Bring Her Back
Horror (English)
Following the death of their father, a brother and sister are introduced to their new sibling by their foster mother, only to learn that she has a terrifying secret. (more…)
Saare Jahan Se Accha
Drama (Hindi)
A resilient Indian spy must defeat his counterpart across the border in a battle of wits and tradecraft to sabotage a nuclear program. (more…)
Guild Reviews
Shodha
Thriller (Kannada)
After his wife vanishes following a deadly accident, Rohit reports her missing.When police find her,he insists the woman isn't really his wife.
Cast:
Pawan Kumar, Siri Ravikumar, Shwetha R Prasad, Anusha Rangnath, Arun Sagar
Director:
Sunil Mysore
Writer:
Pawan Kumar, Suhas Navarathna
(Writing for M9 News)
Modestly Watchable Thriller
Fri, August 29 2025
Rohith, a lawyer by profession, arrives at the police station to claim that his wife, Meera, is missing. After a work trip, he’d returned home to surprise Meera on her birthday. Meanwhile, Meera’s sister Aditi takes charge of the situation at home, shielding his daughter Tara from the confusion. A woman, claiming to be Rohith’s wife, lands at home, whom he asserts is an imposter. Where’s the case headed? Shodha doesn’t demand much from its cast, for it barely settles down, not giving any performance enough time to register well. Pawan Kumar (who also helped with the adaptation), as the protagonist, gets the maximum screen time and plays a multi-layered role minus any overt exaggeration. Yet it isn’t a performance you’d call memorable; it fits the bill and that’s about it.
Tribanadhari Barbarik
(Telugu)
Tribanadhari Barbarik (2025) tells the epic tale of Barbarik, grandson of Bhima, who rises in the modern age with his three invincible arrows to fight for the oppressed. Awakened in a world torn apart by greed and war, he is bound by his eternal oath to always stand with the weaker side. As ancient evils resurface and humanity faces its darkest hour, Barbarik must decide whether his power will save the world or lead it into eternal destruction.
Cast:
Rajendran, Vasishta N. Simha, Satyam Rajesh, Sathyaraj, VTV Ganesh, Sanchi Rai, Udayabhanu
Director:
Mohan Srivatsa
Writer:
Mohan Srivatsa
(Writing for The Hindu)
Sathyaraj leads a taut, self-aware redemption drama
Fri, August 29 2025
There is a certain degree of freedom that storytellers enjoy with a film that is not tailored to suit an actor’s image. One can sense that liberation in director Mohan Srivatsa’s Telugu film Tribanadhari Barbarik, which, despite being a done-to-death redemption drama centred on a missing child, rises above the limitations of its genre, thanks to crisp storytelling and well-etched characters. The title, Tribanadhari Barbarik, is a reference to Ghatotkacha’s son in the Mahabharata; he is a gifted warrior who vows to support the losing side in the war. The film’s protagonist, Shyam Kathu (another name for Barbarik, played by Sathyaraj), a psychiatrist, is a warrior-like figure for his granddaughter Nidhi, who goes missing one night. The grandfather will not rest till he finds her.
Sundarakanda
Romance, Comedy (Telugu)
A man born under the Mula Nakshatra faces misfortune and failed relationships, exploring his journey to win over his ideal match.
Cast:
Nara Rohith, Sridevi Vijayakumar, Virti Vaghani, Naresh, Vasuki Anand, Satya, Ajay, VTV Ganesh, Abhinav Gomatam, Viswant Duddumpudi
Director:
Venkatesh Nimmalapudi
(Writing for The Hindu)
Nara Rohith’s romcom is a mixed bag
Fri, August 29 2025
In Sundarakanda, Siddharth (Nara Rohith) faces a quintessential problem common to most middle-aged protagonists in Telugu cinema’s romcoms. The parents are worried that their ageing son may never get married, while the typical man-child will not agree to a girl unless she matches his specific requirements. However, the Nara Rohith starrer gives this idea a cheeky little twist and playfully subverts it. The film’s title is a throwback to Venkatesh’s 1992 hit by the same name, and there is enough thematic similarity between the two to establish a clear connection. While the former featured an unconventional equation between a male teacher and a feisty student, the 2025 film is a tale of a man who turns a teacher to woo his lady love (creepy, yes), tackling ageism with tongue-in-cheek humour.
