Pradhama Dhrishtya Kuttakkar
Thriller, Drama (Malayalam)
Follows a woman constable who joins the police force through appointment after the death of her husband. (more…)
Guild Reviews by Film
Angh
Drama (Konyak)
In 1960s Nagaland, a proud Konyak chief struggles to protect his dying traditions when an American missionary arrives with promises of aid that threaten his people’s identity. As his wife’s health deteriorates and famine looms, he and his mute son must make an impossible choice between survival and staying true to their ancestral ways.
Cast:
Douglas Henshall
Director:
Theja Rio
Writer:
Theja Rio
Sat, September 19 2026
TIFF 2026 | In 1960s Nagaland, a Konyak chief and his son grapple with the advent of Christianity.
Modernity arrives in several garbs all at once. It shifts between assimilation, a promise of progress and a threat of complete cultural loss. Development can wholly wash over a sharp sense of identity that once existed, chipping away at it one by one. Premiering in Platform competition at the Toronto International Film Festival 2026, Theja Rio’s brilliantly immersive debut, Angh, understands every shade of this complex negotiation. Rio, born in Nagaland’s Kohima, brings alive the state’s churning historical moment as Christianity burst in the 1960s. At the centre of the quiet, reflective drama is a tribal chief, Anghba (Anghlong Konyak). He’s a mournful witness to his community’s transformation under the sway of an American missionary (Douglas James Henshall). There’s a gentle ache in Angh that seeps under your skin, without a hint of rush.
Wed, September 16 2026
Theja Rio‘s film, set in 1960s Nagaland, patiently archives the feeling of dislocation without putting forth resolved arguments
Aiming for a boar on the other side of the river, the Anghbha (Anghlong Konyak), or tribal chief, sights a “white ghost” floating by—a flesh and blood American missionary (Douglas James Henshall) on a boat, with his jeep and some Nagas who have converted. The music is ominous. The ghost waves at him—does the Angbha understand this gesture? The ghost takes out a camera and captures him in film—does the Angbha understand this technology? All we see is his face, shaped by doom. He is hunting the boar with a gun, and not bow and arrows, nor spears, so technology has seeped even into his cloistered world from beyond. What else has slipped through the cracks? What has he resisted?
Termite
(Urdu)
Shaunak Sen’s follow-up to the Academy Award–nominated documentary All That Breathes is an evocative drama set in the vibrant neighbourhoods of Old Delhi, where the routined lives of two middle-aged termite exterminators are about to drastically change when one of them receives an unexpected marriage proposal.
Cast:
Faisal Malik, Vipin Sharma, Shilpa Shukla, Valavane Koumarane, Imran Khan
Director:
Shaunak Sen
Writer:
Shaunak Sen
Fri, September 18 2026
TIFF 2026 | The Oscar-nominated All That Breathes director mines the creeping loneliness of a termite exterminator in Old Delhi.
Once again, the alleys of Delhi hum their ache, regrets and yearnings in Shaunak Sen’s debut fiction outing, Termite. It’s a short film as if Sen is testing the ground before hoisting his flag on it. Like his Oscar-nominated 2022 breakout doc, All That Breathes, the fiction short is also alive and porous to an ecological world, the fellow non-inhuman inhabitants we share our lives with, marginality and the deep curl of thoughts and fears you swat away in recesses.
Sat, September 12 2026
In competition at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), the Oscar-nominated documentarian’s short returns to the bylanes of old Delhi.
Termite, a 30-minute short, is documentary maker Shaunak Sen’s first fiction film. But it’s hard to tell the difference. He treats life as the introverted ally of storytelling; his nonfiction often designs the truth of an invisibilised India. It finds a controlled language to present what already exists. While Cities of Sleep traced the gloomy lyricism of Delhi’s insurgent sleeper communities, the Oscar-nominated All That Breathes shadowed two Muslim brothers who run a bird clinic in old Delhi. The camera — steady, studied, often static — reframes the people as characters, spaces as settings, and ecological relationships as cultural metaphors. Termite looks like it’s ‘following’ two men in the capital, too. A Tamil migrant, Ajith (Valavane Koumarane), shares a rooftop room with his Muslim friend, Saud (Faisal Malik); they spend tired evenings drinking tea and passively watching television.
