Mon, July 7 2025

Love certainly has evolved since Basu's first, 'Life in a... Metro', but now it plays like a protracted story whose conclusion is long foreseeable

Seventeen years after he tugged heartstrings with Life in a… Metro, Anurag Basu and Pritam are back navigating love in the big city, or should we say cities. The stories this time shift between Bengaluru, New Delhi and Calcutta. For Metro… In Dino, Basu adopts a less-seen, interesting narrative device to lure viewers into the world: characters introducing themselves by way of sing-song dialogue delivery. There’s Sara Ali Khan’s Chumki professing she’s confused and unsure; there’s Konkona SenSharma’s Kajol discussing her insipid marital life; there’s Anupam Kher, playing a widower, opening up about losing his loved ones in an accident; there’s Ali Fazal’s aspiring singer sharing his struggles. And there’s Pritam, Papon and Raghav Chaitanya, the travelling troubadours in the backdrop. Offering a peek into a character’s current state of mind and establishing their world, the first half breezes past.

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Sun, July 6 2025

Few filmmakers aim as high as Anurag Basu. The striving is driven more by curiosity than ambition — the desire to see what can be achieved when a story is set to music and punctuated with whimsy. The symphony is rapturous but not guaranteed, making his storytelling both messy and distinct. Inconsistent as this might be, it can also be rewarding: the highs in his films are so potent that the lesser moments are frustrated and elevated in anticipation Metro… In Dino is no exception. Basu’s feature is characteristically chaotic, buzzing with the cacophony of a crowd and beating with a single heart. It has the levity and longing of his later style and bleeds more than builds. It carries the hurt of unspoken words and the humour of saying it aloud. A spiritual sequel to Life in a… Metro, Basu’s latest has similar vibes but differs in spirit. If the 2007 film was concerned with the loneliness of citied existence then Metro… In Dino is about the cities we carry within ourselves.

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Sat, July 5 2025

A poetic exploration of modern love, weaving six urban stories through seasons, cities, and souls—capturing heartbreak, hope, and human connection in bittersweet harmony.

In the ceaseless hum of city life, where buildings scrape the skies and dreams stretch further still, Anurag Basu returns to familiar terrain—with unfamiliar faces and untold tales. Metro… In Dino is less a sequel than a kindred spirit to Life in a… Metro (2007), that elegiac hymn to urban loneliness and love. Where the earlier film rode on the late Irrfan Khan’s quiet gravitas, this one blooms with a new ensemble of characters—a tapestry woven with fresh threads but dyed in the same bittersweet hues of metropolitan melancholy. If love is a constant, it is so not because of its predictability, but because it defies time, space, and season. That is the foundational pulse of Metro… In Dino: the unbelievable becomes believable, the mundane profound. Basu doesn’t just craft stories—he paints atmospheres, where cityscapes become emotional landscapes, and each window, each narrow alley, tells a tale of yearning. This spiritual successor traces the contours of contemporary relationships—fractured, ephemeral, tender, and quietly devastating—against the backdrops of Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, and Bangalore, cities not just as settings but as sentient beings. They breathe, they pulse, they ache along with the lovers they cradle.

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Sun, July 6 2025

Despite plot conveniences towards the end, the film never strays away from its lighter treatment

Right from the title Dheeran (brave), which defines the protagonist, almost every other character in Devadath Shaji’s debut directorial has a defining trait. From a Hindi-obsessed welder to a local don who is more interested in his perfume business to an illicit liquor brewer who has a penchant for stirring up trouble even in the most peaceful of circumstances, it is a motley crew of oddballs. Eldhose (Rajesh Madhavan), the protagonist, gets that unlikely name which he struggles to live up to from an act of bravery in childhood, that also becomes a moment of tragedy in his life. Director Devadath Shaji, who wrote the screenplay of Bheeshmaparvam, gives a wrapping of humour to convey all that he wants to. Beneath its surface layer of easy humour, which keeps the film engaging atleast until the halfway point, Dheeran is also about the long-lasting impact of certain events in the lives of people. One particular incident leaves all those who are involved in it deeply scarred, some physical while for some others it is mental. The incident also dictates the whole village’s perception of a particular character.

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Sun, July 6 2025

Fri, July 4 2025

3 BHK doesn’t let any scene or moment breathe. It is as if the film wants to work like a flowchart: this happened then that happened and now here we are. Aditya Shrikrishna writes.

