Raat Akeli Hai: The Bansal Murders
Thriller, Mystery, Crime (Hindi)
When members of the Bansal family are found murdered, Inspector Jatil Yadav uncovers a trail of greed, betrayal and secrets tied to a deadly conspiracy. (more…)
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Science Fiction, Adventure, Fantasy (English)
In the wake of the devastating war against the RDA and the loss of their eldest son, Jake Sully and Neytiri face a new threat on Pandora: the Ash People, a violent and power-hungry Na'vi tribe led by the ruthless (more…)
Dhurandhar
Action, Thriller (Hindi)
After the hijacking of IC-814 in 1999 and the Parliament attack in 2001, India’s Intelligence Bureau Chief, Ajay Sanyal devised an indomitable mission to intrude and rupture the terrorist network in Pakistan, by infiltrating the underworld mafia of Karachi. A (more…)
Single Papa
Comedy, Drama (Hindi)
When Gaurav finds a baby in the back of his car, he must defy his eccentric family, the adoption agency and societal norms to become a single papa. (more…)
Guild Reviews by Film
Anaconda
Adventure, Comedy, Horror (English)
A group of friends facing mid-life crises head to the rainforest with the intention of remaking their favorite movie from their youth, only to find themselves in a fight for their lives against natural disasters, giant snakes and violent criminals.
Cast:
Paul Rudd, Jack Black, Daniela Melchior, Thandiwe Newton, Steve Zahn, Ione Skye, Selton Mello, Ben Lawson, Ice Cube, John Billingsley
Director:
Tom Gormican
Sun, December 28 2025
One might not expect that a film released in 1997, centered around a giant snake, would spawn four sequels and a Mandarin version that premiered earlier this year. Anaconda was a light-hearted and entertaining film that captivated audiences at the time. Some films and all snakes should be left alone – Anaconda is certainly one of them- the film and snake, both.
Fri, December 26 2025
This new version of one of Hollywood's most popular creature features is so desperate to pitch in the laughs along with the scares that it renders everything dull and diluted.
Anaconda movie review: Help, the ssssnake is back. Not just any old wriggly creature, but the giant anaconda, which is out hunting humans again in the jungles of South America. Those who’ve seen the 1997 original, starring Jennifer Lopez-Owen Wilson-Jon Voight-Ice Cube and the reptile with a monstrous maw, will remember just how scary it was. The relentless chase– this is a snake which hunts in water, over land, and on tall tree-tops– was all kinds of scary with people falling off boats, thrashing in the jaws of the snake, turning the water bloody.
Sarvam Maya
Mystery, Comedy (Malayalam)
A man who loses his belief in God meets the spirit of a young woman unable to remember what happened to her.
Cast:
Nivin Pauly, Aju Varghese, Preity Mukhundhan, Riya Shibu, Althaf Salim, Madhu Warrier, Janardhanan, Anand Ekarshi, Arun Ajikumar, Raghunath Paleri
Director:
Akhil Sathyan
Writer:
Akhil Sathyan
Fri, December 26 2025
It is Nivin Pauly’s hulking presence and pointed, restrained performance that hold all the strands of genre together.
Prabhendu (Nivin Pauly) is an atheist. Belonging to a Namboothiri family of priests, he abandoned this life, along with the sacred thread and its material comforts, to become a dirt-poor musician. Directed by Akhil Sathyan, Sarvam Maya (Everything is an Illusion) puts a quandary to him—what if he sees a ghost? Will he, then, believe in god, believe that things which cannot be sensed can exist and apply pressure on our lives, regardless?
Thu, December 25 2025
Director Akhil Sathyan's horror comedy, starring Nivin Pauly, Riya Shibu and Aju Varghese, feels like a warm embrace on a cold winter night. With fantasy elements, the film sheds light on faith, belief, grief and feeling the joy.
Sarvam Maya translates to “everything is an illusion,” and it is perhaps the perfect title for this Nivin Pauly-starrer that blends horror, comedy and fantasy. Releasing on Christmas, the film is an antidote to all the extra-violent, hyper-masculine films that rely on over-the-top theatrics. But, Sarvam Maya leaves you laughing out loud despite tackling sensitive topics like faith, belief and grief.
Raat Akeli Hai: The Bansal Murders
Thriller, Mystery, Crime (Hindi)
When members of the Bansal family are found murdered, Inspector Jatil Yadav uncovers a trail of greed, betrayal and secrets tied to a deadly conspiracy.
