Jewel Thief - The Heist Begins
Action, Thriller (Hindi)
In this high-octane battle of wits and wills, ingenious con artist Rehan devises a diamond heist while trying to outsmart Rajan, his sadistic adversary. (more…)
The Bhootnii
Comedy, Horror, Romance (Hindi)
The Virgin Tree, based in the heart of St. Vincent's College, is home to a spirit who awakens every Valentine's Day in response to the longing for true love. As strange incidents multiply, the Virgin Tree becomes a place (more…)
Guild Reviews
Subham
Horror, Comedy (Telugu)
A group of married men band together after their wives become transfixed by a cable TV soap opera serial.
Cast:
Harshith Malgireddy, Srinivas Gavireddy, Charan Peri, Shriya Kontham, Shravani Lakshmi, Shalini Kondepudi, Vamsidhar Goud, Samantha Ruth Prabhu
Director:
Praveen Kandregula
Writer:
Vasanth Maringanti
Samantha’s maiden production is a hilarious genre bender
Fri, May 9 2025
It is always a joy when a modest film swings big and lands comfortably, andSubham, a Telugu horror comedy, does just that. Marking actor Samantha Ruth Prabhu’s debut as a producer, the film is directed by Cinema Bandi’s Praveen Kandregula and written by Vasanth Maringanti. On the surface, it is a spooky comedy, but at heart, it is a sharp commentary on gender sensitivity — made all the more effective by smart writing and charming performances. Set in the early 2000s, in the pre-internet days of coastal Bheemili, undivided Andhra Pradesh, the story begins with a sweetly awkward pelli choopulu (an arranged marriage meet-cute) between Srinu (Harshith Reddy), a cable TV operator, and Sri Valli (Shriya Kontham), a bank employee. The backdrop — where cable still reigns while satellite TV starts inching in — adds nostalgia without overwhelming the narrative.
Jai Mata Ji Let's Rock
Comedy, Family, Drama (Gujarati)
An 80-year-old woman faces four wild options after a government program disrupts her life: revenge on family, rekindling romance, living luxuriously, or choosing it all in this comedy about family surprises
Cast:
Malhar Thakar, Vyoma Nandi, Tiku Talsania, Vandana Pathak, Shekhar Shukla
Director:
Manish Saini
मज़ा, मस्ती, मैसेज ‘जय माता जी-लैट्स रॉक’ में
Fri, May 9 2025
सरकार ने ऐलान किया है कि 80 साल से ऊपर के हर बुजुर्ग को हर महीने एक लाख रुपए की पेंशन मिलेगी। अब अचानक से सब लोगों के भीतर वृद्धों के प्रति प्रेम जाग गया है। अपने माता-पिता को वृद्धाश्रम में छोड़ आए लोग अब विनती करके उन्हें वापस ला रहे हैं। जो कमल और गुलाब अपनी मां को पास नहीं रखना चाहते थे, अब उन्हें अपने-अपने पास रखने के लिए लड़ रहे हैं। दोनों बहुओं में तकरार हो रही है कि सास की ज़्यादा सेवा कौन करेगा। लेकिन सासू बा भी गजब हैं। इस नई पारी के खुल कर मज़े ले रही हैं। और तभी आता है एक ट्विस्ट…! मनोरंजन के रैपर में लपेट कर मैसेज देने वाले लेखक-निर्देशक मनीष सैनी अपनी दो गुजराती फिल्मों ‘ढ’ और ‘गांधी एंड कंपनी’ के लिए राष्ट्रीय पुरस्कार पा चुके हैं। अब अपनी इस अगली गुजराती फिल्म ‘जय माता जी-लैट्स रॉक’ में भी वह तारीफें पाने लायक काम करते दिखे हैं।
Pyar Paisa Profit
(Hindi)
Abhijeet, a small-town boy with big dreams, leaves behind Delhi and his modest family for a high-paying job in Mumbai. But between five-star hotels, cutthroat colleagues, and fragile friendships, he learns that survival isn't about playing fair - it's about playing smart. In a city built on ambition, will he lose himself before he finds success?