Happy Journey
Family, Comedy, Adventure (Telugu)
A group of seven women across generations set off on a spontaneous European getaway, leaving their everyday lives behind. Amid the chaos, laughter and picturesque landscapes, the journey becomes an unexpected celebration of freedom and friendship.
Cast:
Aamani, Jhansi, Annapoorna, Vamshidhar Kosgi Goud, Paayal Radhakrishna, Jinisha Alishetty, Sunaina Badam, Roopa Srinivas, Ravi Shiva Teja, Prudhvi Dandamudi
Director:
Abhiramm Naidu
Writer:
Abhiramm Naidu
Fri, September 18 2026
Directed by Abhiramm Naidu, this European road trip Telugu film means well but struggles to shake off its old-fashioned undertones
The prospect of a bright, colourful Telugu film about women across age groups and walks of life bonding over a European holiday is like music to the ears. The sheer rarity of such a narrative in an industry that often functions like an all-boys club can make some of us root for it instantly. After all, an all-woman road film offers abundant room to unpack how these characters view the world while indulging in some mischief. Director Abhiramm Naidu’s film is packed with contrasting characters wanting to set themselves free and forget the voids in their lives, albeit temporarily.
Practical Magic 2
Romance, Fantasy, Comedy (English)
The Owens sisters must confront the dark curse that threatens to unravel their family once and for all.
Cast:
Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman, Joey King, Maisie Williams, Xolo Maridueña, Lee Pace, Dianne Wiest, Stockard Channing, Solly McLeod, Ema Cavolli
Director:
Susanne Bier
Fri, September 18 2026
The best part remains the sibling jousting between Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock, with Bullock again showing how underused she remains as a performer with great comic timing.
You can’t pull a rabbit out of a hat every time. Sometimes, all you can do is pull out hair. In 1998, Sandra Bullock was still awash in the success of the Speed films and gathering up more, while Nicole Kidman was already a big star. Besides, their joint film Practical Magic wasn’t even much of a critical or commercial hit – though it has had a better afterlife. However, clearly a lot of people, the two actors now lying on either side of 60 included, thought there was some power left in the old spell to rustle up a Part 2.
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, September 18 2026
In 'Modha Rathri', there is an excitement for the form of cinema—and what it is capable of saying, doing, and undoing — but there is such a chasm between the design and the delivery
I can understand why people warmed up to Modha Rathri (now out on Netflix). In a landscape ransacked by Anirudh’s BGM shoring up reluctant films and heroes whose heroism is leaning more towards parody than piety, here is a film and filmmaker—debutante Raja Karuppasamy—who dared to tell an intimate, many-splendoured story set over the course of a day. Based on events that director Karuppasamy has himself witnessed and endured, casting family members, there is a warmth here that filters through even the most devious observations of its heady, nauseating cast of characters, and a desire to tell a story that means something, where reformed characters are, in fact, part of the arc—but Karuppasamy does this without flat finger-wagging. A clutter-breaking miracle.
Fri, August 21 2026
Enna Vilai
Drama, Thriller (Tamil)
A humble fisherman from Rameswaram lives a quiet life with his family until he finds a gold pendant washed ashore. What initially seems like a blessing soon turns into a nightmare when false accusations threaten his peace and dignity, forcing him to stand up against a powerful system.
Cast:
Nimisha Sajayan, Karunas, Vijayalakshmi Veeramani, Kamalesh Jegan, Chethan Cheenu, Mohan Raman, Kavithalayaa Krishnan, Swaminathan, Nizhalgal Ravi, Y. G. Mahendran
Director:
Sajeev Pazhoor
Writer:
Sajeev Pazhoor
Fri, September 18 2026
A promising premise and a reliable Karunas are let down by clumsy staging and a bloated, repetitive courtroom drama
Sajeev Pazhoor, the first-time director of Enna Vilai, is no ordinary writer. He’s written the new-age Malayalam classic Thondimuthalum Drikshakshiyum and the directors who have worked on Sajeev’s scripts include Dileesh Pothan, G Prajith (the director of Oru Vadakkan Selfie) and the master Shaji N Karun. Sajeev has also made dozens of documentaries and short films before turning director with Enna Vilai, a Tamil drama set in Rameshwaram. What shines through, even at a premise level, is this writer’s mind and a short story-like quality that could have been made into a better film.
