Sat, July 11 2026

Aakash Baskaran's film, starring Atharvaa, is indulgent of its wayward protagonist, and expects the viewer to be so as well

Raja (Murali), from Kathir’s debut film, Idhayam (1991), may have become iconic over the years, partly due to the grating niceness and tragic innocence of the character (and mostly due to Ilaiyaraaja’s music). But in a contemporary world in which we reevaluate gender, misogyny and the obsessive nature of love, the idea of unrequited romance makes the conversation feel like the colloquial phrase we use to describe it—one-sided. Rathna Kumar’s superior Meyaadha Maan (2017), refracts the idea through a class lens, where the disparity in economic positions chokes the character out of expressing his true love. This year’s Hollywood phenomenon Obsession reimagines extremities of a nice-guy-dream realized to the point of stifling one life for the other’s wishful fantasy.

Continue reading …

Fri, July 10 2026

The Atharvaa, Kayadu Lohar, Preity Mukhundhan-starrer is frivolous and proud of it; a Gautham Menon-flavoured romance that trades depth for charm and heart

There are several hilarious chunks in Idhayam Murali, but the funniest one is unintentional. In the second half, Sam (Preity Mukundan) tells Idhaya (Atharvaa), in the same breezy tone you’d use to describe wrapping up a work call, “Ippa thaan oru mission mudichom. So konjam naalaiku rest” (We just finished off one mission. We will rest for a while). By this point, it is well established that Sam is a NASA astronaut, which is exactly why the line lands as comedy rather than drama. It’s a very specific kind of silliness, one Tamil cinema has flirted with before. The film doesn’t hide that it’s chasing a Gautham Menon-ish vibe, and this scene recalls a bit from Neethaane En Ponvasantham: a throwaway line establishing that Varun’s (Jiiva) family has grown rich and posh, simply by mentioning that his retired parents are now off travelling the world. Both moments reach for a big, specific, hard-to-verify detail and use it as shorthand for status or drama, without doing any of the narrative work to earn it.

Continue reading …

Fri, July 10 2026

Atharvaa headlines Idhayam Murali as a man who cannot confess his love. The film lands its biggest laughs through cameos and comedy but struggles to deepen its relationships.

Tamil cinema fans from the ’90s have grown up hearing Idhayam Murali in their everyday life. For those who don’t know the context, late actor Murali acted in a film titled Idhayam, where his love remains one-sided as he never confesses his feelings. Little did anyone know it would become a pop culture term. Decades later, Murali’s son Atharvaa is headlining Idhayam Murali, playing a character who just cannot bring himself to confess his love.

Continue reading …

Sat, July 11 2026

When the teaser for YRF ’s Alpha first dropped, the public response was overwhelmingly underwhelming. Audiences widely questioned the casting choice of Alia Bhatt and noted that Bobby Deol’s Haryanvi accent felt jarringly out of place.

Bhatt and Deol are undeniably talented actors, but here they find themselves entirely miscast. The character of Sita demands a raw, imposing physicality that cannot simply be compensated for by Alia’s natural charisma. Sita is written as an engineered attack machine bred strictly for combat, a “lab rat” raised entirely devoid of family, affection, or any semblance of normalcy. It is a compelling premise that the film fails to meaningfully develop. For a character who has never experienced filial bonds, friendships, or basic social interaction outside of her doctor and handler, her resulting persona makes little sense.

Continue reading …

Mon, July 6 2026

Mon, July 6 2026

Shiv Rawail's ‘Alpha’ is sorely missing fresh ideas and is unable to credibly showcase Alia Bhatt as an action star.

The YRF Spyverse is now running on vibes, star cameos and whatever ridiculously catchy new jingle with placeholder English lyrics Sanchit and Ankit Balhara have cooked up. After the glorious high of Pathaan (2023), there’s only been disappointment: first the unnecessary Tiger 3 (2023), then the embarrassing misfire of War 2 (2025). Shiv Rawail’s Alpha isn’t as dire as the previous two entries, but nevertheless shows a franchise badly in need of fresh ideas and, more importantly, a sense of purpose.