Cast:
Mihir Ahuja, Mahvash, Shivangi Khedkar, Pratik Yadav, Ashish Raghav
Director:
Prashant Singh
Writer:
Durjoy Dutta, Sumrit Shahi
(Writing for M9 News)
Okayish Corporate Drama
Fri, May 9 2025
Abhijeet, a small-town boy, relocates to Mumbai for a high-paying job, struggling with professional ethics and fitting in. His ambition leads to selfish acts, damaging friendships with colleagues Garima, Saurav, and Shruti, resulting in isolation and debt. After a crisis, he rebuilds, facing workplace crises and navigating a complex relationship with Garima, learning the true cost of success. Mihir Ahuja’s ‘chocolate boy’ looks suit his role as an innocent young man trying to find his way in a restless city. His performance is neat, handling the highs and lows of his character with composure. RJ Mahvash has good screen presence, unveiling many layers in her role and sharing a warm camaraderie with Mihir.
Hit 3
Crime, Thriller, Action (Telugu)
Arjun Sarkaar, an SP in HIT at Visakhapatnam, gets assigned to a case for HIT in Jammu and Kashmir to catch a group of serial killers who are responsible for the gruesome murders of several people.
Cast:
Nani, Srinidhi Shetty, Komalee Prasad, Maganti Srinath, Rao Ramesh, Surya Srinivas, Adil Pala, Brahmaji, Prateik Babbar, Amit Sharma
Director:
Sailesh Kolanu
Writer:
Sailesh Kolanu
Wed, May 7 2025
An effective Nani sees red in this bloody but rocky action drama
Sat, May 3 2025
Why doesn’t John Wick die? Why doesn’t Ethan Hunt die? Why doesn’t any bullet even graze the shoulders of our heroes when they have insane precision with their shots? How do the henchmen die with a couple of slashes by a machete but the hero survives a thousand blows? Of course, there is no point asking these questions simply because we know the answer. He is the hero, and at the end of the day, he has to walk into the sunset with a girl in tow even if he is a bloodied mess. Director Sailesh Kolanu’s third installment in the popular HIT franchise, follows this template right from the word go, and converts our ‘beloved-boy-next-door’ Nani into a ‘kick-the-door open and innovatively kill and maim 100 people’ Nani.
Nani lifts a visually slick but uneven thriller
Thu, May 1 2025
In a scene from HIT: The Third Case, a character describes Arjun Sarkaar’s (Nani) actions as “classy”. Arjun retorts that this time, he intends to show his true self — stepping away from the image of refinement often associated with him. In another moment, when someone warns him that he “cannot survive here”, he responds, “I’ve been hearing that since the beginning of my career.” These meta-cinematic lines feel less like commentary on the character and more like nods to the actor himself. In HIT 3, director Sailesh Kolanu leans into fan service, casting Nani — long embraced by family audiences — in a darker, bloodier setup. The film carries an ‘A’ certificate, and Nani effectively sheds his man-next-door image to become a ruthless cop whose methods, unsurprisingly, come under scrutiny. Departing from the slow-burn whodunit tone of the earlier films, this third instalment in the HIT universe trades mystery for carnage. It is not about who, how, or even why — the perpetrators are beyond reasoning. The real question is whether the film successfully marries crime thriller elements with full-throttle action to offer a gripping cinematic experience. Some segments land powerfully; others feel stretched or overly engineered.
Retro
Romance, Action, Drama, Crime (Tamil)
Paarivel Kannan's marriage is broken by his fiancé, Rukmani, due to his violent ways. In an attempt to win her back, Paarivel goes to Black Island in Andamaan, where he comes to loggerheads with the heads of the island.
Cast:
Suriya, Pooja Hegde, Joju George, Jayaram, Vidhu, Prakash Raj, Karunakaran, Sujith Sankar, Nassar, Nandita Das
Director:
Karthik Subbaraj
Writer:
Karthik Subbaraj
Wed, May 7 2025
(Writing for OTT Play)
So Much To Love, Very Little To Feel
Sat, May 3 2025
You can say many things about a Karthik Subbaraj movie, but one thing you can never accuse it of is being lazy—be it ideation, fine use of technology, great performances, shock value, irony, smart humour, or just the world he creates. And, with every film, you can see that he’s developing a stronger voice on what he wants to say. Jigarthanda DoubleX was an example. But, the one thing that is sorely missing in his films with the same intensity is emotion—that one thing which brings the rest together, and makes them work. Retro, starring an effervescent Suriya, falls in the same category.