Cast:
Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Chitrangada Singh, Radhika Apte, Rajat Kapoor, Revathi, Deepti Naval, Sanjay Kapoor, Ila Arun, Akhilendra Mishra, Priyanka Setia
Director:
Honey Trehan
Writer:
Smita Singh
Fri, December 26 2025
Is Raat Akeli Hai: The Bansal Murders more than just a way for director Honey Trehan to pay the rent, or is it actually worthwhile? We talk about the film’s differences from and similarities to the first one, and the sociopolitical commentary that Trehan and writer Smita Singh are able to sneak into it. We also discuss how the movie didn’t face any trouble despite naming and shaming the Uttar Pradesh administration. Along the way, we touch upon Radhika Apte’s pointless presence, and wonder if the movie would’ve benefited from some more character development for the suspects.
Fri, December 26 2025
Anchored by a phlegmatic Nawazuddin Siddiqui, director Honey Trehan crafts a mystery that intertwines crime and social commentary. Though uneven in pacing, the film deftly examines the intersection of entitlement and morality in society
As we wait for Honey Trehan’s Punjab 95, which is still under Censor scrutiny, the filmmaker transports us to the heart of Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow-Kanpur axis, spinning a sharp crime thriller with a throbbing conscience. The spiritual sequel builds on the original’s noir aesthetic, using its atmospheric whodunit structure to examine how power dynamics and moral corruption shape justice and revenge in an unequal society. By asking what happens when victims and perpetrators trade places, Honey brings emotional depth to the unraveling of the mystery. Through vivid symbols — bulldozers and shallow graves — he critiques how power conceals exploitation and shields the corrupt.
Mon, December 22 2025
Franchises are the flavour of the season, and Honey Trehan’s Raat Akeli Hai remains a highly specific one. Once again, a murder mystery is investigated by the no-nonsense, middle-class cop Jatil Yadav (Nawazuddin Siddiqui), with the victims being members of a powerful family in Uttar Pradesh – the Bansals. The Knives Out template is reworked through a bunch of crazy, rich Indian issues and layered with an exterior coating of capitalism in Raat Akeli Hai: The Bansal Murders.
Scenes From a Situationship
Romance, Drama (Hindi)
A contemporary couple drift through a situationship where intimacy comes easily but commitment is endlessly postponed, revealing how modern love survives on closeness while quietly eroding under unspoken expectations.
Cast:
Vaishnav Vyas, Shreya Sandilya
Director:
Vaibhav Munjal
Writer:
Vaishnav Vyas, Vaibhav Munjal
Fri, December 26 2025
Vaibhav Munjal’s indie about a crisis-fuelled couple is a throwback to the early years of YouTube film-making.
He’s a pop-culture geek, a trivia nerd, an aspiring (and annoying) YouTuber, and a relationship seeker. She’s a go-with-the-flow-er, a commitment-phobe, a covert romantic, and a situationship enthusiast. Their chatty first date ends in his smokey bedroom. He thinks they’re dating, she thinks they’re not; he needs certainty, she needs ambiguity. “I want more than just animal sex” competes against “Why do you care for labels?”. Most of Vaibhav Munjal’s 90-minute indie is composed of vignettes of this clash: he pines and whines, she grinds and minds. In between the escalating resentments, they find happy pockets. Their intermittent moments of intimacy unfold as if they’re fuelling themselves to survive the fights. Breakup hugs and bitter accusations fly thick and fast. Apparently Udit (Vaishnav Vyas) and Tanisha (Shreya Sandilya) are soulmates, but the whims of modern love are stopping them.
The Copenhagen Test
Action & Adventure, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Mystery (English)
When an analyst discovers his eyes and ears have been hacked, he's drawn into a controlled world designed by his agency to draw out their enemies.
Cast:
Simu Liu, Melissa Barrera, Sinclair Daniel, Brian d'Arcy James, Mark O'Brien, Kathleen Chalfant
Fri, December 26 2025
Created by Thomas Brandon, the intriguing espionage thriller follows an intelligence analyst whose mind is hacked.
The latest spy thriller on the block, The Copenhagen Test, wonders if a person’s brain can be hacked. The high-concept drama for Peacock, created by Thomas Brandon, adds extra layers to the story with the spy in question being a child of immigrants. Starring Simu Liu as Alexander Hale, The Copenhagen Test on JioHotstar mixes the spy thriller with sci-fi and adds in covert organisations and political threats. The heart of the series remains with Simu’s Alexander, who is not only trying to prove himself as a spy but also asserting his loyalty as an American after the hack.
Vrusshabha
Action, Drama (Malayalam)
What happens if two sworn enemies from a previous life are reborn as father-son in a new birth?
