung Blue. He had just refused to don a Don Ho getup at a paying gig. If it weren’t a film and the actors weren’t well-known, this would be the last scenario where any sparks might fly. In a striking dramatization of a true story, the duo come together, romantically and professionally, to become a hit among Milwaukee’s music lovers, who take Neil Diamond’s songs like a sweet pill. Beyond the onstage fireworks, the unbelievable love and family story of Lightning and Thunder takes shape in Craig Brewer’s musical melodrama.
Angammal
Drama (Tamil)
In a remote, rustic mid-90s village in Tamil Nadu, a city educated young man feels awkward because his mother is blouseless. This is how she has always dressed. But as he tries to find a solution before his prospective in-laws arrive, a simple problem spirals out of control.
Cast:
Geetha Kailasam, Saran Shakthi, Bharani, Ashand Raju, Thendral Raghunathan, Mullai Arasi, sudahar das
Director:
Vipin Radhakrishnan
A poetic masala tale of chaos, choice, and conformity
Mon, December 8 2025
Freedom. It is quite an interesting beast because everyone wants it, but somehow they are tuned to keep it caged and away from others who might not have it. This dichotomy is very telling of the human mind and its vagaries. There is always someone who has more freedom than you, and someone who doesn’t have as much. It is supposed to be an absolute unit, but there are enough caveats in freedom to allow oppression of some kind to be perpetuated through avenues like patriarchy, misogyny, and simple conditioning. Director Vipin Radhakrishnan’s Angammal is one such film that shows how exercising freedom always comes at a cost in a society that values conformity.
(Writing for OTT Play)
Geetha Kailasam Shines In A Lived-In Tale Of Tradition & Change
Fri, December 5 2025
In Vipin Radhakrishnan’s Angammal, Geetha Kailasam anchors the tension between the old and the new. Based on Perumal Murugan’s short story Kodithuni, the Tamil film is due for theatrical release this week after premiering at prestigious film festivals last year. It is the beginning of the 1990s, and this very intriguing period is bookmarked by Singaravelan, Roja, Sami Potta Mudichu and more. Pavalam (Saran Sakthi) aka Pavala Muthu and Jasmine (Mullaiyarasi) have their dates in the movie theatre amidst modest snacks and seats as they watch the film less and indulge more either in each other (a bout of make out set to Tamizha Tamizha chorus is hilarious) or in familial matters like the impending visit of Jasmine’s parents to Pavalam’s house to discuss their marriage. Pavalam is the rare and, probably, first graduate from his village — and a doctor at that — and his experiences of the outside world cloud his foundation as he comes to see his mother’s style as an embarrassment.
Geetha Kailasam's powerhouse performance in a tale of autonomy
Thu, December 4 2025
When the spunky Angammal (a brilliant Geetha Kailasam) rides her moped and delivers milk, there’s a spark in her eyes. The spark tells you that she’s leading life by her own rules. But when she’s forced to make certain lifestyle changes after her second son Pavalam (Saran) pushes her to, you see the vitality fading. It shows you how little things that made Angammal the fierce matriarch that she is are not acceptable to the generation that comes after hers. It shows how Angammal, the independent woman, is denied the choice. The choice that made her a flawed, foul-mouthed woman with her own ideals.
Stephen
Thriller (Tamil)
A psychiatrist evaluating a self-confessed serial killer unravels a twisted web of trauma, deceit, and psychological manipulation—only to question if the killer is truly guilty or just another victim in a larger, darker game.
Cast:
Gomathi Shankar, Smruthi Venkat, Michael Thangadurai, Vijayashree
Director:
Mithun
Gomathi Shankar shines in chilling, uneven thriller
Sun, December 7 2025
What do you do when a guy walks into a cop station confessing he has killed nine women? Nothing about the sentence is a spoiler because there’s nothing Stephen (Gomathi Shankar) hides when it comes to the horribly casual ways in which he says he has killed them: this is how I stabbed, this is where I stabbed, he tells the flabbergasted policemen, who can’t understand how this man, who looks like your average person off the street, can be a cold-blooded murderer.
Tamil Serial Killer Thriller's Intriguing Premise Wilts With Predictable Twist
Sun, December 7 2025
The psychological thriller Stephen opens with a chase to find a serial killer responsible for murdering nine women. Filmmaker Mithun’s feature twists the tale by revealing the killer early on. The Tamil film is more about Stephen’s past and motives that led him to become a cold-blooded killer. As investigators and psychologists probe into his mind, the movie paints a sympathetic picture until that shocking ending. It’s a switch and bait that almost works.