(Writing for Medium)
Retro Is Flawed, Fierce, and Exactly What Suriya Needed
Sat, May 3 2025
Suriya was left bruised and bloodied — figuratively speaking — after the release of his much-hyped film Kanguva. Years of promotions pitched it as Tamil cinema’s answer to Baahubali, setting up massive expectations among audiences. But when the film finally released, it fell woefully short of delivering on that promise. To make matters worse, it became a target of a systematic and persistent online attack that further ensured its disastrous box office run. Kanguva’s failure was especially brutal — it visibly shook Suriya’s confidence. That uncertainty was evident in the way he promoted Retro. He avoided overhyping it, spoke cautiously, and refrained from the aggressive push we’ve seen from him in the past. Once bitten, twice shy, right?
Cast:
Ashutosh Gowariker, Rohini Hattangadi, Prajakta Hanamghar, Parna Pethe, Om Bhutkar, Siddharth Jadhav, Bharat Jadhav
Director:
Shivraj Waichal
Writer:
Shivraj Waichal, Omkar Gokhale, Arvind Jagtap
(Writing for The Common Man Speaks)
This heartwarming tale restores your faith in humanity
Tue, May 6 2025
Mumbaikars are often seen complaining about the BMC (Brihanmumbai Mahanagar Corporation) when it comes to running the city. While these criticisms might be valid, it is their poor workers who are always at the receiving end since they become the face of BMC at ground level. Debutant filmmaker Shivraj Waichal’s Ata Thambaycha Naay! is a much deserved tribute to them and their painstaking efforts to keep the city functioning. But the movie goes much beyond displaying their difficult lives. It is based on a true and heartwarming incident in the lives of a few BMC workers in 2016, although the film features fictitious characters and their sub-stories. The Assistant Municipal Commissioner Uday Shirurkar (Ashutosh Gowariker) of BMC decides to get a group of its Class IV workers complete their 10th standard. They had to drop out of school due to some reason of the other. Shirurkar not only decides to provide them education free of cost at a night school but, on top of that, promises to pay them a remuneration for the same along with a chance of salary hike.
A heartfelt story that makes you smile and leaves you teary-eyed too
Fri, May 2 2025
When waste collection by sanitation workers was briefly paused during the COVID-19 pandemic, it took just a couple of days to show us how important a role they play in society today. Be it choked drainages, burst water lines or piled up garbage heaps, the municipal safai karmacharis are the first responders that get to work. Unfortunately, they’re also the first ones to bear the brunt of citizens’ wrath in such cases. Often it is the educated person that doesn’t think twice before covering their nose and making derogatory remarks about these workers. That lack of empathy and abundance the entitled behaviour also highlights the difference between education and literacy. In multiple scenes of his debut directorial, Shivraj Waichal sheds light on this. At its heart, Ata Thambaycha Naay is an ode to the BMC’s sanitation workers whose life is a paradox – they simultaneously form the backbone of the city and are among the most neglected lot. The film is based on the real story of class IV BMC workers going back to school at the behest of Uday Shirurkar, the erstwhile assistant municipal commissioner of BMC’s ward B.
The Bhootnii
Comedy, Horror, Romance (Hindi)
The Virgin Tree, based in the heart of St. Vincent's College, is home to a spirit who awakens every Valentine's Day in response to the longing for true love. As strange incidents multiply, the Virgin Tree becomes a place of dread, the authorities call in a veteran para-physicist to confront the entity.
Cast:
Sanjay Dutt, Mouni Roy, Palak Tiwari, Aasif Khan, Sunny Singh
Director:
Sidhaant Sachdev
This film lacks plot, production value, sense and sensibility
Mon, May 5 2025
Within a few minutes of the film’s opening, I asked myself: what am I doing here? Two hours, ten minutes, and what seems like a lifetime of groaning-and-moaning later, I have zero answers to that one. Horror comedies may be the flavour of the season after the ‘Stree’ jamboree, but even its part 2 was nowhere close to the delightful original. In this new film, we get a ‘The’, emphasising that this is not your random garden variety of bhootni, but a very specific one, with a double i to boot. Ergo, this one will stand apart. Which it does. It proudly and flagrantly stands apart from any vestiges of plot and production values, forget about sense and sensibility.
