Sat, December 20 2025

Series driver Madhuri Dixit is ripe for roles which are out of her comfort zone: she no longer has to appear glamorous to catch our attention. But she’s written flatly, like many other stretches.

A serial killer is on the loose in Mumbai, targeting his victims with a coil of lurid green rope, arranging them in different poses in different locations. A grizzled cop (Priyanshu Chatterjee) with a long memory remembers a much older series of killings 25 years back in Pune, whose perpetrator has been in prison for that long. Are these copycat killings? But who would know about those murders, carefully buried in dusty case files? Cue Mrs Deshpande (Madhuri Dixit) who is whistled up by the senior policeman to help them crack this case, whose victims seem to have no connection to each other other than a striking similarity in the modus operandi of their murders. She’s been far away from Mumbai, in Hyderabad central jail, being a model prisoner, suspiciously good, in fact.

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Fri, December 19 2025

Madhuri Dixit stars in a stagey crime thriller that unfolds in a hurry.

Nagesh Kukunoor’s had quite the year: an uncanny performance in Paatal Lok 2, the maker of the meticulously dramatised The Hunt: The Rajiv Gandhi Assassination Case, and now the director of a series in which Madhuri Dixit plays a serial killer. It’s no small deal, particularly because Dixit’s role in and as Mrs. Deshpande feels like a spiritual sequel to her role in Anjaam. This six-episode series is based on a French thriller called La Mante, but Dixit’s homemaker is very much the future of that vengeful widow who slaughtered all the evil men that ruined her life. As a character, Mrs. Deshpande is less personal and, in keeping with the times, more patriotic. The stillness about her borders on inertia. Her vague modus operandi revolves around finishing off societal villains like paedophiles, rapists and corrupt politicians. (Add film critics to her list this month). An ethical vigilante of sorts, the show opens with the middle-aged woman being summoned from Hyderabad jail when a copycat killer seems to be on the loose. The style of murder is hers, so she is the only one who can help an absurdly trustful police team to solve the case. A young inspector named Tejas Phadke (an awkward Siddharth Chandekar) leads the investigation, and he’s very suspicious of Mrs. Deshpande — who has renamed herself as Zeenat — and her chequered history. He takes a while to warm up to her in the safehouse. She loves cooking for everyone, but he wonders what plan she’s cooking.

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Fri, December 19 2025

A body is staged leisurely before the murderer vanishes. It’s déjà vu for Mumbai’s Commissioner of Police Arun Khatri (Priyanshu Chatterjee) who dials the central jail in Hyderabad. Mrs. Seema Deshpande (Madhuri Dixit), the serial killer he had imprisoned twenty-five years ago, is still behind bars. Who’s the copycat killer who has patterned himself/herself on Mrs. Deshpande’s modus operandi?

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Fri, December 19 2025

In a time when love is often reduced to language and performance, Prabhash Chandra's film sits with the cost of loving someone till the very end.

There came a scene in Prabhash Chandra’s Alaav (which as the English title Hearth & Home) when my jaw dropped on the floor. A 60-something Bhaveen is helping his 90-something mother, Savitri, relieve herself. It’s the part of a caregiving film, where most filmmakers prefer implying it by either starting the scene before or after the said deed. But in Alaav, the camera (thanks to the dependable ingenuity of cinematographer Vikas Urs) remains strategically placed, straddling a pencil-thin ethical line – where on one side they could be accused of being voyeuristic and exploitative; on the other end, it could be held for trying to lessen the blow of a hard-hitting reality. Remaining true to its static, observational style – the scene went on for longer than I was ready for, making me shift in my seat uncomfortably. It’s only then did I recognise what Chandra was trying to highlight – the selflessness of it all. We hear truisms like ‘being of service’ to something bigger than us, but nothing quite tests it like when we take care of a loved one in a hopeless situation, and when everything is only steadily regressing.

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Thu, December 4 2025

Stands apart as one of the most quietly affecting Indian independent films of recent years, resonating with audiences at global festivals for its authenticity and emotional precision.

Life stands still and yet flows inexorably in Alaav – Hearth and Home, written and directed by Prabhash Chandra. The uncompromisingly austere film approximates the restrained tempo of existence when old age takes its toll on both the giver and recipient of geriatric care. With its meticulously composed frames and strikingly unhurried rhythm, Alaav delineates the weight of ageing and its repercussions on a 95-year-old woman and her sexagenarian son sheltered in a well-appointed Delhi home.

