Black, White & Gray: Love Kills
Crime, Drama (Hindi)
A 22-year-old under suspicion of killing four people, including the girl he claims to love, has been on the run for two years. When an independent journalist from the UK investigates the crime, he uncovers that there is more to (more…)
Thunderbolts*
Action, Adventure, Science Fiction (English)
After finding themselves ensnared in a death trap, seven disillusioned castoffs must embark on a dangerous mission that will force them to confront the darkest corners of their pasts. (more…)
Gram Chikitsalay
Comedy, Drama (Hindi)
The young, idealistic and brilliant Dr. Prabhat, takes charge of a neglected Primary Health Centre in a North India Village hoping to bring about much needed changes only to realise it is he who will have do change before anything (more…)
Guild Reviews by Film
Anaganaga
Drama (Telugu)
A school teacher uses innovative storytelling methods to help struggling students, overcoming various challenges to achieve his goal.
Cast:
Sumanth, Anu Hasan, Srinivas Avasarala, BVS Ravi, Rakesh Rachakonda, Kaumudi Nemani, Kajal Choudhary
Director:
Guru Kiran Battula, Sunny Sanjay
Writer:
Deepthi Sree Juttada, Sunny Sanjay
Thu, May 15 2025
Sunny Sanjay’s Telugu film celebrates the joy of storytelling, as Sumanth chips in with one of his finest performances
Last year, the Telugu film 35: Chinna Katha Kaaduasked viewers to consider why zero — seemingly without value — becomes greater than nine when placed after a one. The message was a subtle but effective way of empowering students struggling with mathematical concepts. This year, director Sunny Sanjay returns with Anaganaga, streaming on ETV Win, which presents science lessons — ranging from eclipses to the role of red and white blood cells — through short, story-driven episodes. At the heart of the film is Vyas Kumar, a storyteller-teacher played with quiet sincerity by Sumanth, in one of his most nuanced roles. He brings learning to life for children who find traditional methods difficult to absorb. Loosely adapted from the Marathi film Eka Kay Zaala, Anaganaga opts for simplicity, using its narrative as a gentle teaching tool. Like Taare Zameen Parand 35, it follows a familiar underdog arc, delivering its message with warmth and clarity without talking down to its audience.
Thu, May 15 2025
Vyas is a teacher at the same school where his wife, Bhagyalakshmi, is the principal. Their son Ram struggles with his grades and resists rote learning. Vyas’s innovative teaching methods draw attention from his son and students alike, leading to remarkable progress. Meanwhile, his marriage begins to suffer, and in a cruel twist of fate, his future hangs in the balance, leaving him to face an uncertain path. Kajal Chaudhary makes a decent impression despite her one-note role. The young child actor Viharsh Yadavalli impresses, while Rakesh Rachakonda convincingly brings his character to life. Anu Haasan also shines in a brief yet sparkling cameo. Srinivas Avasarala, however, feels underutilised, while BVS Ravi, Shiva Kandukuri don’t get enough screen time to make much impact.
Kull: The Legacy of Raisingghs
Drama (Hindi)
A dysfunctional royal family implodes with the death of their diabolical patriarch. Now, the three surviving Raisingghs battle it out for power and kingship.
Cast:
Nimrat Kaur, Amol Parashar, Ridhi Dogra, Ankit Siwach, Suhaas Ahuja, Gaurav Arora, Rohit Tiwari
Director:
Sahir Raza
Thu, May 15 2025
A strong cast aside, this royal-family drama fails to reform a popular OTT genre.
Kull: The Legacy of the Raisingghs opens with a bloody corpse floating in a palatial pool. The senile King of Bikaner, Chandra Pratap Raisinggh (Rahul Vohra), has been murdered. The butler did not do it. As is the template, we learn of the days and circumstances leading up to the tragedy. The next three episodes revolve around a birthday celebration gone wrong, lots of wheeling and dealing, and of course, a dysfunctional and greedy family. Everyone needs money, nobody is happy, and almost nobody is sad that the old man popped it. There’s the oldest, Indrani (Nimrat Kaur), in a lavender marriage with the Chief Minister’s gay son, Vikram (Suhaas Ahuja). There’s Kavya (Ridhi Dogra), the pensive one handling the property; she’s having an affair with the videographer (Arslan Goni) who’s filming this royal family for a streaming platform. There’s Abhimanyu (Amol Parashar), the coke-addicted and bratty prince who addresses an indulgent Indrani as “maa” (mother). And there’s Brij (Gaurav Arora), the king’s illegitimate son and the only loyal royal around. A cocky CBI officer named Bhagwan (what else?) arrives, sorts through the fresh characters and the raw footage, and the killer is revealed as early as the fourth episode.