A psychological thriller that spins out of control
Sat, December 6 2025
The initial frames of Stephen feature a young boy looking up at a giant wheel in awe. Soon, he begins hearing voices of his mother and father asking him to join them on the ride. And when he gets on the giant wheel, it spins. Watching director Mithun Balaji’s two-hour-long Stephen, you understand that the wheel never stops once it begins spinning. Stephen Jebaraj (Gomathi Shankar) confesses to the serial killing of nine women in six months. He surrenders to the police matter-of-factly. Michael (Michael Thangadurai) is entrusted with the job of finding the motive behind the murders. Helping him in evaluating Stephen is psychiatrist Seema (Smruthi Venkat), who, through her conversations with him, uncovers the truth behind the murders.
The Girlfriend
Romance, Drama (Telugu)
A young woman explores love, compatibility and self-discovery during college, experiencing relationship complexities and personal growth.
Cast:
Rashmika Mandanna, Dheekshith Shetty, Rao Ramesh, Rohini, Rahul Ravindran, Anu Emmanuel
Director:
Rahul Ravindran
Writer:
Rahul Ravindran
A Spotify Review
Fri, December 5 2025
The Girlfriend seems like a direct response to the widespread misogyny of Indian cinema, but it feels disingenuous because it stars someone who has defended that very misogyny. We discuss the unintelligent character that Rashmika Mandanna has been saddled with, and wonder if the only path towards feminism that Indian filmmakers know involves taking a detour via humiliation. We also talk about the film’s on-the-nose storytelling, which undermines its noble intentions, touch upon the patriarchal irony of the film’s pivotal moment, and provide an unrealistic pathway for Mandanna’s redemption.
A Spotify Review
Fri, December 5 2025
The Girlfriend seems like a direct response to the widespread misogyny of Indian cinema, but it feels disingenuous because it stars someone who has defended that very misogyny. We discuss the unintelligent character that Rashmika Mandanna has been saddled with, and wonder if the only path towards feminism that Indian filmmakers know involves taking a detour via humiliation. We also talk about the film’s on-the-nose storytelling, which undermines its noble intentions, touch upon the patriarchal irony of the film’s pivotal moment, and provide an unrealistic pathway for Mandanna’s redemption.
With a scene-stealing Rashmika Mandanna, The Girlfriend is an emotionally resonant takedown of patriarchy
Sat, November 15 2025
Bhooma is pursuing her Masters in literature at a college and staying in the hostel. A simple girl with solid values, Bhooma is lured — partly by circumstances, partly by other factors which are beyond her control (or not) — into a relationship with college jock Vikram. As the days go by, Bhooma — though doted on by Vikram on the surface (‘on the surface’ being the operative words here) — finds herself trapped in an increasingly toxic relationship that she sees no escape from. Till one day, driven against the wall (or, rather, door) she decides that enough is enough.
Train Dreams
Drama (English)
A logger leads a life of quiet grace as he experiences love and loss during an era of monumental change in early 20th-century America.
Cast:
Joel Edgerton, Felicity Jones, Nathaniel Arcand, Clifton Collins Jr., John Diehl, Paul Schneider, Kerry Condon, William H. Macy, Will Patton, Alfred Hsing
Director:
Clint Bentley
(Writing for OTT Play)
The Ruins Of Remaining
Fri, December 5 2025
In Train Dreams, life is but an accruement of endings. Based on Denis Johnson’s 2011 novella, Clint Bentley’s tender fever-dream of a film is rooted in the anonymity of time: an anti-Forrest Gump of sorts. It’s about the kind of man that history is wired to forget: a humble woodlogger and railroad construction worker, a normal husband and father, a survivor and soliloquy, a grafter and griever. A voice-over introduces Robert Grainier (Joel Edgerton) as an orphan in his childhood; it closes with him at 80, having lived and loved and lost and lived in the shadow of loss. He is a reluctant protagonist masquerading as just another person. It’s almost as if the story keeps leaving him behind in the hope that he will catch up.