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Fri, December 19 2025

In its effort to create a film that tries to be wild, we’re left feeling like we’re watching gibberish on screen.

Ever since directors like Karthik Subbaraj and Lokesh Kanagaraj made it socially acceptable for a film to be termed a “fanboy sambhavam”, we as the audience were aware that this sub-genre would eventually spread to all languages, catering to almost every fanbase. Dhananjay Shankar’s Bha Bha Ba is among Malayalam cinema’s most desperate attempts at cashing in on this cow and the film tries to do this by milking the fanbases of two of its major stars—Dileep (obviously) and Mohanlal.

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Thu, December 18 2025

Directed by Dhananjay Shankar, Bha Bha Ba, starring Dileep and Vineeth Sreenivasan, is an attempt at madcap comedy with numerous meta references. The film, however, feels more like Dileep asserting his innocence in the wake of his recent acquittal.

Bha Bha Ba, short for Bhayam, Bhakthi, Bahumanam (fear, devotion, respect), is billed as Dileep’s “great comeback” that he has been waiting for. From the trailer to the film’s promotional materials, the film is regarded as the actor’s biggest return to comedy, a genre that originally defined his career. With Mohanlal playing a cameo, will Bha Bha Ba help Dileep deliver the “comeback” that he’s hoping for? Keep reading to know what we feel.

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Thu, December 18 2025

Created by Darren Star, the rom-com revolving around Europe's most famous American expat is back with a wiser outlook.

The American fashionista Emily Cooper is back, and this time, she’s setting up base in Rome, Italy. Au revoir Paris? Not quite yet. The Netflix series Emily in Paris returns for a fifth season that once again puts our favourite bunch of Parisians through the ringer. There are hookups and breakups, goodbyes and hellos as the characters have some big life decisions to ponder. Created by Darren Star, the romantic comedy has settled in, only to reinvent itself yet again.

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Wed, December 17 2025

Based on the popular video game, the entertaining post-apocalyptic series picks up where it left off as Lucy (Ella Purnell) and The Ghoul (Walton Goggins) head off to New Vegas.

Fallout first premiered alongside The Last of Us in 2024 and established itself as a worthy addition to the world of video game adaptations. Now, as it returns for its second season, the Amazon Prime Video game doesn’t waste time in setting up the universe anymore. It dives right into the next phase as the main characters are once again separated, off on personal quests to seek answers. The one exception is Lucy (Ella Purnell) and The Ghoul (Walton Goggins), who reluctantly team up. Their dynamic is what drives this exciting new instalment that shifts into second gear, with vast, unexplored locations, new characters, and more.

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Mon, December 15 2025

An Ode to the Eternal Luminescence of Indian Cinema

What further encomium can one lavish upon a cult classic that has not merely entertained but profoundly enthralled three successive generations of devoted cinephiles? Little, indeed—save for the recognition that an evergreen classic endures not solely by virtue of the nostalgia that sustains it, but because certain monumental works of art, having already inscribed their place in history, stand as enduring exemplars of sublime creative achievement, etched forever into the world’s collective memory.

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Sat, December 13 2025

Starring Radhika Apte, Tisca Chopra’s feature-length directorial debut is too familiar to be twisted

A small-town woman, Kavita (Radhika Apte), feels out of place at a South Delhi party. It’s a rainy day; she looks at a tree outside the window. Her husband’s friends are snooty and patronising. He has a roving eye. She catches him making out with one of the guests. She then gathers the high-society gang around her and starts to narrate a story in an earthy accent that makes them smirk. But the smirks don’t last long. Her “fiction” revolves around a housewife named Smita (Apte), a previous version of herself that they don’t know about. It goes thus. When Smita’s provocative cousin Shalini (Sauraseni Maitra) visits, her loan-riddled husband Pankaj (Anshumaan Pushkar) falls for the younger woman and the two start a torrid affair in the house behind Smita’s back. That’s not all, Shalini two-times Pankaj with a crooked cop named Ratan (Divyenndu); she’s stringing along two horndogs because why not. Needless to say, a heartbroken Smita is not pleased. And when a seemingly docile homemaker trapped in a setting full of predators and cheaters is not pleased, darkness is always around the corner.