Half CA S02
Drama (Hindi)
Two CA Aspirants from two different ends of the spectrum of the course, Archie and Niraj embark on the journey of one of the toughest courses and face the obstacles it has to offer.
Cast:
Ahsaas Channa, Gyanendra Tripathi, Anmol Kajani, Prit Kamani, Rohan Joshi, Aishwarya Ojha
Director:
Pratish Mehta
(Writing for Binged)
A Kota Factory-Style Easy Watch
Thu, August 28 2025
Niraj, Archie and Parth have cleared their CA Group 1 exams. Both Parth and Archie land articleships in different companies, juggling their time for exam preparation. Niraj bumps into his ex, Kavya, again, and the two give their relationship another chance. Tejas continues to support Archie through her highs and lows, while Vishal makes progress with his acting career. The performances generally fit the bill. Given the graph of the characters is limited in terms of complexity, there’s only so much that an actor can do to go beyond the established tropes. Ahsaas Channa is the pick of the lot among the cast; she’s barely tested but tries to bring some earnestness into her performance. Half CA is precisely Kota Factory for CA aspirants – a group of students from different parts of the country across age groups come together to pursue their dream, nearly give up, get distracted, but give it a good shot. Some make it, some don’t, there are heartbreaks, disappointments and time runs out. Through the journey, some victories are literal, others moral, but they gear them for life.
Bring Her Back
Horror (English)
Following the death of their father, a brother and sister are introduced to their new sibling by their foster mother, only to learn that she has a terrifying secret.
Cast:
Billy Barratt, Sally Hawkins, Mischa Heywood, Jonah Wren Phillips, Stephen Phillips, Sally-Anne Upton, Sora Wong, Kathryn Adams, Brian Godfrey, Brendan Bacon
Director:
Danny Philippou, Michael Philippou
Writer:
Danny Philippou, Bill Hinzman
A Rare Horror Film That Humanises Its Monster
Mon, August 25 2025
One of the incidental pleasures of recent indie-horror films from around the world is how they’ve doubled down on the power of gaslighting. It’s chilling to see the psychological warfare unleashed on a person, enough to make them question their critical faculties and/or sanity. Why fear the monster under the bed, when family members and ‘well-meaning’ acquaintances can make up for it? The power of perception can be vital – which most people are discovering in the age of social media. Imbuing human paranoia into a folk horror-tale is one of the best decisions made by director-duo Danny and Michael Philippou in Bring Her Back – their sophomore film, after their clutter-breaking debut in Talk To Me (2023). Having started as YouTubers in Adelaide, the Philippou brothers soon showcased their knowledge about horror tropes. And they also know the points when most horror films take a leap of faith – and how ludicrous it looks. So the duo mine it for laughs. It’s another miracle of recent that instead of being rigid, indie-spirited horror films operate without any fear of flirting with their own formlessness.
Good grief
Mon, August 25 2025
Following the releases of Weapons and Together earlier this month, the series of top notch horror/thriller films persists. It is safe to say that Bring Her Back stands out as the most terrifying of them all, due to its staging and unfolding – complemented by an exceptional performance from the ever-dependable Sally Hawkins. You will find yourself reluctant to visit her home, even if she extends an invitation
This Horror Pulls All The Right Stops But...
Sat, August 23 2025
2025 has seen a range of horror with sub-genres and plots that are far from the idea of a typical horror film from the 2000s. With drama, supernatural elements and psychological factors taking the forefront, a new kind of understanding for the genre has emerged. Bring Her Back is another such film; it focuses on body horror with gore and blood, which makes you look away. But the focus on these ends up overshadowing the real psychological horror of the film: a mother lost to grief, the broken foster system and the trauma all kids go through in the film.
Nobody 2
Action, Thriller (English)
Former assassin Hutch Mansell takes his family on a nostalgic vacation to a small-town theme park, only to be pulled back into violence when they clash with a corrupt operator, a crooked sheriff, and a ruthless crime boss.