Waiting Hai
Comedy, Drama, Crime (Hindi)
Sugam joins the RPF and investigates a Tatkal scam. Hamza and Mama turn booking software into a business, facing rivalry and betrayal. Sugam arrests the agents and tracks Hamza, ending the scam before his escape to Dubai.
Cast:
Divyendu Sharma, Bhuvan Arora, Kumud Mishra, Vijay Maurya, Harshita Shekhar Gaur, Sunita Rajwar, Dayashankar Pandey, Yashpal Sharma
Director:
Sameer Vidwans
Fri, September 18 2026
Sugam Mishra is a newly married railway cop who has just joined duty, juggling pressures at home and at work. He finds a mentor and a father figure in his senior. Afroz Hamza, a hacking enthusiast nursing a heartbreak in college, takes to crime for a living – joining hands with his uncle to do the dirty backend work for travel agents. While most films try to milk Divyendu Sharma’s Mirzapur image, a show like Waiting Hai actually showcases his range. As an earnest, newly-married man in his 20s starting a new job, he mirrors the character’s rebellion and idealism with honesty. Bhuvan Arora is decent as the invisible hacker wronged by the system. One of the more moving portrayals comes from Kumud Mishra as Sugam’s senior on the verge of retirement. The supporting cast – Vijay Maurya, Harshita Gaur, Sunita Rajwar and Dayashankar Pandey – deliver the goods.
Gandhari
Action, Drama, Thriller (Hindi)
When a mother loses her eyesight and her daughter in a kidnapping, she takes matters into her own hands to hunt down those responsible.
Cast:
Taapsee Pannu, Ishwak Singh, Mita Vashisht, Swastika Mukherjee, Chhaya Kadam, Jatin Sarna, Prashant Narayanan, Chandan Roy, Vishwanath Chatterjee, Priti Shroff
Director:
Devashish Makhija
Writer:
Kanika Dhillon
Fri, September 18 2026
பானிக்கு ஏற்படும் பார்வைக் குறைபாடு, அந்தச் சூழலிலும் குழந்தையைத் தேடி ஓடும் கதை சுவாரஸ்ய லைனில் செல்கிறது. குழந்தை கடத்தல் மாஃபியா பற்றிய விவரிப்பும் ஆராய்ச்சியும் படத்துக்கு ஆழமானதொரு நிறத்தைத் தருகின்றன.
பானியும் (டாப்ஸி) அவருடைய கணவரும் ரயிலில் சென்றுகொண்டிருக்கிறார்கள். திடீரென ஜாய்புரா என்ற ஊரில் அவர்களுடைய குழந்தையைக் கடத்திவிடுகிறார்கள். குழந்தையைக் காப்பாற்ற ஓடிச் செல்கையில் பானிக்குத் தலையில் அடிபட்டு கண்பார்வையில் பிரச்னை ஏற்படுகிறது. ஜாய்புராவில் இப்படியான குழந்தைக் கடத்தல் அதிகமாக நடப்பது பற்றியும், அதை நிகழ்த்தும் நெட்வொர்க் பற்றியும் பானி அறிந்துகொள்கிறார். அதன் பிறகு, பார்வைப் பிரச்னை சரியானாலும், பார்வைச் சவால்கொண்டவர் என்றே தனது அடையாளத்தை வைத்துக்கொண்டு ஜாய்புராவில் தங்கி, தன் குழந்தையைத் தீவிரமாகத் தேடுகிறார். இறுதியில் தன் குழந்தையைக் கண்டுபிடித்தாரா, இந்தக் கடத்தல் குழுவின் பின்னணி என்ன, ஜாய்புராவில் அவை எப்படி ஊடுருவியிருக்கின்றன என்கிற முடிச்சுகளை அவிழ்ப்பதே நெட்ஃப்ளிக்ஸ் தளத்தில் வந்திருக்கும் இந்த ‘காந்தாரி’யின் கதை. (தமிழ் டப்பிங் உண்டு).
