Girls Will Be Girls
Drama, Romance (Hindi)
In a strict boarding school nestled in the Himalayas, 16-year-old Mira discovers desire and romance. But her sexual, rebellious awakening is disrupted by her mother who never got to come of age herself. (more…)
Guild Reviews
Tanaav Vol 2
Crime, Drama (Hindi)
Kabir, a special task force veteran, is brought out of retirement to hunt down an enemy, Umar Riaz, he thought he had neutralised but is still alive. He, along with a reassembled special task force, decides to infiltrate Umar's brother's wedding after learning that Umar would be in attendance. However, when things do not go as planned, Kabir and his team must give their all to ensure the dangerous man is caught.
Cast:
Manav Vij, Arbaaz Khan, Shashank Arora, Rajat Kapoor, Sahiba Bali, Ekta Kaul, Udit Arora, Kabir Bedi, Arslan Goni, Satyadeep Misra
Director:
Eeshwar Nivas, Sudhir Mishra
Writer:
Adhir Bhat
Kashmir-Set Political Drama Has Thrilling Conclusion
Mon, December 23 2024
Returning after two years, the second season of the political drama Tanaav was split into two parts. The first six episodes premiered in early September, and the remaining six episodes of Vol. 2 wrap up the story that was introduced in part one. Manav Vij’s Kabir Farooqui and the Special Task Group (STG) race to contain Fareed aka Al Damishq (Gaurav Arora) before a crucial peace conference in the valley. While the first part felt like unfinished business, the second part comes to a thrilling end.
That Christmas
Animation, Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Adventure (English)
It's an unforgettable Christmas for the townsfolk of Wellington-on-Sea when the worst snowstorm in history alters everyone's plans — including Santa's.
Cast:
Brian Cox, Bill Nighy, Fiona Shaw, Jack Wisniewski, Jodie Whittaker, India Brown, Guz Khan, Lolly Adefope, Zazie Hayhurst, Sienna Sayer
Director:
Simon Otto
Richard Curtis's Overstuffed Animated Family Film Can't Recreate Love Actually's Charm
Mon, December 23 2024
More than two decades ago, Love Actually became the quintessential British Christmas film. The rom-com featured connected stories of love, family, and, of course, Christmas. Writer-director Richard Curtis’s latest holiday offering is a family film, That Christmas, that follows the same template, but even with the mighty touch of Santa Claus, it can’t recreate that one-of-a-kind feeling. However, for a younger audience, the craziness of the narrative might be just passable.
Skeleton Crew
Action & Adventure, Sci-Fi & Fantasy (English)
Four ordinary kids search for their home planet after getting lost in the Star Wars galaxy.
Cast:
Jude Law, Ravi Cabot-Conyers, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, Kyriana Kratter, Robert Timothy Smith, Nick Frost
Coming-Of-Age Star Wars Adventure In Space Is Nostalgic And Sweet
Mon, December 23 2024
The newest Star Wars series is a good old-fashioned space adventure led by a bunch of pre-teen heroines and heroes. Skeleton Crew brings together four imaginative children who embark on a trip to the outer galaxies that they won’t forget. The series also features Jude Law as a mysterious space pirate, whose role is yet to be determined. With only two episodes airing so far, the sci-fi series Skeleton Crew looks to unite Star Wars fans, young and old, in a classic adventure saga.
Mufasa: The Lion King
Adventure, Family, Animation (English)
Mufasa, a cub lost and alone, meets a sympathetic lion named Taka, the heir to a royal bloodline. The chance meeting sets in motion an expansive journey of a group of misfits searching for their destiny.
Cast:
Aaron Pierre, Kelvin Harrison, Jr., Tiffany Boone, Kagiso Lediga, Preston Nyman, Blue Ivy Carter, John Kani, Mads Mikkelsen, Seth Rogen, Billy Eichner
Director:
Barry Jenkins
(Writing for OTT Play)
The Lion King Is A Disney-Sized Waste Of Director Barry Jenkins
Sun, December 22 2024
While watching Mufasa: The Lion King, all I could think about was this: 4 precious years of Barry Jenkins’ career were spent in front of Disney green screens and sound stages to not even create something madly original? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against effects-driven or photo-realistically animated movies; visionaries like Peter Jackson and James Cameron have redefined the relationship between technology and storytelling over the years. But Disney? Another Lion King film? My viewing experience was laced with the frustration of realising that yet another Hollywood studio franchise was doing wasteful Hollywood things.