Sanjay Dutt’s ghosthunter act cannot enliven horror comedy
Thu, May 1 2025
What’s the deal with Sunny Singh? The actor, in his fairly long career, has been a curious nonentity in Hindi cinema, turning up in any and every film that will have him. He was a mildly amusing presence in the Luv Ranjan Cinematic Universe. But his recent output has been especially bleak. It does not seem to matter if he is playing Lakshmana in Adipurush or a boozy beefcake in Wild Wild Punjab. Whatever the assignment, Singh gives the impression of an amiable jock who’s wandered in from the nearest Hakim’s Aalim. In The Bhootnii, a new horror-comedy, Singh plays Santanu, a student of ‘St. Vincent’s College of Arts and Culture’, a true cradle of learning. Its students occupy themselves with the pursuit of sachi mohabbat (true love), which is understandably hard to come by. Each year, on Valentine’s Day, they hang trinkets and pictures on a wishing tree called the ‘Virgin Tree’. It is worshipped as a bringer of romantic good luck, but it also bodes ill: a tree nymph, played by Mouni Roy, haunts the campus, and has apparently precipitated a string of recent suicides.
A Horror-Comedy That Haunts its Viewers
Thu, May 1 2025
As a genre, the horror comedy has reached a stage in its afterlife cycle where its ghoulish spirit is haunting theatres and vowing revenge against empty seats. The latest distorted entity is called The Bhootnii, an anti-film posing as a campus comedy set in a university that merges shots of Mumbai’s St. Xavier’s College with the abandoned studio lot of Om Shanti Om (2007) and the miscellaneous cultural energy of Rok Sako To Rok Lo (2004). It stars Mouni Roy as a jilted ghost named Mohabbat who yearns for the love of the student who accidentally summons her after a bad breakup by yelling “Where is my mohabbat?” in front of a tree haunted by her. He wanted to scream at the Virgin Tree (don’t ask), but drunkenly reached the wrong yard on a rainy night. Sometimes I wonder if I’m actually typing these lines in 2025.
Raid 2
Drama, Crime (Hindi)
Amay Patnaik conducts his 75th raid on the premises of a influential politician named Dada Bhai.
Cast:
Ajay Devgn, Ritesh Deshmukh, Vaani Kapoor, Saurabh Shukla, Rajat Kapoor, Sushil Dahiya, Tamannaah Bhatia, Amit Sial, Supriya Pathak
Director:
Raj Kumar Gupta
Writer:
Raj Kumar Gupta, Karan Vyas, Ritesh Shah, Jaideep Yadav
The Fun is Missing
Sat, May 3 2025
The Taxman Cometh
Sat, May 3 2025
The follow-up to Raid (2018) takes place in the late 1980s and reflects the style of films from that era, where politicians are portrayed as antagonists and the protagonist must outwit them.
Taxing sequel of an income-tax raid
Sat, May 3 2025
Logically, a sequel ought to be bigger and better, a feat rarely achieved. Indeed, ‘Raid 2’ ups the scale on the execution front. But in terms of treatment, as it tries to marry the realistic with the dramatic, it is a tough balancing act. From the ‘No One Killed Jessica’ director Raj Kumar Gupta, who directed the prequel ‘Raid’ too, you do not expect the same old wine in a new bottle. If we lauded ‘Raid’, based on a real-life incident, for fleshing out a full-fledged movie out of an income-tax raid, ‘Raid 2’ can’t possibly be just more of the same. For, how much surprise can you pack in the crevices of where and how the corrupt hide their money?
Asterix & Obelix: The Big Fight
Animation, Action & Adventure, Comedy, Kids, Sci-Fi & Fantasy (French)
When their druid forgets how to prepare the magic potion, Asterix and Obelix must defend the village as Caesar plots to use a Gallic law against them.