Continue reading …

Sat, July 11 2026

Akhil Akkineni and Bhagyashri Borse impress in an ambitious tale of love, betrayal and revenge that is undone by too many twists

Lenin, the Telugu film written and directed by Murali Kishor Abburu, opens with the assertion that no war is more violent than love — a nod to stories from Greek and Indian mythology. Marking Akhil Akkineni’s return to the screen after three years, the film aims to tell an epic love story. At its core, it is a tale of friendship, love, deceit and revenge, layered with references to the Mahabharata and Ramayana. It unfolds against the backdrop of Bharatham Mitta, a cultural festival celebrating Draupadi in a fictional village in Andhra Pradesh’s Chittoor district. The rustic world is rendered with attention to detail, and the screenplay attempts to spring surprises at several turns. But the film falters at its core: the love story never quite makes the audience root wholeheartedly for its characters. The story had immense potential to build on love and pathos, which it does not fully achieve.

Continue reading …

Sat, July 11 2026

Directed by Thomas Kail and starring Dwayne Johnson, Rena Owen, John Tui, Frankie Adams, Jemaine Clement and Catherine Laga'aia, Moana is handsomely mounted, competently acted and perfectly watchable. Its greatest flaw is its overwhelming redundancy. It offers audiences little that they have not already experienced.

Every successful franchise eventually reaches the point where artistic inspiration begins to resemble a financial reflex — another sequel, another remake, another reassuring reminder to studio executives that nostalgia remains a dependable currency. Unless a fresh perspective reshapes the narrative or the story boldly charts unfamiliar waters, these revisits often feel less like cinematic adventures and more like corporate accounting exercises with a generous visual-effects budget. Disney’s Moana (2026), the live-action adaptation of its beloved 2016 animated classic and the third instalment in the franchise, sails directly into this familiar predicament. Directed by Thomas Kail in his feature-film debut from a screenplay by Jared Bush and Dana Ledoux Miller, the film reunites Dwayne Johnson with his larger-than-life role as the swaggering demigod Maui while introducing Catherine Laga’aia as the spirited Moana. Produced by Johnson alongside Hiram Garcia, Dany Garcia, Beau Flynn and Lin-Manuel Miranda, the production possesses all the ingredients of a prestige Disney spectacle. Yet, despite its glittering credentials, it struggles to justify its own existence. Competently assembled though it is, the film rarely inspires wonder, and its visual splendour, while undeniably polished, seldom evokes genuine amazement. It is less a voyage of discovery than an expensive exercise in déjà vu.

Continue reading …

Fri, July 10 2026

Fri, July 10 2026

How do you know you’re special? Sometimes, destiny first speaks through the pulse within. One such prodigy is Moana from Motunui. The future chief of her beautiful island, she knew from day one that she was born to do big things. The spirited teen girl was the chosen one to restore the heart of the goddess of nature, Te Fiti, and save her island from perishing. It’s a story we’ve seen before in 2016, and I’ll happily watch the young Polynesian girl’s journey to greatness another time every decade. That said, the question remains: will the little warrior’s courage and sweet-natured plot be enough to pull it through?

Continue reading …

Fri, July 10 2026

Fri, July 10 2026

Starring Wilde, Seth Rogen, Penelope Cruz and Edward Norton, The Invite is an astute dissection of long-term relationships.

After succumbing to the sophomore slump a few years ago with the dreadfully dull psychological thriller Don’t Worry Darling (2022), Olivia Wilde has reaffirmed herself as a phenomenally talented filmmaker with her third feature, The Invite. It is as astute a dissection of long-term relationships as this year’s The Drama was of the honeymoon phase. Wilde stars as an anxious woman named Angela, who secretly invites her new neighbours for a casual get-together in a naked attempt to impress them. However, she neglects to run this by her husband Joe, a failed musician-turned-teacher played by Seth Rogen. He isn’t into it one bit. Joe has an axe to grind against the neighbours, because their love-making has kept him awake for weeks. He doesn’t know whether to be angry or jealous, but he most certainly isn’t going to be rolling out the red carpet for them. Played by Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton, the neighbours are the perfect foils to utterly bored Angela and Joe. Even before the chic couple from next door arrives, the two are at each other’s throats about everything from back posture to charcuterie boards.