Cast:
Mohanlal, Samarjit Lankesh, Srikanth, Nayan Sarika, Zara Khan, Ramachandra Raju, Ragini Dwivedi, Neha Saxena, Ayyappa P. Sharma
Director:
Nanda Kishore
Writer:
Janardhan Maharshi, Nanda Kishore
Thu, December 25 2025
The film, directed by Nanda Kishore and starring Mohanlal with Samarjit Lankesh, is a fantasy action drama centred on reincarnation. The film lacks technical finesse and feels uninspired.
Mohanlal has had a phenomenal 2025 with three consecutive hits. He started the year strong with L2: Empuraan, followed it up with a delicious crime thriller, Thudarum and struck a hat-trick with the heartwarming Hridayapoorvam. Vrusshabha is his fourth film as a hero (barring cameos in Kannappa and Bha Bha Ba). Did the film succeed in impressing the audience? Let’s find out!
Single Papa
Comedy, Drama (Hindi)
When Gaurav finds a baby in the back of his car, he must defy his eccentric family, the adoption agency and societal norms to become a single papa.
Cast:
Kunal Khemu, Neha Dhupia, Manoj Pahwa, Prajakta Koli, Ayesha Raza Mishra
Director:
Shashank Khaitan
Wed, December 24 2025
A man with a baby in his arms is strangely sexy. I’ve read that they get more swipes on dating apps, irrespective of whose baby it is. This aesthetic existed long before older and/or burlier men entered the “Daddy” tribe. The next best thing, I guess, is the visual of a man who cooks. These are territories our fathers and grandfathers rarely ventured into, and when men step into anything non-traditional, the attractiveness meter (sometimes) fires up.
Sat, December 13 2025
Despite a fun cast, the six-episode Netflix comedy is happy to be a rehashed portrait of single parenthood.
Given Hindi cinema’s long-standing relationship with hypermasculinity, it’s almost refreshing to come across a life comedy named Single Papa. Even the premise is a neat change — a single-parenthood story revolving around the kind of North Indian man-child character who would usually be the tortured hero of a romantic Bollywood film. The icing on this gluten-free cake is that Kunal Kemmu plays this man. For anyone who has followed Hindi film in the last few decades, it’s hard not to have a soft spot for former child star Kemmu — an underutilised, immensely likable and flexible performer who’s made a career out of not fitting into the conventional-star mold. I, for one, am always happy to see him on (or off) the screen. The vibes are just right, and there’s an authenticity about him that’s easy to enjoy.
Sat, December 13 2025
मां की ममता पर तो हमने बहुत कहानियां देखी हैं, मगर बाप की ‘बापता’ यानी बच्चे की परवरिश में पिता की अहमियत पर किस्से कम ही हैं। समाज के इसी स्टीरियोटाइप को तोड़ने की अच्छी कोशिश करती है वेब सीरीज सिंगल पापा। यह सीरीज एक सिंगल मर्द के बच्चा गोद लेने के संघर्षों, अकेले उसकी परवरिश की चुनौतियों की कभी गुदगुदाती, तो भावुक करती दास्तान है।
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Science Fiction, Adventure, Fantasy (English)
In the wake of the devastating war against the RDA and the loss of their eldest son, Jake Sully and Neytiri face a new threat on Pandora: the Ash People, a violent and power-hungry Na'vi tribe led by the ruthless Varang. Jake's family must fight for their survival and the future of Pandora in a conflict that pushes them to their emotional and physical limits.
Cast:
Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Oona Chaplin, Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Edie Falco
Director:
James Cameron
Tue, December 23 2025
Avatar: Fire and Ash is the weakest instalment of James Cameron’s trilogy. We discuss the many ways in which the movie betrays the franchise’s core values, the illogical directions that Cameron sends Jake Sully in, and the loose ends that the film ends with. We also talk about the lack of humour and self-awareness, the poor dialogue, and the incomprehensible third act action sequences.
Sun, December 21 2025
Not everyday do we see such once-in-a-generation talent defeated by their own success.
Has James Cameron been trapped in the metaverse longer than we have? The 71-year-old director reportedly spent over a decade working on what eventually became Avatar (2009), and has been involved in making its sequels Avatar: The Way of the Water (2022), the latest Avatar: Fire and Ash released on Friday (December 19), and another film in the making – making it a cumulative 30 years spent on four films, set on the faraway planet of Pandora.
Sat, December 20 2025
James Cameron commits to his vision so hard and for so long, like a character from Inception who’s missed the kick only to get stuck in limbo on a deeper dream level. There is no way out now.