Cast:
Alain Chabat, Gilles Lellouche, Anaïs Demoustier, Laurent Lafitte, Thierry Lhermitte, Géraldine Nakache, Jean-Pascal Zadi, Grégoire Ludig, David Marsais, Jérôme Commandeur
Director:
Alain Chabat
Writer:
Alain Chabat, Benoît Oullion, Pierre-Alain Bloch
By Toutatis! Netflix quenches thirst for nostalgia with magic potion for the soul
Sat, May 3 2025
Unlike his fellow Franco-Belgian comic book icon Tintin, Asterix has a rich history of representation in cinema and on television. While Tintin has inspired mainly the beloved Canadian cartoon adaptation and a criminally underrated feature film directed by Steven Spielberg, the adventures of Asterix the Gaul have spawned 18 films, 15 board games, 40 video games, and one theme park. The latest is a glossy Netflix mini-series, originally announced in 2021 but released only this week. Asterix & Obelix: The Big Fight is based on the 1964 comic of the same name, and will likely delight generations of readers who’ve grown up with the character.
Havoc
Action, Crime, Thriller (English)
When a drug heist swerves lethally out of control, a jaded cop fights his way through a corrupt city's criminal underworld to save a politician's son.
Cast:
Tom Hardy, Jessie Mei Li, Timothy Olyphant, Forest Whitaker, Justin Cornwell, Quelin Sepulveda, Luis Guzmán, Sunny Pang, Yeo Yann Yann, Michelle Waterson-Gomez
Director:
Gareth Evans
Writer:
Gareth Evans
Tom Hardy unleashes a tornado of violence in Netflix’s blood-drenched action-thriller
Sat, May 3 2025
Everybody just needs to calm down in Havoc, the long-awaited new movie from Welsh director Gareth Evans. Starring Tom Hardy, it appears to be an attempt by Evans to deliberately distance himself from his two Raid films. Those movies introduced the world to a Pencak Silat, an Indonesian martial art that had previously never been represented on screen in such delectable detail. Evans filmed the combat scenes in those movies the way that Quentin Tarantino films feet. In Havoc, however, he replaces the frenetic fisticuffs with gory gunfights. The result is about as brutal, and far more stylish than anything he’s ever done before.
Jewel Thief - The Heist Begins
Action, Thriller (Hindi)
In this high-octane battle of wits and wills, ingenious con artist Rehan devises a diamond heist while trying to outsmart Rajan, his sadistic adversary.
Cast:
Saif Ali Khan, Jaideep Ahlawat, Nikita Dutta, Kunal Kapoor, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Gagan Arora, Dorendra Singh Loitongbam, Peter Muxka Manuel, Ayaz Khan, Sumit Gulati
Director:
Robby Grewal, Kookie Gulati
How many times will Saif Ali Khan facilitate the destruction of Bollywood (after restoring it)?
Sat, May 3 2025
Many years ago, Netflix announced a grand prequel series to SS Rajamouli’s landmark Baahubali films. A cast was assembled and paraded before the press in Singapore; the series was even given a title: Baahubali: Before the Beginning. It was filmed at Ramoji; people were taken on tours of the set. But the final show was deemed unworthy of Netflix’s server space, and, in an admirable display of creative integrity, it was decided that the project be revamped before being shown to the world. A new creative team was brought on board, and the entire thing was redone with a different cast. Remarkably, even the 2.0 version failed to meet Netflix’s high standards — we are, after all, talking about the same streamer that nodded in approval when presented with Jewel Thief: The Heist Begins — and the mega-budget project, on which hundreds of crores had already been spent, put out of its misery.
A Spotify Review
Tue, April 29 2025
Weeks after Nadaaniyan that starred his son, Saif Ali Khan’s Jewel Thief: The Heist Begins—inexplicably—further lowers the bar for Netflix India. We struggle to talk meaningfully about the heist movie and instead find ourselves discussing Netflix’s terrible track record in India. We wonder why an actor of Jaideep Ahlawat’s talent would put himself through this, and eventually get around to poking holes in the film’s plot and questioning the intelligence of its characters.