Continue reading …

Fri, July 10 2026

Pina could easily be insufferable, particularly in the ease with which she dispenses advice, from perimenopause to desire. However, Penélope Cruz injects warmth and charm to make Pina a guest you want to host – and impress.

Perhaps nothing spoils a meal faster than bad company. Scratch that. It takes bad company trying to put on a happy face to make it really stink. And, Angela (Olivia Wilde) is trying hard, really hard. Why she is, is evident to us by and by as layers are peeled off the resentment and bitterness that have built up between her and husband Joe (Seth Rogen). The guests for whom Angela plans a spread, from an elaborate charcuterie board to a from-the-recipe-book soufflé, are their upstairs neighbours. Pina is Spanish and “beautiful” and “cool” and “has presence” (an effortlessly posh, and aware of it, Penélope Cruz). Angela clearly is taken in by her and, if not that, with the clearly loud sex-filled relationship she has with boyfriend Hawk (Edward Norton).

Continue reading …

Fri, July 10 2026

Moana is more a self-conscious teen than a carefree spirit. Laga'aia, making her debut, also struggles to hit the right note of chutzpah that marked her animated version. Her eager-to-please smile is the biggest detractor.

In the long list of prequels, sequels, three-quels etc etc, Disney’s contribution has been live action remakes of its popular animation films. Moana, which is still very much alive and rolling out in surfeit animated forms, is the latest. This is as sadly cynical as it gets because Moana stood out for being a departure from the usual Disney heroines – she was dusky, pudgy, a little stout, with no romance on the vast horizon that she conquers. Played by Catherine Laga’aia in the live action version, Moana is more a self-conscious teen than a carefree spirit. Laga’aia, making her debut, also struggles to hit the right note of chutzpah that marked Moana’s animated version. Her eager-to-please smile is the biggest detractor, for one.

Continue reading …

Sat, November 30 2024

Auliʻi Cravalho and Dwayne Johnson’s latest outing, ‘Moana 2’, with its underwhelming story and lack of emotional punch, puts itself several nautical miles behind its much-celebrated predecessor

Moana is back for another adventure! Whether that’s even necessary is a different question considering the first film, which came out eight years ago, was one of Walt Disney Animation films’ best outings of all time and a well-rounded product on its own. Our titular hero became a wayfinder, turned buddies with the demigod Maui by retrieving his fishhook and in due course, took her fellow Motunui people back into the sea as voyagers like how their ancestors once were. Moana 2 puts our heroes back in the open ocean on a new adventure that makes us wonder what’s the sea creature equivalent of a cash cow.

Continue reading …

Fri, July 10 2026

Technically, the film is on par with some of the best works from Malayalam cinema in recent years, with slick, thoughtful framing and editing

How far would a fallen man go for redemption? If one were to ask Rajeevan (Prithviraj Sukumaran), the protagonist of Nissam Basheer’s, I, Nobody, he would probably say: from one extreme, reckless act to another. Consequently, the film also takes one on a rollercoaster series of events, which are intriguing and unconventional up to a point until they turn chaotic misfires. For that matter, almost every other character in I, Nobody appears to believe that their redemption arc lies in jumping into an even bigger problem than the one which they are already entangled in, almost as if they gained some pleasure from further tightening the noose around their neck. These are the kind of men who would bring an earth mover to pick a dry leaf which had fallen on their front yard. But then, we need people like that to create uncommon cinematic situations, which are aplenty in I, Nobody.

Continue reading …

Thu, July 9 2026

Director Nisam Basheer's I, Nobody, starring Prithviraj Sukumaran, Parvathy Thiruvothu and Vijayaraghavan, is a heist thriller that doubles up as a social commentary. While the premise and its treatment warrant your attention, the story is dragged well beyond its potential.