Over an hour into 3 BHK, director Sri Ganesh stages a scene in a restaurant that is completely disconnected from the rest of the film. It occurs out of nowhere and sticks out like a stray limb out of a burning pyre. Prabhu (Siddharth) and his sister Aarthy (Meeta Raghunath) take their parents, Vasudevan (Sarath Kumar) and Shanthi (Devayani), to a fancy restaurant for their wedding anniversary. The restaurant is way out of their middle class means. As a flabbergasted Vasudevan looks at the menu and his surroundings, Prabhu turns to him and says “kaalam maari pochu (times have changed)”. It is a regular aphorism, but it is also the title of a popular 1996 film from the stables of V Sekar, the ‘90s kingpin of middle-class family dramas. Dramas that might be lowbrow on the surface but have a remarkable level of honesty and clarity. They shoot straight and are seldom disingenuous. That moment really clicked into place what is not working with 3 BHK, ostensibly a similar film but one that takes itself way too seriously and has very little authenticity to deserve our attention.

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Fri, July 4 2025

An endearing story about the struggles of a middle-class family. With heartfelt emotions and layered storytelling, the film is a mirror that reflects reality.

For a middle-class family, owning a house is a distant dream – one that not many can afford. For some, this dream is their sole identity. For others, it is a mark of respect. But how long must a middle-class family of four toil to own a 3BHK flat in a high-rise building, especially when life keeps throwing curveballs their way? That’s exactly what director Sri Ganesh’s ‘3BHK’ explores. Vasudevan (Sarathkumar) is the sole breadwinner of a middle-class family of four. He and his wife Shanthi (Devayani), along with their son Prabhu (Siddharth) and daughter Aarthy (Meetha Raghunath), move from one rented house to another as he continues to save for a home of their own, because for Vasudevan, house = respect. ‘3BHK’ chronicles several decades of Vasudevan and his family’s life and their struggle to fulfil their dream. Every time they get inch closer to it, life intervenes – where needs become more important than wants. Vasudevan invests in Prabhu’s education, so he can share his dream and the burden of saving money with him. But, Prabhu, like Vasudevan, is fighting his own battle – one that drains him physically and mentally. When will Vasudevan’s dream come true?

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Sun, July 6 2025

Fri, July 4 2025

Director Ram's 'Paranthu Po', starring Mirchi Shiva, Grace Antony and Mithul, is a profound story about self-discovery when you are busy running the city life. Without being too preachy, the film hits all the right notes.

What does an eight-year-old want? His parents, who enroll him in a prestigious elite school, give him access to everything. He has access to a computer, Zomato/Swiggy, expensive waveboards, all materialistic things, and has enrolled him in all classes and extracurricular activities. Yet, the eight-year-old is not happy and craving something that is beyond his and his parents’ understanding. What more can the parents do? This is what Ram’s ‘Paranthu Po’ is all about. Gokul (Mirchi Shiva) and Glory (Grace Antony) lead a hustling life, bound by countless EMIs and their dream of giving ‘everything’ to their fussy son, Anbu (Mithul). Gokul is a man who is struggling to set up a shop, while Glory owns a saree shop to sustain their life. When they are at work, Anbu, who is on his half-yearly holiday, is locked up inside his home and forced to take part in the classes his parents have enrolled him in.

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Sat, July 5 2025

Director Bheemarao’s film uses a stylish haircut as a metaphor for self-respect and dignity.

At a very basic level, Bheemarao P’s debut film Hebbuli Cut, set in Chandrabanda in the North Karnataka–Telangana border, is about a young boy’s aspiration to get a fashionable haircut, like Sudeep’s in Hebbuli, and the path he takes to get it. At a deeper level, it is about how society and its obsession with class and caste kill spirits, bit by tiny bit, even as someone is in quest of dignity. This is probably one of those very rare Kannada films that speak about caste without couching it in pleasant, acceptable language. But, to its credit, it does so without being preachy. Vinaya (a brilliant Mounesh Nataranga) is the heart and soul of the film, keeping things going with his hope, joy, silent anger, and shy smiles. His parents are Mallanna (Mahadev Hadapad is pitch-perfect as dad, who is afraid for his son), who repairs shoes for a living, and Kanaka (the lovely Uma YG of Cinema Bandi fame). Vinaya grows his hair long, and all he wants is to get it cut by Channa (Mahantesh AS), the curly-haired wonder of Modern Men’s Buty Parlar, the go-to person for a good haircut. But he has to make do with the local barber, who is summoned home when the deed has to be done. The mother is constantly complaining about the unruly mop, the father does not mind, because they are not raising it with fertiliser or water.