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Sat, December 13 2025

This is the kind of film that should leave you chilled, but the beats are familiar, you can see the climactic twist coming a mile off.

Love, lust and betrayal were the key elements of Chutney, the short film Tisca Chopra had produced back in 2016. Watching Saali Mohabbat reminded me strongly of that short– watch it if you haven’t– written and directed by Jyoti Kapur Das, which had begged to be a full-length feature narrative in the way it peeled back the dark layers that hide behind a seemingly normal household in Ghaziabad. The arrival of a perky young thing creating ripples in a marriage is not a new idea, but Chutney refreshed it with an interesting slate of actors: Tisca herself in the lead as the toothy plain-faced woman with a sharp brain, accompanied by Adil Hussain and Rasika Dugal.

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Sat, December 13 2025

Sat, December 13 2025

Rian Johnson goes full gothic, combining it with a closed door murder, and the result is wonderful, keeping you glued to the screen all the way through.

Benoit Blanc is back, and this time it’s with a proper bang, after last outing’s disappointing thud. Fancy yachts and self-obsessed billionaires made for a very dull sleuthing turn indeed. For this third go round, Johnson goes full gothic, combining it with a closed door murder, and the result is wonderful: I was glued to the screen all the way through. You wouldn’t really call Jud (Josh O’ Connor) a failed priest, but he’s done something in the past which he shouldn’t have , and now he has to atone for his sins by going off to a small parish in upstate New York run by the commanding monsignor Jefferson (Josh Brolin) who keeps his small flock tightly leashed, helped by the devout Martha (Glenn Close) who, like the others, seems to be in his thrall.

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Sat, December 13 2025

कपिल शर्मा कॉमेडी की दुनिया के धुरंधर हैं। बचकानी हरकतों और बातों से भी ऑडियंस को हंसा ले जाने की कला वह जानते हैं और यही काम वह अपनी फिल्म ‘किस किसको प्यार करूं 2’ में भी कर रहे हैं। यह फिल्म उनकी 2015 में आई डेब्यू फिल्म ‘किस किसको प्यार करूं’ का सीक्वल है, जिसमें वह तीन बीवियों के फेर में फंस जाते हैं। लेकिन कैसे? इस बात में लॉजिक ढूंढने की गलती, गलती से भी ना कीजिएगा।

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Sat, December 13 2025

10 साल से ऊपर हो गए जब कॉमेडी के लिए चर्चित कपिल शर्मा बतौर हीरो अपनी पहली फिल्म ‘किस किस को प्यार करूं’ लेकर आए थे। उस फिल्म में उन्होंने एक ऐसे युवक की भूमिका निभाई थी जिसे मजबूरी में तीन शादियां करनी पड़ती हैं और अब वह अपनी पसंद की लड़की से चौथा ब्याह रचाने जा रहा है। उस फिल्म में रोमांस की हल्की खुशबू के साथ कॉमेडी का तड़का था और दर्शकों ने उस फिल्म पर अपनी पसंदगी का ठप्पा भी लगाया था। यह फिल्म ‘किस किस को प्यार करूं 2’ उसी कड़ी की अगली फिल्म है। लेकिन यह उसका सीक्वेल नहीं है बल्कि लगभग उसी कहानी पर फिर से बनाई गई फिल्म है-कुछ अलग तड़के के साथ

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Fri, December 12 2025

Ready with a repartee and quick-witted as the host of a comedy show, Kapil Sharma’s image pulls it off. When Mohan/Mehmood/Michael (Kapil Sharma) marries Meera (Tridha Choudhury), Ruhi (Ayesha Khan) and Jenny (Parul Gulati) though his heart ticks only for Saniya (Hira Warina), he must think on his feet to glib talk his way out of situations. Writer-director Anukalp Goswami ensures that the fun never stops.

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Sat, December 13 2025

What is striking is there’s nothing loud or unnecessarily rah-rah in the way things proceed: being determinedly low-key is much more impactful.