The world always teaches you that you are a nobody in the larger scheme of things. Prithviraj Sukumaran and Parvathy’s I, Nobody explores a similar theme, but goes one step ahead to ask a much-needed question: What does a nobody have to do to get justice? In one of the film’s crucial scenes, a police official explains to Prithviraj’s Rajeevan the concept of the food chain – but with a twist. The grasshopper, at the bottom of the pyramid, should not just eat grass. It should eat the frog that preys on it. That’s how cut-throat the world is.

Continue reading …

Thu, July 9 2026

It is not that 'I, Nobody' forgets to answer essential questions about its characters. It is that it believes those questions are redundant to begin with.

Noted film critic Pauline Kael, writing in the early 1970s, argued, “Movies are good at action; they’re not good at reflective thought or conceptual thinking”. A contestable claim, though it might be something director Nissam Basheer resonates with deeply. His films scramble timelines, introduce characters with breathless intention, and jerk into action with a density of information. There is hardly time to step back and take stock of the debris of information—the aftermath. In Rorschach (2022), with a mourning widower (Mammootty) trying to avenge his wife’s murder, it served Basheer well. The relentless unspooling of the film began to feel like a puzzle falling into place—intentions clarified, backstories unclouded, villainy and heroism solidified. In I, Nobody, however, it hollows the film out till it becomes a shell of itself—all rage, no respite. Fatally, the film is spun around a character, without bothering to ask or answer—who is this Rajeevan (Prithviraj Sukumaran)?

Continue reading …

Thu, July 9 2026

Huma Qureshi, however, has gone out on a limb and brought this film to life.

The title for Nachiket Samant’s film is at first perplexing. But then, once I saw what they were trying to do, I smirked. An English transliteration of the protagonist’s name, Baby Karmarkar — how amused one might be by the pun might dictate how much they end up enjoying Samant’s film – because it’s full of dour, made-in-Mumbai humour. Baby (Huma Qureshi, also producer with brother/actor Saqib Saleem) is a deaf/mute female assassin, whose umbrella doubles up as a sneaky pistol. Exploiting Mumbai’s crowded spaces, Baby slips in, kills her target, and slips out. Thanks to the blinders that Mumbai residents have put on, it takes a while for most people to realise there’s a corpse next to them. It’s a smooth, nifty way to get the job done. In the film’s first scene, the makers introduce Baby’s modus operandi inside a Mumbai local.

Continue reading …

Sat, July 4 2026

‘Baby Do Die Do’, starring Huma Qureshi, throws together noir, graphic novel aesthetics, Mumbai life, romance, real estate politics and revenge drama

There’s a genuinely interesting film hidden inside Baby Do Die Do. It just takes far too long to reveal itself, and even then, it refuses to answer the questions that matter. The film opens with a fractured family: a deceased father, an emotionally volatile mother, twin girls, one of whom is deaf and mute. A late-night adventure results in tragedy leaving Baby alone and vengeful. Right away the questions start building—how did the girls suddenly pick up a puppy in an abandoned hotel? It’s the first of many questions the film, co-written by director Nachiket Samant with Jasmeet K Reen and Parveez Shaikh, never answers.

Continue reading …

Fri, July 3 2026

Wed, July 8 2026

எனோலா ஹோல்ம்ஸாக மில்லி பாபி பிரவுன், மீண்டும் ஒரு முறை அந்த வேடத்துக்குக் கச்சிதமாகப் பொருந்துகிறார். ஷெர்லாக்காக ஹென்றி கேவில்லுக்கு அதிக வேலை இல்லை. பிற கதாபாத்திரங்கள் தேவையான அளவு பங்களிப்பைத் தந்துள்ளனர். ஒளிப்பதிவு, ஆடை வடிவமைப்பு, கலை இயக்கம் ஆகியவை காலப் பயணம் செய்யவைக்கின்றன. ஆனால், அடுத்தடுத்து இருவர் காணாமல்போயும், யார் காரணம் என்று கண்டறியப்பட்ட பிறகு வரும் அந்தக் காதல் காட்சி படத்தைச் சோர்வடையச் செய்கிறது. முழுமையடையாத காட்சிகள், தொக்கி நிற்கும் கதாபாத்திரங்கள், படத்தின் தாக்கத்தைக் குறைக்கின்றன. இருந்தும் விசாரணைக் காட்சிகள் படத்தைக் கரை சேர்க்கின்றன.