Cast:
Bob Odenkirk, Connie Nielsen, Sharon Stone, John Ortiz, Colin Hanks, RZA, Christopher Lloyd, Gage Munroe, Paisley Cadorath, Colin Salmon
Director:
Timo Tjahjanto
Rinsed and Repeated
Mon, August 25 2025
Similar to numerous Hollywood films, Nobody 2 was produced due to the success of Nobody (2021), which performed well at the box office. The concept was interesting – an unremarkable office worker is actually a skilled assassin and capable of taking on a horde of thugs and defeating them decisively. It was a light-hearted film filled with action.
Bob Odenkirk's Action Sequel Stays In Its Lane And Is Still Fun
Sat, August 23 2025
Nobody 2 brings back the old man in an action film gimmick, but the makers stay true to the franchise’s tone, keeping it family-friendly and light. The action sequences are amusing and gory, similar to those in the first film, but they are witty enough not to feel repetitive. The novelty of watching a middle-aged man fighting does wear off, but the full-circle moment in the film makes up for it. Until the usual sequels, with just newer villains and bigger baddies, we do a refreshing take on making friends with call backs to the good moments in the original film.
Indra
Thriller (Tamil)
INDRA is a serial killer investigation film about an ex-cop who lost his eyesight and sets out to find the killer terrorizing the town. What follows is a gripping chase full of twists and turns — but what if the hunter ends up becoming the hunted?
Cast:
Vasanth Ravi, Mehreen Pirzada, Sunil Varma, Anikha Surendran, Kalyan Kumar
Director:
Sabarish Nanda
Writer:
Sabarish Nanda
Vasanth Ravi's thriller is too basic to be the thriller it promised
Sat, August 23 2025
A police officer on suspension. A serial killer is on the loose. A murder that hits home. A personal tragedy that blinds the police. All these plot points could set the foundation of a gripping crime thriller, if done well. Director Sabarish Nanda’s ‘Indra’ has all of it, yet the film only reaches for the low-hanging fruit, so much so that the makers seem content with the bare minimum. Indra (Vasanth Ravi) struggles with alcoholism. His addiction and rage get him suspended, and he even leads to the loss of his eyesight. He and his wife Kayal (Mehreen Pirzada) are facing marital troubles. However, the loss of eyesight brings them closer as they wait for a transplant. During this time, Kayal is murdered at home while Indra sleeps in another room. The pattern of the killing points to a serial killer.
Paradha
Drama (Telugu)
A veiled village woman's life changes when city visitors challenge her traditions. As she questions customs and investigates a curse, rumors of Sati emerge, leading her to confront societal norms.
Cast:
Anupama Parameswaran, Darshana Rajendran, Sangeetha Krish, Rag Mayur
Director:
Praveen Kandregula
Writer:
Prahaas Boppudi, Poojitha Sreekanti
An honest, non-preachy film that lays bare everyday patriarchy
Sat, August 23 2025
Women-led films don’t always have to be about a woman being belittled by everyone around her, only to later rise as someone who rides bikes in the Himalayas. A women-led film can also be about learning and unlearning - discovering that the world beyond their cocoon presents opportunities. How to make use of this vast world of opportunities is up to each individual. But the important underlying message is that they have a choice. A choice that lets them spread their wings and fly, or simply feel the freedom of having options. That is what director Praveen Kandregula’s ‘Paradha’ is all about. Subbu (Anupama Parameswaran) belongs to the fictional village named Padathi, where women, who have hit puberty, have to wear a veil till they die. This superstitious belief is told to the villagers as the story and curse of the deity, Jwalamma. If the paradha (veil) is taken off, wilfully or unintentionally, the woman has to face death. Hold on! A ritual followed by death.
Three sparkling women and a film that celebrates female friendships
Sat, August 23 2025
Paradha is a refreshing breather in a largely machismo-driven Telugu cinema. Imagine three women, hailing from different backgrounds, on a road trip to find a solution to a crisis that one of them is caught up in. Director Praveen Kandregula’s film starring Anupama Parameswaran, Darshana Rajendran and Sangitha Krish, brims with warmth, joy, laughter, and tears. The journey gives these women a much-needed getaway from their daily grind. As they soak in the vastness of the landscapes, they question their own understanding of the world and gender equations. Despite the heavy folklore that acts as a fulcrum to the narrative, considerable portions are handled with a lightness that makes it enjoyable.