Confronts Ecological Conservation, 20th-Century Capitalism Through a Faceless American Figure
Mon, December 1 2025
It takes a special kind of film to be aware of its surroundings. It is one thing to fetishise nature and invite comparison to the sweeping scale of a Terrence Mallick film but Clint Bentley’s Train Dreams does something interesting with the vessel of a meandering Mallick film. It cuts and splices the essential bits of a man’s journey fuelled by cosmic wonder: the meaning of it all. And it does that using a specific means: a voiceover (by Will Patton).
Eko
Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Drama (Malayalam)
In the misty hills of Kaattukunnu, an aging woman and her servant boy struggle to survive the ghosts of the past, as the hunt for Kuriyachan — a legendary dog breeder and outlaw — blurs the line between myth, memory, and vengeance, revealing that even in absence, he still rules the hills.
Cast:
Sandeep Pradeep, Vineeth Radhakrishnan, Binu Pappu, Narain, Ashokan, Biana Momin, Sim Zhi Fei, Saheer Mohammed
Director:
Dinjith Ayyathan
Writer:
Bahul Ramesh
Savage Malayalam thriller barks loud and bites hard
Thu, December 4 2025
In a world where human beings thrived like any other mammals, sans languages and every other paraphernalia, would they still qualify as apex predators? When danger appears, our first instinct is to think. A lone man, suddenly confronted by a tiger, would probably scramble up the nearest tall tree. His brain would tick over time for a way to escape. A rock, a branch, or anything that might distract the big cat would become part of his strategy.
A solid mystery thriller in which animals play as big a part as humans
Fri, November 21 2025
Pared down to its bare bones, Dinjith Ayyathan’sEko is a story of the search for a missing man, a colourful character about whom infinite chronicles and conflicting accounts are in circulation. To bite into these bare bones is not really the point. It is to savour the whole act of reaching it and revelling in that pleasure. Just like through a dense, deceptive forest with uncharted territory at every turn, the viewer is slowly drawn into this world where not a single character can be fully trusted.
Perfect Family
Family, Drama (Hindi)
Meet the Perfect Family - the lovable Karkarias. Perfect on the outside, but simmering with resentments, insecurities, and old wounds on the inside. When life hits hard, they’re pushed into family therapy, where issues of trust, loyalty, and communication finally explode. With their quirks, chaos, and constant derailing of every session, progress is a miracle. Join them on this hilarious, heartfelt Therapy ka Safar—where life finally meets itself.
Cast:
Neha Dhupia, Manoj Pahwa, Seema Pahwa, Gulshan Devaiah, Girija Oak, Kaveri Seth, Hirva Samir Trivedi
A Therapeutic, Well-Acted Portrait of Dysfunctional Familyhood
Wed, December 3 2025
If you’ve watched enough modern Hindi socials over the years, chances are you’re well-acquainted with its red flags. Especially if the themes sound like hashtags: #DysfunctionalFamily, #Therapy, #MentalHealth, #NobodyIsPerfect, #SeekHelp. The preachiness aside, the stories are often designed to offer solutions to everything short of death (or sometimes even that). If not solutions, then righteous advice at the very least. It’s why I both loved and hated Dil Dhadakne Do (and a show like Made In Heaven); the staging of dysfunctionality and cultural quirks are the fun parts, but there’s always a sense that nothing is beyond repair. Every ‘condition’ is curable. The great thing about Perfect Family is that, over 8 fairly long episodes, it puts itself in a position to humanise the hashtags more than feature-length movies do. Its imperfections have character, and even if the intent is tethered to a message of change and higher wisdom, the show feels like more of a journey than a destination. Which is precisely the anatomy of being “fixed” these days; it’s a process with no beginning and ending.
Sun, November 30 2025
A beautifully relatable series
Sun, November 30 2025
The Karkarias of Delhi are a family who, like all of us, are desperate to project that everything is perfect. Somanth Karkaria (Manoj Pahwa) owns a mithaai-ki-dukaan which is struggling to stay afloat in a time when people are cutting on sugar, and veering towards videshi sweets. A paterfamilias in the old mould, he carries a comfortable paunch, and a sneering attitude of daddy-knows-best whether it comes to his own wife Kamla (Seema Pahwa), son Vishnu (Gulshan Devaiah), daughter Pooja (Kaveri Seth), daughter-in-law Neeti (Girija Oak Godbole) and their two grandchildren, Daani and Daksh.