Continue reading …

Fri, July 3 2026

Her family's repute is revealed to be seemingly ill-gotten; a rebel hopes to overthrow the British Empire someday and Moriarty’s politics is hard to question, as Enola races to find her kidnapped brother, Sherlock, in this third offering in the Enola Holmes franchise.

​Make no mistake, it is a minor miracle that Enola Holmes, the Netflix film franchise which had its first outing in 2020, hasn’t been corrupted by everything that has happened in the past half-decade. The franchise has survived two Trump administrations, a pandemic and whatever the Russo Brothers (filmmakers Joe and Anthony Russo, known for directing four Marvel films) have done to the streaming industry (they reportedly tried to revolutionise the space with offerings like Citadel and The Electric State, but received limited success). And yet somehow, the Enola Holmes movies — revolving around the adventures of the newly-imagined sister of English literature’s legendary detective, Sherlock Holmes — are still as earnest as ever.

Continue reading …

Thu, July 2 2026

Directed by Philip Barantini, the engaging young detective franchise moves out of London to sunnier locales

The Enola Holmes franchise is growing up. With the third film, the intrepid young detective played by Millie Bobby Brown is about to marry Lord Tewkesbury (Louis Partridge) when disaster strikes. The team behind the award-winning Adolescence comes together for a new mystery that takes viewers to Malta, where the remnants of the past affect the future. The young leads of the film franchise, Brown and Patridge, have grown up as the film’s prior flashbacks show. And while it’s great to see the familiar faces again, the Victorian mystery is missing some of that London magic. In Malta for her wedding to Tewkesbury, Enola has some cold feet but on her way to the church, her brother Sherlock Holmes (Henry Cavill) gets kidnapped. As Enola pieces together the when and why, she uncovers a plot that links back to Tewkesbury’s past. With the help of her husband and Dr. John Watson (Himesh Patel), they uncover a military cover-up that leads to a shocking truth and brings back a familiar villain, at least for Sherlock. Will Enola be able to save her family before it’s too late?

Continue reading …

Wed, July 8 2026

118 நிமிடங்கள் ஓடும் இந்தப் படத்தை லியா மெக்கெண்ட்ரிக் இயக்கியிருக்கிறார். தங்கையின் போன் நம்பருக்கு வாய்ஸ் மெயிலில் பேசும்போதும், காதலன் வெஸ்ஸின் (நிக் ராபின்சன்) அன்புக்கு ஏங்கும்போதும் நடிப்பில் வெரைட்டி காட்டியிருக்கிறார் ஜோயி டாய்ச். ஆனால், ஒருகட்டத்தில் மையக்கதையிலிருந்து திரைக்கதை விலகி அந்தரத்தில் தொங்குகிறது. ஐபோனில் வாய்ஸ்மெயில் அனுப்பும் ஜில், அந்த நம்பர் வேறு ஒருவரிடம் இருப்பதுகூடத் தெரியாமல் தன் அந்தரங்கங்களைப் பகிர்வது என்ன லாஜிக்… வீக் எண்டில், ரொமான்ஸ் தேவைப்படுபவர்கள் ஜில்’லுக்கு ஒரு தடவை மட்டும் வாய்ஸ்மெயில்’ அனுப்பலாம்.