Sat, September 12 2026
A land that worships the divine feminine yet treats its women poorly. This is a paradox that rings tragic and true both in reality and in the fictional world of Gandhari. The film is set in Joypurra, an unsettling place where the disappearance of young girls has been frighteningly normalized. The story opens by establishing a happy family of three. Taapsee Pannu and Ishwak Singh play a husband and wife and parents to a young girl Mishti. When Mishti suddenly goes missing the narrative dives straight into the conflict.
Sun, September 6 2026
Haiwaan
Crime, Thriller (Hindi)
A retired judge faces difficulty keeping his daughter safe from a convict he imprisoned. Later, when he gets murdered, a man with visual impairment who was loyal to him tries to defend his daughter.
Cast:
Akshay Kumar, Saif Ali Khan, Boman Irani, Shriya Pilgaonkar, Saiyami Kher, Rajpal Yadav, Sharib Hashmi, Rajesh Sharma, Manoj Joshi, Asrani
Director:
Priyadarshan
Wed, September 16 2026
An intriguing psychological thriller is overwhelmed by Akshay Kumar’s star persona, implausible action, and a screenplay that sacrifices restraint for spectacle.
Some thrillers are so absorbing that they persuade us to surrender logic at the door and simply follow the action wherever it takes us. A good mystery, particularly one built around a cat-and-mouse chase, can make even the most improbable turn feel plausible because the characters, the atmosphere, and the suspense are persuasive enough to keep disbelief suspended. Haiwaan begins with precisely that promise — a potentially engrossing tale of guilt, vengeance, betrayal, and retribution, populated by characters whose secrets could have sustained a gripping psychological thriller. Instead, Priyadarshan’s remake of his own 2016 Malayalam film Oppam gradually loses sight of the thriller it could have been, drowning a promising premise in star power, implausible action, and a screenplay that repeatedly mistakes excess for excitement.
Sat, September 12 2026
Priyadarshan’s Haiwaan is a remake of his own Malayalam film Oppam (2016), which was a big hit a decade ago. After watching Haiwaan, I spent some time wondering why Priyadarshan chose to remake a successful film of his own. What value addition could he possibly bring to it? Alas, I couldn’t think of a satisfactory answer - except that commercial considerations must have warranted it.
Sat, September 12 2026
This overlong psychological thriller starring Saif Ali Khan and Akshay Kumar struggles on pretty much every front
At the start of Haiwaan, Shyam (Saif Ali Khan) boards a ferry, teases a man who owes him money, sings and plays guitar. If it wasn’t for his dark glasses and cane, it would be hard to tell he’s blind—indeed, it’s a running conspiracy theory through Priyadarshan’s film that he’s only pretending he can’t see. Shyam has heightened senses of sound, touch, taste and smell, which provide him an uncanny mental picture of the world around him. But when his sister tearfully asks for his blessings, he responds after a few seconds and doesn’t realise that she’s left. He’s left patting the air around him while violins play sadly on the soundtrack.
Slow Horses S06
Crime, Drama, Mystery (English)
Follow a dysfunctional team of MI5 agents—and their obnoxious boss, the notorious Jackson Lamb—as they navigate the espionage world's smoke and mirrors to defend England from sinister forces.
Cast:
Gary Oldman, Jack Lowden, Kristin Scott Thomas, Hugo Weaving, Saskia Reeves, Christopher Chung, Rosalind Eleazar, Aimee-Ffion Edwards
Wed, September 16 2026
The Emmy-nominated British espionage drama is back with its sixth season in six years, and the tension remains at an all-time high
Apple TV’s Slow Horses has never shied away from death. In the past five seasons, Slough House has lost several agents, and this season, the count is about to get higher. Gary Oldman’s Jackson Lamb must figure out who is targeting his agents and why. Based on the books of Mick Herron, the MI5 agents of Slough House have endured a lot, but this season, they’re truly on the run as sitting targets in a mission that’s out to get them. Led by Oldman and Jack Lowden, the darkly humorous spy thriller just improves with every season, as the writing, characterisation and direction just get sharper and hit that much harder.
Neagley
Drama, Mystery, Crime (English)
Frances Neagley is a private investigator in Chicago and former military colleague of Jack Reacher in the Army's 110th Special Investigations Unit. When she learns that a beloved friend from her past has been killed in a suspicious accident, she becomes hell-bent on justice.