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Fri, July 4 2025

Despite featuring a stellar cast headlined by Charlize Theron, Netflix's action-fantasy sequel feels incomplete; as if the crew shot only 70% of the script.

We had no idea how good we had it in July 2020. Little did we know, for instance, that the pandemic just… wouldn’t end. Petrol was cheaper, the air was cleaner, and we were getting used to life at home. Plus, you could still count on Netflix to occasionally produce an impressive film or two. Extraction remains one of the slickest action movies of the last five years; in fact, it basically cannibalised The Old Guard, an equally good Netflix original that debuted only a few weeks later. Starring Charlize Theron alongside an overqualified supporting cast, the movie screamed for a sequel, which was quickly approved. But did you know that The Old Guard 2 was shot three years ago? The movie had been sitting on the shelves for quite some time before being released this week, and it shows. In case you weren’t aware that The Old Guard 2 existed, don’t blame yourself; it’s not your fault. Netflix has been suspiciously quiet about it, perhaps because the finished movie resembles a work-in-progress — a film that hasn’t yet been streamlined on the edit table. It retains the hyperreal gloss of ungraded raw footage, while giving the strong impression that what we’ve been presented with is some kind of unfinished cut. Among the film’s many flaws — we’ll get to the rest momentarily — is Barry Ackroyd’s flat cinematography.

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Fri, July 4 2025

A potent premise and a smart climactic twist notwithstanding, the film doesn’t have much going for it

Naveen Chandra, who has had a handful of theatrical releases this year, has been steadily winning over audiences across OTT platforms with a stream of consistent, assured performances. His latest Telugu film, Show Time, perfectly aligns with his forte: a crime thriller with a minimalistic setup, banking on a supposedly offbeat concept. The core premise of the film seems to be an offshoot of Ayyappanum Koshiyum (the inspiration behind Pawan Kalyan’s Telugu film Bheemla Nayak). It centres on an ego-driven, crooked cop named Lakshmi Kanth (Raja Ravindra) and a hot-blooded common man, Surya (Naveen Chandra), who refuses to yield. However, their confrontation largely takes place within the confines of a crime scene. Both men have an ugly face-off when Lakshmi Kanth desperately instigates Surya, his family, and neighbours, rebuking them for creating a nuisance at night. Just when the tense atmosphere seems to settle, Surya’s wife, Shanti (Kamakshi Bhaskarla), finds herself trapped in a crime. As Surya attempts to resolve the crisis with the help of a lawyer, the cop tries to prove he’s in charge.

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Thu, July 3 2025

While Shah Rukh Khan's Pathaan took a ‘bachcho pe nahi chhod sakte’ stance, Brad Pitt's F1 understands that true progress can only be achieved when the older generation makes way for the new.

Nearly four decades ago, the late director Tony Scott, star Tom Cruise, and producer Jerry Bruckheimer attempted to re-conjure the magic that made Top Gun such a cultural touchstone with Days of Thunder, a racing movie that followed the same basic structure, but replaced the fighter jets with fast cars. Now, Bruckheimer and director Joseph Kosinski are essentially following the same playbook with Top Gun: Maverick and the recently released F1. The only difference, this time around, is that Cruise didn’t return for the sports drama, perhaps because he has been occupied for the last half-decade by the Mission: Impossible franchise. But this was all for the best, because nobody other than Brad Pitt could’ve played the role of the seasoned drifter Sonny Hayes. It’s an odd observation to make, because Cruise literally played the most famous drifter of them all, Jack Reacher. Twice. But he was famously miscast in those movies. Not because he didn’t fit writer Lee Child’s physical description of the towering Reacher, but because, as an actor, Cruise doesn’t exactly project the going-with-the-flow energy that is required for such a character. He is simply too intense, his persona is too curated, too meticulous to play someone that lives like hobo. There’s a reason why people joke that he’s actually an alien scientologist sent to spy on earthlings. Pitt, on the other hand, has the exact opposite screen presence. He’s a relaxed, relatable, somewhat rudderless.