Tehran
Action, Thriller (Hindi)
On 13th February 2012, a magnetic bomb exploded, destroying an Israeli embassy vehicle in Delhi. ACP Rajiv Kumar, leading the investigation, suspects more than what meets the eye. Amid political pressure and suspicions of an Iranian connection, he embarks on a perilous journey to uncover the truth, facing formidable adversaries.
Cast:
John Abraham, Manushi Chhillar, Neeru Bajwa, Madhurima Tuli, Elnaaz Norouzi, Alyy Khan, Dinker Sharma, Hadi Khanjanpour
Director:
Arun Gopalan
Writer:
Ritesh Shah, Ashish Prakash Verma, Bindni Karia
John Abraham’s geopolitical thriller isn’t smarter than a fifth grader, no matter how many newspapers it reads
Sat, August 23 2025
There is a scam in Punjab that Rajkumar Hirani would’ve heard about while researching Dunki. Shady travel agents are charging crores from desperate (and mostly uneducated) Indians with the promise of arranging safe passage to the American state of Georgia. The scam? These poor men are being sent to the country of Georgia instead. In most cases, they’ve sold off family land, quit their jobs, and exhausted their entire life savings; some of them even have wives and children with them. All to be sent to the land of khachapuri. To put it simply, there are a bunch of people from Bathinda knocking about in the Caucasus right now. Anyway, the folks who made the new John Abraham film Tehran are no smarter. The movie opens with a voiceover in which we are told about an operation carried out by Iran in 2012, where Israeli diplomats were targeted in Thailand, India, and Georgia. They meant the country. But the map that the movie shows instead is that of the US state.
The Long Take: A Spotify Review
Fri, August 22 2025
Tehran—the new John Abraham political action thriller—literally cannot identify the country of Georgia on the map. The movie also goes out of its way to make its protagonist an apolitical man who somehow annoys the governments of three nations, including his own. We discuss the film’s muddled messaging, its bizarre third act, and the arrogance with which it thinks it can get away with claiming Scotland is Iran.
(Writing for OTT Play)
Tehran Is An Impressive Espionage Thriller With Muddy Politics
Mon, August 18 2025
TEHRAN is the latest John Abraham film, where the actor is out to avenge. For a while, it was the country (Parmanu, Satyameva Jayate); then it became more pointed (in both Vedaa and The Diplomat, he saves a girl). A less obvious, but more definite, shift has been his heroism, which has shapeshifted from a combative force to inner resilience. It has become less showy and more nuanced, more cerebral and less extraneous, much like the nationalism in his filmography. In that sense, Tehran is an able extension of this humanity that props up the ideas of protection without losing sight of the cost. In Delhi, 2012, an Israeli diplomat’s car was bombed. Similar blasts occurred in Georgia and Thailand. But the one which we see in the capital (designed in a sleek shot; Evgeniy Gubrenko and Andre Menezes are the cinematographers) results in an unwitting casualty. A young girl on the street, not much older than the daughter of ACP Rajeev Kumar (Abraham), suffers injury. This pulls him into the case even when he was hesitant initially.
Saare Jahan Se Accha
Drama (Hindi)
A resilient Indian spy must defeat his counterpart across the border in a battle of wits and tradecraft to sabotage a nuclear program.
Cast:
Pratik Gandhi, Tillotama Shome, Sunny Hinduja, Suhail Nayyar, Kritika Kamra, Rajat Kapoor, Anup Soni
Writer:
Shivam Shankar
Netflix sabotages Suhail Nayyar’s performance, humiliates Tillotama Shome by editing her scenes out
Sat, August 23 2025
The new Netflix series Saare Jahan Se Accha begins with Pratik Gandhi’s character being posted to the R&AW’s Islamabad station, and it ends with him foiling a major nuclear operation and blowing things up real good. All of this happens in six episodes of roughly 45 minutes each. In these six episodes, we are introduced to several characters — field agents, a journalist, the chief of the ISI; even Indira Gandhi drops by. Most of these characters, including the protagonist’s wife, is introduced with enough fanfare to suggest that they are going to be important to the plot. Some of them are, most aren’t. But you can never shake the feeling that Saare Jahan Se Accha was stripped to the bone after somebody interfered with either the scripts or the first assembly. Nearly everybody in the cast suffers, not to mention the show itself. But nobody is done quite so dirty as Tillotama Shome.