Shah Rukh Khan's Great But We Want Justice For Taka
Sat, December 21 2024
Mufasa is the prequel to the Disney’s iconic film The Lion King. However, the film takes a different route than a typical prequel, we also get to see a follow-up plotline for Simba, Nala and their kids along with what’s going on at Pride Rock aka Milele. The Hindi Dub remains as close to the original names and essence of the characters while also adding a bit of a twist. While Simba and his family remain the prideful ruling family of Pride’s land, Timon, Pumbaa and some supporting characters get a twist with the Hindi Dub adding more comedy to the screenplay.
Has its moods and moments but lacks spirit and soul.
Fri, December 20 2024
If the 2019 reboot of The Lion King, that came out 25 years after the original, also called The Lion King, taught us anything, it is that one should never tamper with anything that has made a place for itself not only in the hearts of the audience but also in cinema history. Mufasa: The Lion King, though not a reboot or remake, can be added to that list. Serving as a prequel to the 2019 film, it takes us back in time to when Mufasa and Taka — as Scar was once known — were young cubs roaming the plains together.
Marco
Action, Crime, Thriller (Malayalam)
The adoptive son of the Adattu family, Marco, sets off on a ruthless quest for vengeance after his brother is brutally murdered, finding only betrayal, loss and unimaginable brutality at every step.
Cast:
Unni Mukundan, Siddique, Ishan Shoukath, Jagadish, Abhimanyu Thilakan, Kabir Duhan Singh, Anson Paul, Ajith Koshy, Durva Thaker, Yukti Thareja
Director:
Haneef Adeni
Writer:
Haneef Adeni
In Unni Mukundan's Blood-Fest, Violence Is The Question And Also The Answer
Sat, December 21 2024
The blood begins to flow even before the first scene in Marco. For a film about a bastard son avenging the murder of his adopted brother, it’s appropriate for even the opening credits to show his family tree in the form of a (literal) bloodline, as blood flows from one generation to next. Haneef Adeni, after the unwatchable comedy Ramachandra Boss & Co, returns home to a world he is most familiar with, in Marco. All his obsessions return too, including the Biblical references, Christian symbolism, Malayali men dressed for black tie events in peak summer, and the cringiest of English dialogues that are too lethal even for TikTok.
Jhansi Ka Rajkumar
(English)
“Jhansi Ka Rajkumar” 2024 is a Hindi comedy-drama film directed by Nicholas Kharkongor, featuring Gulshan Devaiah and Namita Dubey in lead roles. The film explores gender stereotypes in small-town India, portraying a stay-at-home husband and his working wife.
Gulshan Devaiah's Small-Town Comedy is Dull and Dated
Sat, December 21 2024
Even as an Ayushmann Khurrana-coded small-town comedy that’s a decade too late, Jhansi Ka Rajkumar feels dated. The film stars Gulshan Devaiah as Rajkumar, a stay-at-home dad struggling to adjust to a move from Delhi to Jhansi — or, more accurately, struggling to function in a judgmental society. His wife, Devayani (Namita Dubey), is the breadwinner with a government job. You know the drill. Gender role reversal. Ridicule. Stigma. Pressure to conform. Marital conflict. Speech. Resolution. This is basically a middle-class Ki & Ka (2016), just not as gimmicky and self-satisfied. But it’s also not as self-contained as Barun Sobti’s track in Raat Jawaan Hai, a show where the guy’s “progressive househusband” tag silently gnaws away at him.
UI
Thriller, Fantasy (Kannada)
Set in a fictional world, the story is about the psychological conflict between a king in a town and an extraordinary man, and how that man, through his cunning and master minded plans takes over everything, takes control of the entire town, becomes a dictator.
Cast:
Upendra, Reeshma Nanaiah, Nidhi Subbaiah, P. Ravi Shankar, Sadhu Kokila, Murali Sharma, Neetu Vanajakshi, Murali Krishna, Indrajit Lankesh, Om Saiprakash
Director:
Upendra
Writer:
Upendra
(Writing for The News Minute)
Two hours of torture that passes off for a movie that you’ve to decode
Fri, December 20 2024
Cinema as a medium commands and deserves respect, both from its audience and those who work in it, especially directors and actors. So, how does one review a film where the hero and director are the same person, and when both work in tandem to leave you with a confused set of images that lead nowhere. What if they rest on past glories, justified or not, and leave you with problematic imagery and dialogues that leave your head spinning, and make you so want to say, ‘Boss, idhu 2024. 1980s alla’.
Bachchala Malli
Action, Drama (Telugu)
The story is set in the 1990s and follows the emotional and action-filled journey of Bachhala Malli, a rural hero. The narrative combines intense drama with romance, focusing on the protagonist’s challenges and personal growth in a rustic backdrop.