Continue reading …

Wed, July 8 2026

போயிடு ஸ்டீவன்ஸாக ஹெரால்டு பெரினோ (Harold Perrineau) தனது உடல் மற்றும் மனரீதியான சோர்வையும், அதிகாரத்தை இழக்கும் வலியையும் மிகச் சிறப்பாக வெளிப்படுத்தியிருக்கிறார். புதிய நடிகர்களின் வருகையும், தபிதா, ஜேட் பாத்திரங்களின் அர்ப்பணிப்பான நடிப்பும் தொடருக்குப் பெரும் பலமாக அமைந்திருக்கின்றன. முந்தைய சீசன்களைவிட பயத்தையும் உளவியல்ரீதியான அழுத்தத்தையும் இந்த சீசன் பலமடங்கு அதிகரித்திருக்கிறது. அதோடு மனித மனங்களின் வீழ்ச்சியையும், நீண்டகாலமாகக் கேட்கப்பட்ட சில முக்கிய கேள்விகளுக்கான விடைகளையும் தெளிவாகவும் ஆழமாகவும் பதிவுசெய்திருக்கின்றனர். இதுவரை கேள்விகளை மட்டுமே அடுக்கிவந்த திரைக்கதை, முதன்முதலாக பதில்களை அளிக்கத் தொடங்கியிருப்பது நிச்சயம் நல்லதொரு அனுபவமே. கதாபாத்திரங்களின் மனப்போராட்டம், மர்மமான நகரத்தின் பின்னணிக் கதைகள் ஆகியவை திரைக்கதையின் சுவாரஸ்யத்தைக் கூட்டி, பார்வையாளர்களை ஈர்க்கின்றன.

Continue reading …

Mon, July 6 2026

Does a really good job of keeping the laughs coming, even if there are intermittent scenes where your eyes roll to the back of your head

Camouflage. It is always interesting to see how women empowerment films play out in Tamil cinema. Quite often, the makers try to mount a ‘male saviour’ film masquerading as a ‘women empowerment’ film. But smarter filmmakers know that the audience might see through this bluff, and they have started packaging it better. One such film was Chella Ayyavu’s Gatta Kusthi (2022), a seemingly entertaining ride about the ill effects of misogyny and the inherent need for women’s empowerment in society. On paper, it was empowering, but compromises were made to make it seem more ‘palatable’. Interestingly, in Gatta Kusthi 2, Chella doesn’t play the camouflage game. He throws caution to the wind, and goes all out to give us a battle of the sexes that tilts the scales clearly in favour of the man, but not without having him point out why women must be empowered. Basically, Chella and Vishnuu have the cake, and this time, they eat it, too.

Continue reading …

Fri, July 3 2026

Despite its shaky feminism and flimsy subplots, Chella Ayyavu’s directorial language has ample conviction, and the sequel is a vast improvement over its predecessor

Gatta Kushti 2 is, first and foremost, a vast improvement over the first film. There, Veera (Vishnu Vishal), a laundry list misogynist, who desires a wife with long hair and short CV, finds, instead, Keerthy (Aishwarya Lekshmi). She is a champion wrestler who not only has short hair and is more educated than him, but also has the gall to lie about both. They get hitched, and eventually, after the wig falls and the illusions fade, find each other in love. That film’s biggest issue was that in trying to do acrobatics around the story—furnishing plot twists and forced changes of heart at every corner—it forgot to convince us why they eventually fell in love. For example, Keerthy, dogmatically against marriage, melts immediately when Veera refuses a dowry. Is that all it takes? Men, take notes.

Continue reading …

Fri, July 3 2026

Director Chella Ayyavu's Gatta Kusthi 2, starring Vishnu Vishal and Aishwarya Lekshmi, is a family entertainer with a wrestling backdrop. The film's lopsided take on gender politics and comedy that never lands make it a sequel that could have been done away with.

In a span of two months, we saw Samantha, Preity Mukundhan and Abhirami ace action like no one in Maa Inti Bangaaram and Blast. But Aishwarya Lekshmi did it back in 2022 when she wrestled her way into the hearts of audiences with her role in Gatta Kusthi. Four years later, the team reunites for a sequel that promises to delve deep into the lives of Veera, Keerthi and their daughter, Mathi Malar.

Continue reading …