An early scene sets the tone for this eight-episode SonyLIV series, when an unlikely bunch of footballers became a beacon of hope for the strife-torn Kashmir valley in 2016. Sohail (Ayyub), who has left his compromised journalistic job to help create a local football team, fetches up in a very Delhi sarkari outpost, and within a remarkably short while, convinces a babu to sign off on permissions required to set up a club. Anyone who has had any dealings with the sports ministry, or any other ministry for that matter, will know that these things take months, sometimes even years, of gentle persuasion and other means, to get anything done.

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Wed, December 10 2025

पर्दे पर कश्मीर के अक्सर दो ही पहलू देखने को मिलते हैं। एक धरती के जन्नत की खूबसूरती तो दूसरा आतंकवाद, मगर वेब सीरीज रियल कश्मीर फुटबॉल क्लब इससे इतर वादी के युवाओं की अपनी नई पहचान और सम्मान तलाशने की एक प्रेरक दास्तान है। कश्मीर के पहले प्रफेशनल फुटबॉल क्लब बनने की असल कहानी पर आधारित यह सीरीज कश्मीर का एक उम्मीद भरा नया चेहरा दिखाती है। कहानी कश्मीर में 2014 में आए बाढ़ के दो साल बाद 2016 में शुरू होती है, जब वादी के युवा रोजगार के लिए भटक रहे थे और लोकल नेता उनका इस्तेमाल प्रदर्शन और पत्थरबाजी के लिए कर रहे थे। इसी दौरान पेशे से पत्रकार सोहेल मीर (मोहम्मद जीशान अय्यूब) कश्मीर का अपना फुटबॉल क्लब शुरू करने का ख्वाब देखता है। इसमें उसका साथ देता है कश्मीरी पंडित बिजनेसमैन शिरीष केमू (मानव कौल)। बचपन में पलायन और अपने भाई को खोने का दर्द झेलने वाला शिरीष कश्मीर के युवाओं के लिए बेहतर रास्ते खोलना चाहता है। अब इन दोनों की जुझारू जोड़ी किस तरह एक कबाड़खाने से कश्मीर के पहले फुटबॉल क्लब की नींव रखती है? कैसे कुछ दिशाहीन, कुछ बेरोजगार तो कुछ अपने सपनों को दिल में कैद कर जीने को मजबूर युवाओं के साथ अपनी टीम खड़ी करती है और राष्ट्रीय लीग के मुकाबले तक पहुंचती है, यह सब सीरीज देखकर पता चलेगा।

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Wed, December 10 2025

The eight-episode series, inspired by true events, succeeds at simplifying a modern Kashmir tale through sports, humanity and balanced writing.

When it comes to reviewing shows, binge-watching is the default mode of the job. It’s mostly a mad rush to finish all the preview episodes and start writing. There’s no time to be immersed in a universe long enough; the next title is always waiting. So you’re more wired to look for inventive themes and catchy in-points. It’s not often critics get to see a show as it should be seen — steadily, on a drip, one episode at a time, spread over a few days. I had this rare luxury with Real Kashmir Football Club and its eight episodes. Ideal as it sounds, this can go wrong, too; the choice to walk through a show brings with it the risk of losing rhythm and interest. But I found myself ‘waiting’ to watch Real Kashmir Football Club and voluntarily returning to it: during meals, after breaks, before sleeping, between films. Not out of suspense to know what happens next, but out of curiosity to know more. That’s the sign of a rooted and fundamentally sound series. Like a good host, it invites you in without gimmicks and touristy offers, lets you experience it on your own terms, transcends terms like “addictive,” and allows you to establish more of a lived-in relationship. It’s not a perfect bond, but it can be a satisfying one. And it’s kind of fitting for a story set in Kashmir, the one place that cannot be reduced to snap judgments and plain scrutiny.

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Sat, December 13 2025

Fri, December 12 2025

Boyapati Sreenu and Balakrishna’s film tries to cash in on prevailing sentiments with an apologetic excuse for a story

There is a scene in Akhanda 2: Thaandavam that is almost impossible to describe with a straight face. Somewhere in the snow-capped Himalayas, Balakrishna — as Akhanda, endowed with divine powers — bends over the antagonist to check if his heart still beats. This man has already survived one round of Akhanda’s wrath. His tongue had flown out (I wish I were exaggerating), but he apparently stitched it back on and returns to contribute to this talk-heavy film. This time, Akhanda wants to be absolutely certain. So he pierces the man with his mace, hoists him into the air, and swings him left and right several times.

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Fri, December 12 2025