Cast:
Allari Naresh, Amritha Aiyer, Hari Teja, Rohini, Rao Ramesh, Sai Kumar, Achyuth Kumar, Kota Jayaram, Dhanraj Sukhram, Harsha Chemudu
Director:
Subbu Mangadevi
Writer:
Subbu Mangadevi
Allari Naresh is the saving grace of this boring film
Fri, December 20 2024
In times of chest-thumping heroism when films are relentlessly packed with a series of highs, it is heartening that filmmaker Subbu Mangadevi has chosen to tell the story of a loser rather unapologetically. His Bachchala Malli is about a good-for-nothing youngster Malli (Allari Naresh) who treads a self-destructive path while never recovering from his setbacks. Malli is, by no means, your average male protagonist. He barely acknowledges his mother’s presence at the house, stitches gunny bags for a living, steals donation boxes from children for a drink at a local bar, engaging in petty fights with fellow customers. As he falls off his bike, lying unconscious on the road, not a soul cares for him, after which you are gradually introduced to his not-so-rosy past.
Rifle Club
Action, Thriller (Malayalam)
A historic rifle club in the Western Ghats becomes the center of a thrilling fight for survival when a dangerous arms dealer and his gang come seeking revenge. The club’s members, skilled hunters with a shared passion works together to protect their lives and their legacy
Cast:
Dileesh Pothan, Vishnu Agasthya, Vani Viswanath, Anurag Kashyap, Hanumankind, Surabhi Lakshmi, Ramzan Muhammed, Vijayaraghavan, Unnimaya Prasad, Suresh Krishna
Director:
Aashiq Abu
Writer:
Suhas, Syam Pushkaran, Dileesh Nair
Aashiq Abu's Crazy, Relentless Love Letter To Guns And The Games Men Play
Fri, December 20 2024
In Aashiq Abu’s Rifle Club, manliness is next to godliness. It’s set in a hyper-violent world with no room for peaceful resolutions or around-the-table diplomacy. An eye for an eye is the only diktat, and it’s the meanest, most frenetic Western you’re likely to see from one of our Southern-most states. It takes place in 1991 and this gives the film a pre-woke recklessness that’s rare in a film set in today’s time. Instead, the film’s allegiance to machismo is so on-the-nose that it doesn’t even try to hide the many phallic symbols that “rise” from subtext to text. In a chilling scene, when an outsider asks Itty (a killer Vani Vishwanath) if he can speak to the man of the house, she forces him to look down, pointing at her loaded pistol. This is not your average household in which women are valued based on their looks or their ability to cook. For members of the Rifle Club, what matters most is the ability to shoot, gender notwithstanding.
Aashiq Abu returns all guns blazing in this eclectic, explosive, and entertaining hunt
Fri, December 20 2024
From the times of black-and-white, we have often seen a wife act coyly around her husband when sharing the news of their impending pregnancy. There is the bashful eyes, shy demeanour, and lines like the veiled “Now, I have to eat for two people” or the direct “There is a new entrant coming to the family” before breaking into a smile and a hug. In Aashiq Abu’s insanely entertaining Rifle Club, the sassy Sicily tells her husband Avaran, “Bring me the liver of the wild boar you are going to hunt. I heard it is good for pregnant women.” These are the kind of characters that inhabit the world created by Syam Pushkaran, Dileesh Karunakaran and Suhas. Characters who might seem like a weapon-wielding Addams Family to the rest of the world, but within their self-sufficient existence, this is the normal.
Aashiq Abu’s stylish film is a treat to watch, but needed better writing
Fri, December 20 2024
Dead wild boars and gun-toting humans floating down a zip line from inside a forest to a bungalow, dinner conversations replete with tall tales of hunting and backhanded compliments, residents for whom the gun is the one, and probably only, thing that matters in their lives — this is the world in which Aashiq Abu’s Rifle Club is set. It is a closed world with strict honour codes, which doesn’t bar the characters from mercilessly lampooning the incompetence of someone else in the club. And, almost all of them belong to the same family.
Zebra
Crime, Action, Thriller (Telugu)
Surya is a street-smart bank employee, in a bid to protect his loved one, gets entangled in a complex multi-crore scam. He must do whatever it takes to prove his innocence.