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Sun, June 29 2025

Sun, June 29 2025

F1: The Movie has all the aspects that make for a summer blockbuster. It takes Racing fans on the circuit, it presents Brad Pitt in all his glory, it talks of an underdog who rises to the occasion and it talks of friendship and brotherhood.

When you combine two of the most popular entities of the world – Brad Pitt and Formula One racing- in a film, you can expect it be a big blockbuster hit. One of the most popular stars of Hollywood, Pitt has been credited with some of the biggest hits of all time and earned an Oscar award for his performance. The man splashing comes back in F1: The Movie as a Sony Hayes, a rule breaker, a has-been driver who left the circuit years back after a freak accident. When Sony is pulled back into the circuit- this time by an old friend and fellow rider (Javier Bardem in a delightful role) and Sony has to face his demons, move past personal setback, and even befriend a weary rookie driver (Damson Idris) to win F1.

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Thu, July 3 2025

Arjun’s a carefree lad who wants to join the same college as his crush, Jayashree. Tired of his irresponsible ways, his father, Raju, sends him to a hostel. Meanwhile, Imran, the village’s top student, sees his father take out a loan to admit him to a reputable college. From grim food to homesickness and relentless timetables, the trio’s intermediate years get off to a far-from-ideal start. Yet, a strong friendship helps them muddle through the stress. The three young blokes, Harsh Roshan, Bhanu Prakash, and Jayatheertha (playing Arjun, Raju, and Imran), deliver confident, refreshing performances that help us look beyond the show’s issues. Besides their impressive screen presence, they embody all the naïveté, playfulness, and early adult-ish arrogance you tend to witness in an average 16-year-old. Campus tales enjoy an everlasting appeal. While they generally try to tick the same old boxes – the highs and lows of studenthood, academic pressures, a brush with first love, a dose of bromance, and coming-of-age motifs – newer backdrops and different timelines infuse new life into the template. ETV Win’s AIR (All India Rankers) packages that bittersweet nostalgia with humour aplenty.

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Mon, June 30 2025

The larger ideas never fully click into place, even when 'Love Marriage' tries to surprise you with the writing

The core plot of Shanmuga Priyan’s Love Marriage surely deserved a better film. Like Sooraj Barjatya’s Vivah (2006), Love Marriage too is written around the various stages between engagement, marriage and the relationships that form or get broken along the way. The engagement is said to take place between Ram (Vikram Prabhu) and Ambika (Sushmitha Bhat), and we get the feeling that they’re being forced to get married, just hours after they first meet each other. From a distance, it appears to be a film that romanticises the concept of an arranged marriage. In one place, we’re told that both Ram and Ambika belong to different castes, but their getting together isn’t an issue for their elders because they both belong to similar class groups in the hierarchy. However, that doesn’t mean it’s going to be an entirely smooth ride for Ram and Ambika.

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Sun, June 29 2025

Director Shanmuga Priyan's 'Love Marriage', starring Vikram Prabhu, Sushmitha Bhat and Meenakshi Dinesh, is a Tamil remake of the Telugu film, 'Ashoka Vanamlo Arjuna Kalyanam'. The pleasant romantic comedy is a perfect canvas for a laughter riot but bogged down by redundant ideas.

When Indian cinema is dominated by action dramas with a newfound love for extreme violence and gore, there’s always something soothing about heartwarming dramas. Be it a simple love story or a family drama or a comedy drama, they remind you of the good old times. Director Shanmuga Priyan’s ‘Love Marriage’, a remake of the Telugu film, ‘Ashoka Vanmulo Arjuna Kalyanam’, has all the elements to be that cutesy film that will leave a smile on your face. Did it succeed in its mission? Let’s find out! Ramachandran (Vikram Prabhu) is a 33-year-old bachelor who is waiting to get married. A thorough gentleman, the only progressive man in a family of regressive people, goes through arranged marriage. He, along with his family and extended family, travels to a different town to meet a potential bride, which is followed by his engagement. One meeting is all it takes for Ram to get engaged to Ambika (Sushmitha Bhat) old-school style.