Cast:
Maria Sten, Greyston Holt, Adeline Rudolph, Matthew Del Negro, Damon Herriman, Jasper Jones
Wed, September 16 2026
My loudly-declared soft spot for Reacher has always had room for Neagley, and when they are together, they rekindle old magic: maybe in the next Neagley outing, have more of Reacher? And maybe more Neagley, in the next Reacher?
At the outset, let me confess how keenly I was waiting for this Reacher spin-off, with his favourite team-mate Neagley at its centre: the fierce ex-Armywoman who went on to become a PI in Chicago, has been a staple in the best Reacher adventurers, and has livened up things everytime she shows up in the show. In her first solo outing, Maria Sten’s Neagley fills the screen with her presence, the creators Nick Santora and Nicholas Wootton wisely surrounding her with an interesting ensemble from the get-go: smart cop Hudson Riley (Greyston Hold), an equally smart secretary Renee Birdwhistle (Adeline Rudolph) and homeless orphan Keeno (Jasper Jones), who get enough to do together and on their own.
Pradhama Dhrishtya Kuttakkar
Thriller, Drama (Malayalam)
Follows a woman constable who joins the police force through appointment after the death of her husband.
Cast:
Parvathy Thiruvothu, Vijayaraghavan, Unnimaya Prasad, Mathew Thomas, Sidharth Bharathan, Azees Nedumangad, Vinay Forrt, R. Parthiban, Balaji Sarma, Vrindha Menon
Director:
Shahad Nilambur
Writer:
Vijesh Thottingal, P. S. Subramanian
Tue, September 15 2026
Shahad, who debuted with the forgettable coming-of-age drama ‘Prakashan Parakkatte’ (2022), ups his game here by several notches, aided by a taut screenplay
It may be one of cinema’s greatest tricks that it can twist one’s line of thinking about a person or an incident just with the perspective it chooses to present, the framing, editing choices, or the background score used. Reading a basic news report on the incident of crime at the centre of Shahad’s Pradhama Drishtiya Kuttakkar might make one assume a particular stand on the culprits, knowing the long history of this kind of crime in the country and the stories that can be made up to save them. However, the film frames the incident, the events leading up to it, its aftermath and the people involved in such a way that not once do we wish for the culprits to be caught and punished. Of course, we have Jeethu Joseph’s Drishyam (2013), in which we all collectively stood with those who committed the crime. The film also has quite a few parallels with Drishyam, but this one has very different concerns and approach to the crime.
Mon, September 14 2026
A quartet of cops orchestrate a cover-up in Shahad Nilambur’s occasionally thrilling ‘Pradhama Drishtiya Kuttakkar’
The first few scenes of Shahad Nilambur’s Pradhama Drishtiya Kuttakkar remind one of Sandhya Suri’s Santosh, in how undramatically we find out about the death of Aleena Abraham’s (Parvathy Thiruvothu) husband on duty. Aleena, with a child and the hopes of her husband’s family pinned on her, takes the police job on offer. There are no theatrics, no sad ballads or wave of sympathy for her, her baby or her situation. Theatrics is for later, but manufacturing sympathy almost never enters the picture, for Aleena is cut from a different cloth. The film then speedruns—a montage covers her training, a split-second encounter with her husband’s former colleague, her posting to a station in Kottayam and getting comfortable with the new workplace and her sufficiently leisurely colleagues, all of them in the lowest rungs of the police hierarchy. We realize that time has passed and the baby is now a toddler.
Sun, September 13 2026
How do we empathise with a force like the police? The last time I asked myself this, I was watching reels of police violence against Gen-Z protesters at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar. That scepticism lasted about thirty minutes, right until I spotted a traffic cop drenched in sweat while I sat comfortably in an AC vehicle, wearing sunglasses and two layers of sunscreen. Humanising lower-rank police officers in India is an uncomfortable exercise. Director Shahad’s investigative thriller Pradhama Drishtya Kuttakkar takes up that challenge and builds a cat-and-mouse game around a group of cops hiding an accidental crime from a system that both empowers and oppresses them.