Rarely have I seen so much used to achieve so very little. Unless you count the US invasion of Iraq — which, in the Avatar universe, would amount to cocky American soldiers looking for an excuse to plunder a mineral-rich planet after destroying their own. I want to say “empty spectacle”, but to be honest, Avatar: Fire and Ash is not much of a spectacle either. Spectacles do more than just look vast and technically proficient and convoluted and greedy in 2025; they do more than just go round and round and round in the painstaking and now-dated worlds they’ve built; they do more than employ disorienting 3D motion-smoothing effects to impress the fans rather than express the stakes; they do more than take two decades of technological advancements and old-fashioned originality only to end up feeling precisely like those superhero overkills they were once an antidote to; they do more than be a legacy of groundbreaking CGI; they do more than do more. James Cameron has made a career out of dreaming big and heavy, but with this third Avatar film, he’s a bit like that mad scientist who gets so obsessed with creating and reinventing that he bypasses the basic essence of the medium.
Dhurandhar
Action, Thriller (Hindi)
After the hijacking of IC-814 in 1999 and the Parliament attack in 2001, India’s Intelligence Bureau Chief, Ajay Sanyal devised an indomitable mission to intrude and rupture the terrorist network in Pakistan, by infiltrating the underworld mafia of Karachi. A 20-year-old boy from Punjab, held captive for a revenge crime, is identified by Sanyal to execute his elaborate plan.
Cast:
Ranveer Singh, Sanjay Dutt, Akshaye Khanna, R. Madhavan, Arjun Rampal, Sara Arjun, Rakesh Bedi, Naveen Kaushik, Manav Gohil, Danish Pandor
Director:
Aditya Dhar
Tue, December 23 2025
You cannot separate a film’s politics from its craft—you cannot separate your own politics from your opinion. To do so would be like judging a Dal Makhani on the basis of presentation but not taste. Dhurandhar is vile propaganda whose influence will spread beyond even its target audience of unemployed youth and WhatsApp uncles. We discuss how objectionable every scene involving R. Madhavan is, how abrupt the climax feels, and why director Aditya Dhar is so afraid of examining complexity. We also talk about the incendiary red screen scene and its possible implications, and wonder why they chose to make the protagonist a murderer for hire instead of a real patriot with real motivations to undertake such a high-stakes mission.
Sat, December 13 2025
The soul of Dhurandhar is rooted in quiet deception. Wait, I’m talking about Hamza Ali Mazari’s (Ranveer Singh) mission. He’s a spy operating across borders in this 214-minute film, and given this running time and the number of characters, motivations and political threads it handles, this film could very easily have collapsed into something rambling and frustrating. But it doesn’t, largely thanks to a smart structural decision: chapter segregation. The eight chapters keep the narrative in control, allowing the film to introduce competent characters like SP Aslam and Rehman Dakait as formidable, thinking opponents rather than fragile villains. The nuanced performances help too. Akshaye Khanna is potent, yes, but also so human in confusion and rage.
Wed, December 10 2025
Aditya Dhar’s second film after 'Uri: The Surgical Strike' stars Ranveer Singh as a patriotic spy trapped in an inert and distracted action thriller.
Since deception is the language of a spy thriller, let’s pretend that movies exist entirely in isolation — like an introvert on a Saturday night. Let’s pretend that Dhurandhar, Aditya Dhar’s directorial return after Uri (2019), has absolutely nothing to do with the world around us. (One could argue that it doesn’t, but that’s a mob attack for another day). Let’s also pretend that film criticism is about seeing a movie for what it is, regardless of its moral character or ideology. It’s only fair, given that we all admire great serial killers for being awesome at what they do, legendary dictators for being no-nonsense leaders, wars for being the epitome of courage and technology, and plane crashes for doing tragedy so well.
Four More Shots Please! S04
Drama, Comedy (Hindi)
Four unapologetically flawed women live, love, blunder and discover what really makes them tick through friendship and tequila in millennial Mumbai.
Cast:
Sayani Gupta, Kirti Kulhari, Maanvi Gagroo, Gurbani Judge, Rajeev Siddhartha, Dino Morea
Director:
Arunima Sharma
Writer:
Devika Bhagat
Tue, December 23 2025
Despite its scattered pleasures, the final season of the series, touted to be Indian version of Sex and the City and Girls, delivers tidy resolutions, minimal tension, and dated portrayals of friendship and desire
Four More Shots Please! returns for its fourth and final season the way it always has: mid-chaos, mid-confession, and mid-freakout. The opening image is telling. There is a wedding underway, and right at its centre is Siddhi Patel (Maanvi Gagroo), spiralling. She is high on brownies, overwhelmed by commitment, and quietly devastated by the absence of her father, whose death still sits like an unprocessed ache. It is a familiar emotional cocktail for this show: intimacy laced with panic, humour doing the work of survival. But after the vows are sealed, the four women make a pact: to confront the patterns they keep dragging from season to season. It is a neat way to begin a finale. It is also, unfortunately, emblematic of a season more interested in tying ribbons than in pulling threads tighter.