Cast:
Satyadev Kancharana, Dhananjay, Priya Bhavani Shankar, Satya, Sathyaraj, Sunil Varma, Jeniffer Piccinato, Amrutha Iyengar, Suresh Chandra Menon, Pithamagan Mahadevan
Director:
Eashvar Karthic
Writer:
Eashvar Karthic
Satyadev’s financial thriller delivers the goods
Fri, December 20 2024
Weeks after Lucky Bhaskar, a tale of a bank employee whose greed nearly leads to his downfall, another film centred on financial fraud in the banking sector, Zebra, is out in theatres. Incidentally, Zebra also begins with a bank official instructing his subordinates, “We don’t want another Harshad Mehta.” However, the similarities between the films more or less end there.
Satyadev, Dhananjaya, Sathyaraj power an intriguing but convoluted cat-and-mouse game
Sun, December 1 2024
What is it with Telugu cinema and banking fraud? Within the past three weeks, we’ve had Lucky Baskhar, Matka, and now Zebra, which deals with banks, scams, heists, boyish charm, ticking clocks, tension-filled banks, middle class aspirations, and of course, references to Harshad Mehta. But, in a very weird way, all three films are as different as chalk and cheese thanks to the era the films are set in, the stars headlining the films, and the unique treatment. Zebra differs from both these movies despite having banking and scams at the centre of it because director Eashvar Karthic designs a protagonist who does what he does for others and not for individual gains, and most importantly, the adversary isn’t the system, but an individual.
Pace Makes Up For Flaws In This Heist Thriller
Sat, November 30 2024
Zebra, the film’s title, could denote the game the characters play with black and white money (they call it sugar) throughout the film. It could also mean the colour grey you get when the two stripes of the animal are mixed–which would be the moral tone of almost all the characters in the movie. Incidentally, that’s how you feel about the film as well. It is neither a smooth entertainer nor a problematic drag. In essence, Zebra is an over-the-top heist thriller that is more about entertainment and less about logic and other rational thoughts. As it gets the entertaining part right, it overshadows even its worst flaw.
Girls Will Be Girls
Drama, Romance (Hindi)
In a strict boarding school nestled in the Himalayas, 16-year-old Mira discovers desire and romance. But her sexual, rebellious awakening is disrupted by her mother who never got to come of age herself.
Cast:
Preeti Panigrahi, Kani Kusruti, Kesav Binoy Kiron, Kajol Chugh, Nandini Verma, Devika Shahani, Akash Pramanik, Aman Desai, Sumit Sharma, Jitin Gulati
Director:
Shuchi Talati
Writer:
Shuchi Talati
Kani Kusruti takes your breath away in one of the best films of 2024
Fri, December 20 2024
In an unspecified North Indian hilltown boarding school, a girl comes of age. That overused phrase ‘coming-of-age’ is a misnomer when it comes to mainstream Hindi cinema: the years between thirteen and eighteen are those where contradictory impulses leap between synapses, with mind and body taking off in opposite directions, and explorations of both taking you into spaces where you’ve never been before.
Shuchi Talati’s searing psychological drama is one of the best films of the year
Thu, December 19 2024
Like its protagonist, director Shuchi Talati’s Girls Will Be Girls is a constantly evolving entity. But behind an outer veneer of control, there is burgeoning angst, a simmering chaos, and a terrible desire to be seen and heard. The psychological drama played to an uncommonly interactive packed crowd at the Dharamshala International Film Festival recently — it was a bizarre screening that exemplified how important it is to watch movies in a community environment. Often, these experiences reveal more about society than the films themselves.
Asks to break the cycle of trauma.
Thu, December 19 2024
The Day of the Jackal
Drama, Action & Adventure, Mystery (English)
An unrivalled and highly elusive lone assassin, the Jackal, makes his living carrying out hits for the highest fee. But following his latest kill, he meets his match in a tenacious British intelligence officer who starts to track down the Jackal in a thrilling cat-and-mouse chase across Europe, leaving destruction in its wake.
Cast:
Eddie Redmayne, Lashana Lynch, Eleanor Matsuura, Chukwudi Iwuji, Úrsula Corberó, Adoney Díaz Barajas
Even Eddie Redmayne can’t elevate this empty adaptation of Frederick Forsyth’s assassin thriller
Thu, December 19 2024
Oscar-winner Eddie Redmayne is at his slipperiest in The Day of the Jackal, the new mini-series based on the classic beach read by Frederick Forsyth. The book was previously adapted into a lithe (and largely faithful) movie back in 1973, but has been updated for a modern audience by series creator Ronan Bennett. The bones of the story — a cat-and-mouse chase between an assassin on a mission and a secret agent tasked with stopping him — remain the same, but Bennett’s attempts to flesh the narrative out are mostly unsuccessful.