Sunny Hinduja and Suhail Nayyar steal the show, which peters off towards the end
Fri, August 15 2025
It’s not the fault of this series that it comes exactly a week after the one which had the same theme. Well, almost. Salaakar is about scotching Pakistan’s nuclear ambitions with the help of canny footwork by Indian spies : this week’s new show on Netflix, Saare Jahaan Se Accha, created by Gaurav Shukla and directed by Sumit Purohit, is exactly about the same thing. The intent may be the same but the treatment, thankfully, is vastly different: the beyond-terrible Salakaar, with Naveen Kasturia leading the charge, reminds you of a comic-book with none of the fun of the genre; this Pratik Gandhi starrer, on the other hand, takes things seriously, and that’s a good thing, more or less.
Despite the potential for a tense thriller with grand stakes, the series rarely brings tension and feels more like a uneven forgettable feature film
Thu, August 14 2025
Deja Vu
Documentary (English)
Deja Vu (2025) is a documentary by Indian filmmaker Bedabrata Pain that draws parallels between the corporatization of the American farming industry in the 1980s and similar agricultural market reforms in India
Director:
Bedabrata Pain
Bedabrata Pain’s Urgent Warning on How Indian Farm Laws Could Wipe Out the Small Farmer
Sat, August 23 2025
The Indian farmers’ protest on Delhi’s borders in late 2020, was arguably the longest citizen-led protest in post-Independence India. Lasting a little over a year, weathering a bone-chilling winter and an equally oppressive summer, the farmers were labelled many things by the TV media: folks misunderstanding the government’s intentions to empower them, anti-social elements, even Khalistani terrorists. The protest sites invited the curiosity of documentarians: Nishtha Jain’s Farming The Revolution, Gurvinder Singh’s Trolley Times and Varrun Sukhraj’s Too Much Democracy were some of the films that chronicling the 13-month farmers’ agitation, interviewing them, getting experts to weigh in on initialisms (like MSP), and trying to understand the points of disagreement around the farm laws, which were hastily passed in the Parliament.
The Map That Leads to You
Romance, Drama (English)
Heather is a young woman traveling Europe with friends before starting her perfectly planned life. A chance meeting with Jack sparks an unexpected romance that leads to deep emotional discovery. As secrets and life choices test their bond, her path changes forever.
Cast:
Madelyn Cline, K.J. Apa, Sofia Wylie, Madison Thompson, Orlando Norman, Josh Lucas, Karl-El Santos, Diego Ross, Giuseppe Schillaci, JR Esposito
Director:
Lasse Hallström
KJ Apa And Madelyn Cline’s Film Doesn't Live Up To The Bookish Romance
Sat, August 23 2025
The Map That Leads To You is sort of a coming-of-age story for new adults with romance at the center of the plot. Based on a book of the same name by J.P. Monninger, it follows a young woman on an adventure across Europe with her best friends when she crosses paths with Jack, who stirs up her entire idea of an organised and planned life. Meanwhile, Jack, older than her, is off on his own adventure following his grandfather’s post-war journal across Europe.
Madelyn Cline, KJ Apa Starrer Is My Oxford Year Take 2
Wed, August 20 2025
The newest streaming romance, The Map That Leads to You, is based on JP Monninger’s novel and feels like deja vu arriving on the heels of Netflix’s The Oxford Year. It uses the same kind of tropes - American young woman, a European excursion and a summer fling with a stranger who becomes the important part of your life. The biggest difference between the two is the direction by Oscar nominee Lasse Hallström and the treatment of the feature, which feels a bit more lived in. The film’s narrative is much more optimistic and thankfully, this one has a more relatable female lead. Outer Banks star Madelyn Cline plays Heather, who, like Anna (Sofia Carson) from My Oxford Year, has a job waiting for her back in New York. Heather goes on a girls’ trip across Europe with her college besties Connie (Sofia Wylie) and Amy (Madison Thompson), when she meets a stranger named Jack (KJ Apa) from New Zealand on a train to Spain. It’s very DDLJ-esque. He becomes a part of their friends group and the usually rigid Heather finds herself following the oft-beaten path along with Jack. She finds herself opening more and more. But the summer must come to an end, and Jack is hiding a very big secret. Will their romance be able to stand the distance?