Daayam
Drama (Malayalam)
The unexpected demise of her mother turns teenager Kalyani’s life upside down. As the relatives disperse, she and her father are left alone, struggling to cope with the void in their midst. In the weeks that follow, it is not just the grief she has to deal with, but also some harsh realisations about the patriarchal and hypocritical society around her. As events unfold, Kalyani finds herself becoming more and more disillusioned with the progressive, considerate father she used to idolise. The film portrays the girl's journey of coming to terms with her loss and finding a way forward.
Cast:
Aathira Rajeev, Pradeep Kumar, K.R. Aromal, Ranjini George, Rini Udayakumar
Director:
Prasanth Vijay
Writer:
Indu Lakshmi
Sun, December 21 2025
Daayam, which is a Malayalam film, takes place in a town in Kerala. Kalyani (Aathira Rajeev) is going through the most emotionally challenging period of her life after her mother passed away a few days back in the most unexpected manner. Her house is full of relatives as they need to complete a few rituals for the departed. There are murmurs about all not being well between her mother and father Raghu (Pradeep Geedha) in recent times. Kalyani mentally takes stock of these situations as she tries settling into a new life with her father.
Fri, December 19 2025
In his sophomore venture, Daayam (Inheritance), Prasanth Vijay tiptoes gently and noiselessly into the inner world of a girl dealing with the premature death of her mother. The result is a subtle, mellow study of bereavement and its upshots. The independent Malayalam-language film makes a sharp departure from the conventions of the coming-of-age genre. It uses the muted and delicate narrative approach of the kind that marked the director’s critically acclaimed 2017 debut, The Summer of Miracles.
Fri, December 19 2025
With his sophomore film ‘Daayam,’ Prasanth Vijay, one of the exciting homegrown talents, has shown that he is here to stay
Grief does not always arrive as a torrent. Sometimes, it seeps in ever so slowly, evoked by things which used to be mundane till a few days ago. In Prasanth Vijay’s film Daayam (Inheritance), being screened in the Malayalam Cinema Today section of the 28th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK), an old voice note from her deceased mother about some daily chores brings 17-year old Kalyani (Aathira Rajeev) to tears.
Pharma
Drama, Family (Malayalam)
A young medical representative struggles against the pharma game, masters it and eventually fights against it.
Cast:
Nivin Pauly, Veena Nandakumar, Rajit Kapoor, Narain, Shruti Ramachandran, Binu Pappu, Muthumani Somasundaran, Aalekh Kapoor, Aswathy Manoharan, Sruthi Jayan
Director:
P. R. Arun
Writer:
P. R. Arun
Sun, December 21 2025
Director PR Arun's web series Pharma, starring Nivin Pauly and Rajit Kapur, is a battle between a common man and a corporate giant. Set in the pharmaceutical world, the show is gripping despite minor shortcomings.
Nivin Pauly delivered the only and greatest comeback of the week. A character in the film calls him the Comeback King and by the end of the show, you realise why. Pharma, being his foray into the OTT space, brought back memories of the films that the actor nailed in the past. While the past few years have seen fewer films and fewer hits, it feels like a huge relief to see him having so much control over his craft in PR Arun’s Pharma. The eight-episode series, streaming on JioHotstar, is a delightful thriller, though with minor shortcomings.
Fri, December 19 2025
As clunky as the making might seem, 'Pharma' works best as a fairly engaging second-screen experience.
There’s something about PR Arun’s Pharma that takes you back to the whistleblower dramas of the 90s. Although it’s set in the dubious world of pharma and the corrupt practices there in the late 2000s, it recalls films like The Firm and The Street Lawyer, both based on John Grisham novels, in the way it takes an insider’s efforts to redeem himself for a major corporation to be taught a lesson. The arc of Pharma too is familiar and predictable but through its lead actor Nivin Pauly, one can sense the earnestness with which the series was written, especially when it handles a subject that requires patience to understand. By placing this subject within the realm of an experimental drug meant to be consumed by pregnant women, the importance of its message outshines the way it tries to say it.