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.

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.

Sat, November 15 2025

The film explores themes of misogyny and toxic relationships through the story of Bhooma, a college student caught in an unhealthy relationship with Vikram. As Bhooma navigates this oppressive dynamic, the narrative examines deeply ingrained patriarchal norms without resorting to melodrama.

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.

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Fri, December 5 2025

Train Dreams reclaims the importance of feeling like someone, not just anyone. Of knowing that no emotion is futile, no sadness is small, no memory is hollow, and no life is pointless.

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.

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Mon, December 1 2025

Adapted from a 2011 novella written by Denis Johnson, Bentley’s film chronicles the tenderness and awe in Robert’s seemingly ‘ordinary’ life, most of which isn’t immediately apparent to him.

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).

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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.

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Fri, November 21 2025

Dinjith Ayyathan’s ‘Eko’ dives into a world where animals and humans are more connected than you would think, and ends up as a solid mystery thriller thanks to its brilliant screenplay

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.

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Wed, December 3 2025

The 8-episode drama, streaming on YouTube, is imperfect but compelling enough to subvert a preachy genre

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.

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Sun, November 30 2025

Sun, November 30 2025

Perfect Family is an impactful introduction to the importance of therapy, keeping clear of the teaching-and-preaching which could alienate us.

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.

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Mon, December 1 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.

Mon, December 1 2025

Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari is more like a sitcom written by a Dharma committee than a proper movie. We discuss Varun Dhawan’s seemingly stagnant evolution as an actor, Janhvi Kapoor moving in the opposite direction, and Sanya Malhotra and Rohit Saraf happily accepting the paycheque. We also talk about the film’s incoherent narrative, unimaginative plot, and strange lack of confidence.

Tue, October 7 2025

Mon, December 1 2025

'Revolver Rita', in all fairness, appears to be a film that was found in one of the old Seagate hard disks of a gone era.

There was a time in Tamil cinema when films like Revolver Rita may have been considered “cool”. This must have been around the early 2010s, when the first generation of Tamil filmmakers graduated from the Broadband Downloads School of Modern Cinema. Of course, they all cultivated their tastes with modern classics, but somewhere down the line, films of Tarantino and Guy Ritchie became the most important names in their taste-making. Revolver Rita, in all fairness, appears to be a film that was found in one of the old Seagate hard disks of that era.

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Sun, November 30 2025

Directed by JK Chandru, Revolver Rita, starring Keerthy Suresh, Radhika Sarathkumar, and Sunil, is pegged as a black comedy revolving around a crime. The film is neither dark nor funny, just flat as discarded cardboard.

Comedy is tricky business, and to pull it off successfully requires an actor to tick off a huge checklist. One needs to have impeccable comic timing, sense of action and reaction, and spontaneity. Only a handful of female actors have been able to pull off a dark comedy, a niche genre in itself. Has Keerthy Suresh managed to score with Revolver Rita? Let’s find out!

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Mon, December 1 2025

In an age when Hindi cinema has been pilloried as ‘Urduwood’ by right-wing trolls, it’s heartwarming to see Vibhu Puri’s film reclaim and revive the Muslim social.

Despite its shortcomings, one thing that is impressive about Vibhu Puri’s Gustaakh Ishq is that it’s not tentative about what it wants to be. No pretence or excessive self-awareness – often a crutch for films afraid to go the distance, hedging against becoming a laughing stock. In an age when Hindi cinema has been pilloried as ‘Urduwood’ by right-wing trolls, it’s heartwarming to see Puri’s film reclaim and revive the Muslim social film.

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Sat, November 29 2025

Sat, November 29 2025

Vijay Varma and Naseeruddin Shah's performances make you look, Vishal Bhardwaj–Gulzar's music is sublime, and both needed a better film.

The pleasure of listening to Naseeruddin Shah say ‘ool julool’, a phrase nearly impossible to translate, the closest being ‘aisa-waisa’, silly, stupid, but not quite. The pleasure of watching Vijay Varma as a lover of Urdu shairi, using his head and heart to woo an old poet and his lovely daughter. And to have all of this wrapped in a film which privileges a love of language, flowery shairi and broken-hearted shayars, mouldering old Delhi printing presses and broke publishers, should have resulted in a film which makes you ache and sigh in the best way possible.

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Mon, December 1 2025

Written and directed by Sivaranjini, 'Victoria' is a moving drama, peppered with humour.

In Sivaranjani’s Victoria, the most striking moment has more to do with a sound, rather than visuals. It feels like just another day at Victoria’s (Meenakshi Jayan) beauty salon when we hear this, as she waxes the arms of a customer. Until then, we see Victoria maintaining a happy face through it all, as she tries to manage the crowd at the salon with the worries of having to elope with her non-committal boyfriend. But each time Victoria tugs at a waxing strip in her hurry to remove them, the sound we hear is that of slaps falling on Victoria, along with the voice of a man shouting. Until that moment, we see bruises on her face, but the film doesn’t quite explain their origin. And with the sound of each waxing strip getting pulled, we listen in on the taunts being hurled at Victoria for her decision to marry outside of her religion. For women like her, the salon is therapy.

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Sun, November 30 2025

Directed by Sivaranjini, Victoria starring Meenakshi Jayan, is a beautiful documentation of a day in the life of being Victoria. The film, mostly centred on women, showcases the everyday aspects and struggles of being one.

Watching director Sivaranjini’s Victoria, there’s a sense of familiarity in the everydayness unfolding on screen. Meenakshi Jayan powers through a tale of silent resilience while dealing with a busy day at work and personal struggles. And Victoria just did a wonderful job of showcasing an all-woman cast, with the men mostly appearing through video calls or through audio.