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Fri, June 27 2025

Love Marriage is held together by likeable and earnest performances, especially from the leads — Vikram Prabhu, Sushmitha, and Meenakshi — who make do with the superficial nature of their roles

The moment we commodified weddings and started calling it the marriage ‘market’, many brides and grooms became products that came with a selling price, a buying price, and unfortunately, an expiry date too. They are depreciating assets, and it is one such asset that is the protagonist in director Shanmuga Priyan’s debut film, Love Marriage, a rather faithful remake of Vishwak Sen’s Ashoka Vanamlo Arjuna Kalyanam. Ramachandran (Vikram Prabhu) is in his early thirties and is already considered to be past his sell-by date. He is part of a misogynistic and casteist family, which has relaxed its rules since they haven’t found the right suitor within their caste and class. That is the scheme of things in many a family in the arranged marriage setup. And after multiple rejections due to his age, greying hair, rumours of balding, and his profession, Ramachandran’s family decides to travel far away from home and get engaged to Ambika (Sushmitha Bhat), who is from a different caste.

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Mon, June 30 2025

Each of the film's sub-plots has been written around one broad joke, but the casting is so perfect that we’re constantly looking forward to the reactions of these actors

When Vipin Das, the producer of Vyasana Sametham Bandhu Mithradhikal (With Condolences, Friends and Relatives), last directed a film, he made Guruvayoor Ambalanadayil (2024), a hilarious confusion-comedy that culminated in a million things going wrong at a wedding. The hit comedy was something a master like Priyadarshan would have been proud to call his own. But if he were to watch Vyasana Sametham Bandhu Mithradhikal, he’d be prouder. Made by another Vipin (S Vipin), he borrows the chaos of a Priyadarshan-esque comedy and plants it within a dark comedic setting that is already primed for the wildest of laughs. So, instead of a wedding like in his guru’s film, Vipin sets up his comedy on the day on which the film’s protagonist Anjali’s (Anaswara Rajan) grandmother passes away. What makes the timing impeccably imperfect is that she’s just a week away from getting engaged to her toxic fiancé. On one hand, you feel deeply for Anjali for having lost the one person in the family she connected strongly to; in the other hand, her grandmother’s passing is a blessing in disguise, giving her hope that she can get out of a marriage she was never interested in.

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Sun, June 29 2025

Sun, June 29 2025

Maargan is a great example of a genre film that engrosses its audience and makes one buy into the supernatural or pseudo-scientific framework.

Kolai, Raththam, Mazhai Pidikathavum Manidhanum, Hitler… after such a barrage of misses, a sense of prejudice is expected to set in when Vijay Antony comes up with another crime thriller. But a few minutes into the film, Maargan assures you that the streak will be broken. It exhibits good craftsmanship despite ticking all the boxes of genre films and treads carefully without breaching the territory of clichés. To top it all, it sets up an engrossing supernatural premise involving Siddhars and astral projections that effortlessly win you over. Tamil cinema tends to get overly didactic and self-congratulatory when it ventures into such themes of ancient knowledge. However, Leo John Paul’s success lies in the way he effortlessly sells you his ruse. The trick, after all, is not to convince you to believe but to entertain enough that you don’t mind. To give the context, Maargan is an investigation thriller where an archetypical resigned police officer, Dhruv (Vijay Antony), takes up a case that looks similar to the murder of his daughter. A Chennai girl, on her birthday, is murdered by an unknown killer using a chemical cocktail which, when injected, burns the body from the inside, turning it black. Dhruv takes over the case unofficially and arrests a suspect named Tamilarivu (Ajay Dishan), a brilliantly written role. As Tamil is subjected to police interrogation, it is realised that he is innocent but has supernatural abilities that would aid the investigation. With his astral projection abilities, he puts himself at risk of finding the killer, which also turns out to be an effective surprise.

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Sun, June 29 2025

A convoluted mess of a crime thriller with high ambitions. With a crisp runtime, the whodunnit relies heavily on the twists and turns.

Music director-turned-actor Vijay Antony has a knack for picking interesting stories. However, his choices in the last few years have been questionable. The actor now returns with ‘Maargan’, a crime thriller about a serial killer. Will ‘Maargan’ provide a much-needed respite to Vijay Antony from a string of underwhelming films? Let’s find out! Dhruv (Vijay Antony), ADGP in Mumbai, is grieving the loss of his daughter, who was murdered by a serial killer. He is notified of another similar murder in Chennai. One connection between both cases is that the killer seems to have injected a drug which blackens one’s body. Dhruv expresses interest in transferring to Chennai to investigate the murder. However, his superiors don’t let him as he is recovering from the loss of his daughter. His left side is blackened after he gets injected with the drug while trying to nab the killer.

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