धूल मचाने निकला ‘ज्वेल थीफ’
Sun, April 27 2025
सबसे पहले तो नेटफ्लिक्स वालों को अपने सब्सक्राइर्ब्स से यह शपथ-पत्र साइन करवा लेना चाहिए कि ‘ज्वेल थीफ’ नाम की इस फिल्म को देखने से पहले वे लोग कोई रिव्यू नहीं पढ़ेंगे, फिल्म देखते समय कोई सवाल नहीं पूछेंगे और फिल्म देखने के बाद बिना गाली-गलौज किए अपना सब्सक्रिप्शन जारी रखेंगे। चलिए आगे बढ़ते हैं। हां तो, एक विलेन है जिसके बारे में पूरी दुनिया के क्राइम वर्ल्ड को पता है कि वह बदमाश आदमी है, नहीं पता तो मुंबई पुलिस को, दुनिया भर की पुलिस को। उसे पांच सौ करोड़ के एक हीरे की चोरी करवानी है इसलिए वह एक नामी चोर के पापा को ब्लैकमेल करता है। वह नामी चोर क्यों नामी है, यह बात हमें नहीं बताई जाती। भई, हर बात क्यों बताई जाए 149 रुपए में पूरा महीना नेटफ्लिक्स चाटने वालों को? हां तो, उस नामी चोर के पीछे मुंबई पुलिस के एक अफसर ने सरकारी खर्चे पर दो ऐसे बंदे छोड़ रखे हैं जो विदेशों में घूम-घूम कर उस पर सिर्फ ‘नज़र’ रख रहे हैं और उनमें से एक तो चिप्स खा-खाकर इतना तगड़ा (मोटा पढ़िए) हो चुका है कि चार कदम भी नहीं भाग पाता। इन्हें चकमा देकर वह नामी चोर मुंबई आ जाता है क्योंकि वह हीरा भी मुंबई आने वाला है। यह बात भी सबको पता है, बस नहीं पता तो हमारे उस पुलिस अफसर को। वैसे इस पुलिस अफसर की मुंबई में भले ही न चलती हो, विदेशी पुलिस इसके एक इशारे पर जुट जाती है। अब शुरू होती है उस हीरे को चुराने की मुहिम और साथ ही शुरू होता है चोर-पुलिस का खेल।
Cast:
Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Priya Bapat, Hussain Dalal, Gagan Dev Riar
Writer:
Bhavesh Mandalia
(Writing for M9 News)
A Dry Biopic of an Inspiring Life
Sat, May 3 2025
In 1990s Goa, a determined customs officer, Costao Fernandes, wages a fierce battle against a large gold smuggling network. His pursuit of justice thrusts him into dangerous situations. A confrontation with the smugglers leads to a death, and Costao is subsequently accused of murder. How does he stay committed to his duty amidst the heavy personal toll in his fight against corruption in Goa? Nawazuddin Siddiqui is the lifeline of the film, who uses dialogues and body language to masterfully depict his fiery yet underplayed arrogance. However, he needed a more engaging script to sink his teeth into. Priya Bapat is as reliable as ever, winning your empathy while cast as a responsible wife who prioritises her family over anything else.
A Promising Biopic That Snatches Defeat From the Jaws of Victory
Thu, May 1 2025
All things considered, Costao is not your cookie-cutter Bollywood biopic. It stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Costao Fernandes, the plucky Goa customs officer who killed the brother of a powerful minister in self-defense while trying to bust a gold-smuggling operation in 1991. This incident happens around 30 minutes into the two-hour-long film. At this point, he goes on the run; the Goa police as well as the politician’s goons search for him. The CBI soon puts him on trial for murder, and the gangster plans cold-blooded revenge. He is even attacked in a medical room by henchmen disguised as doctors. Most stories would stage his fight for innocence as an extension of this moment — as a tense battle for survival. One can almost imagine a high-pitched climax where he uncovers proof, exposes the smugglers, wins the case and clears his own name.
Dynamic Nawaz
Thu, May 1 2025
Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s gift to embody individuals committed to their ideology is frequent fodder for cinema. After playing the unwavering Dashrath Manjhi in Manjhi: The Mountain Man, illustrious author Saadat Hasan Manto in Manto, blunt politician and Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray in Thackeray and psychotic serial killer Raman Raghav in Raman Raghav 2.0, the actor plays a 1990s Goan hero in the eponymous Costao. Customs officer Costao Fernandes rose to fame for standing his ground against an influential smuggling kingpin when the latter dragged him to court for the murder of his younger brother.