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Thu, March 20 2025

Two Malayalam films that world premiered at the 29th International Film Festival of Kerala in December 2024 share DNA despite employing different milieu and techniques. Fasil Muhammed’s Feminichi Fathima (also screened at the 14th Indian Film Festival of Bhubaneswar) is about the eponymous Muslim housewife in Ponnani in Malappuram and possesses a day-in-the-life narrative. Sivaranjini’s Victoria designs a single day as a series of single takes in the life of Victoria, a beautician at a parlor in Angamaly who is juggling a characteristically busy day at the office and a tenuous period in her personal life. The two films have little in common in terms of setting and visual grammar, but they share philosophies and wrestle with the politics of survival and existence. They focus on women’s labor, the physical strain on their bodies, and the casually developing solidarity with the women around them.

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Sat, November 29 2025

Sat, November 29 2025

Dhanush rages and Kriti Sanon recoils in Aanand L. Rai’s love story of epic proportions, which eventually begins to test your patience

Bollywood is in love all over again. After Mohit Suri’s Saiyaara, Aanand L Rai, another master of the poetic portrayal of passion and pain, returns with a gripping interrogation of love’s destructive underbelly, set in a social context. Connected to Raanjhanaa(2013) by an umbilical cord, Tere Ishk Mein talks of the magic of love that is lost in modern life’s logic, which entices us to trade emotions. In Rai’s universe, love is both poison and panacea, and once again, he has taken up a risky subject — the transformative power of romance.

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Sat, November 29 2025

लड़की हाथ छुड़ा कर मुड़ी तो उसकी चूड़ी का कांच टूट कर लड़के को ज़ख्म दे गया। ऐसा ज़ख्म कि उसने शहर को फूंकना चाहा। लड़की किसी और से शादी करने चली तो वह उसे श्रॉप दे आया कि शंकर करे तुझे बेटा हो, तुझे भी पता चले कि इश्क में जो मर जाते हैं वो भी किसी के बेटे होते हैं। कहानी की यह झलक बताती है कि यह फिल्म हमें इश्क-मोहब्बत के उन दर्द भरे रास्तों पर ले जाने आई है जिसे देख कर आशिकों के दिल तड़पते हैं और जिन्होंने कभी प्यार न किया हो वे सुकून महसूस करते हैं। फिल्मकार आनंद एल. राय की ‘रांझणा’ भी तो ऐसी ही फिल्म थी जिसमें मुरारी ने कुंदन से कहा था-मर जाओ पंडित। पंडित उस फिल्म में इश्क करते हुए मरा तो इस फिल्म में भी वही रूप धर कर आ गया। वैसे भी सभी दिलजले, बर्बाद आशिकों की सूरत एक जैसी ही हो जाती है।

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Fri, November 28 2025

Mon, November 24 2025

Nishaanchi: Part 2 features arguably the best climax that Anurag Kashyap has ever orchestrated. We discuss the two-part experience as a whole, Kashyap’s modern update to old-school Bollywood tropes, and the magnetism of Monika Panwar’s Manjari. We also discuss the film’s broader themes of revenge, the stylistic influences, and welcome Kashyap’s long-awaited return to form.

Fri, November 28 2025

Blends animal puns, political fables and sly humour to attempt the near-impossible — giving snakes the redemption arc history denied them.

Of all the Disney movies over the years with PG-13 racial metaphors and diversity parables, Zootopia 2 faces the most uphill battle there ever was. For it takes on the task of doing the near-impossible: the destigmatisation of Snakes. The fear and distrust of this reptile is so historically and genetically entrenched in human systems that the real-world subtext is almost secondary. In Zootopia 2, the unlikely police pairing of hyper-rabbit Judy Hopps and red fox Nick Wilde try their darndest to unscramble snake propaganda — a pit viper named Gary De’Snake emerges in the mainland, and everyone is terrorised. Except Judy, who trusts that the snake is the good guy whose ‘people’ have been maligned by the ruling family of lynxes. Gary wants to prove that the land was theirs to begin with (duh), and the patent was stolen by the sly lynxes. History students, unite.

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Thu, November 27 2025

Co-created by Matt and Ross Duffer, the global hit series returns to Hawkins, Indiana, and the Upside Down for one final epic battle.

After three and a half years, Stranger Things is back, promising a return to the Upside Down and a conflict with Vecna, the big bad who has been controlling the alternate dimension underneath the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana. Co-created by the Duffer Brothers, Stranger Things is an ode to the 1980s, with terrific references to its music, movies, and pop culture moments. But at its heart, the Netflix story is about friendship and the lengths they will go to save one another. With the first batch of episodes dropping on November 27, it’s time to check back in with the Hawkins gang.

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Thu, November 27 2025

Stranger Things is engaging TV. It is affecting TV. It is emotive TV. And nine years, four seasons and 34 episodes later, we know that Stranger Things is no longer simply TV. What more can be said about this Netflix phenomenon that first came into our lives in the summer of 2016, bringing in a potent mix of science-fiction, horror and mystery packaged in a coming-of-age drama that evoked unbridled ’80s nostalgia, that hasn’t been said before? As the seasons have rolled, the adventures of a rag-tag team of teens taking on forces mythical and supernatural have only grown bigger in scope, scale and storytelling. It has spurred a booming universe of merchandising, live experiences, a Broadway show, a fandom that has made it a pop culture landmark, resurrected interest in things as diverse as Dungeons & Dragons and Eggos, brought Kate Bush back to the top of the charts and rocket-launched the careers of the majority of its young actors. The launch of every season of Stranger Things has been an event, eliciting the kind of tingling-in-the-neck sensation — we know that could be a stretch, but hey, this is Stranger Things — that Will experiences every time he feels Vecna (or as we know by now, is Vecna).

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