Sat, May 3 2025
Following the murder of king Chandra Pratap, his children – Indrani, Kavya, and Abhimanyu – are caught in a ruthless tussle for the throne. Tension grips the palace as long-buried secrets are unearthed. The adopted son, Brij, too, vies for power, adding to the twisted web of rivalries and hidden agendas. As the family deals with the king’s death and their ambitions, a series of chilling events unfolds. Kull comes alive predominantly due to a string of underrated performers who get much-deserved limelight through well-fleshed-out characters. Nimrat Kaur, of course, leads the party in the shoes of Indrani, the perennial ice-breaker between her troublesome siblings, who gradually succumbs to her royal and political privileges. Ridhi Dogra delivers a fine performance as the rebellious Kavya.
Black, White & Gray: Love Kills
Crime, Drama (Hindi)
A 22-year-old under suspicion of killing four people, including the girl he claims to love, has been on the run for two years. When an independent journalist from the UK investigates the crime, he uncovers that there is more to the story than meets the eye.
Cast:
Mayur More, Palak Jaiswal, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Deven Bhojani, Hakkim Shahjahan, Anant Jog, Kamlesh Sawant, Jairoop Jeevan, Abhishek Bhalerao, Kavita Ghai
Director:
Pushkar Sunil Mahabal
Writer:
Pushkar Sunil Mahabal
Mon, May 12 2025
Probably inspired by the last-scene cliffhangers in Psycho (1960) and The Usual Suspects (1995), Black White & Gray does it without looking gimmicky.
There’s something off about Pushkar Mahabal and Hemal Thakkar’s Black White & Gray from the very beginning. A pronounced foreign accent asking questions from behind a camera, to cops about an unsolved murder case that we’re told took place in Nagpur, in 2020. The talking heads (a sub-inspector and an assistant sub-inspector) seem rehearsed in their responses to questions – almost like they’re acting badly. I wondered if they made the people repeat their answers more than once, which caused the lack of spontaneity. The voice-over featuring the ‘types of India’ sounded almost too generic and lazy by a foreigner. Even the cutting between the fictitious recreations and the interviews felt almost too neat and narrativised, and not something that was discovered in the edit. And then it took me till the start of episode four to pause and properly read the show’s disclaimer, addressing it all as a work of ‘fiction’.
Wed, May 7 2025
Dizzying inventiveness — both of the literal and metaphorical variety — is at the heart of Black White & Gray. Distinguished by a daring meta-narrative which turns the so-called tenets of the true-crime genre on its head, this six-part SonyLIV series is perhaps the most ingenious piece of writing seen on Indian screens in a while. Co-created by Pushkar Mahabal and Hemal Thakkar, with the former also doubling as director, Black White & Gray — with the title delving into the good, the evil and, more importantly, the in-between — focuses on the classic poor boy-rich girl trope, but builds a storytelling technique around it that keeps you on the edge of your seat. There are two intertwined strands: a mockumentary about a crime that is supposed to be real, and the restaging of the crime. Both are fictional, but what hits hard is that all of it could well be true.
Fri, May 2 2025
Four murders. In four different places. The victims: a minister’s daughter (Palak Jaiswal), a young adult; a private cab driver (Hakkim Shahjahan); his passenger, a senior police officer (Tigmanshu Dhulia) with temporary blindness caused by a welding burn; a random kid who’d shot a video of the alleged killer pulling the body of the cop. The killer, a young 20-something (Mayur More) whose name is kept gray, perhaps in an attempt to make the limited series not seem an apologetic thriller that makes one community come across as victims of a prejudiced system. The son of the politician’s driver, he’s soon dubbed a serial killer and has been on the run for two years.
Sarkeet
Family, Drama, Comedy (Malayalam)
In a distant land, Balu and Stephy struggle to balance work, parenting their spirited son with ADHD, and holding their relationship together. When a worn-out stranger enters their lives, a fleeting connection sparks unexpected change in just one day.
Cast:
Asif Ali, Divya Prabha, Deepak Parambol, Orhan, Swathi Das Prabhu, Prasanth Alexander
Director:
Thamar K V
Writer:
Thamar K V
Mon, May 12 2025
Thamar KV’s light-hearted drama tackles weighty issues with strong performances, but falls short of its potential
At the core of Thamar KV‘s sophomore film, Sarkeet, is a sticky affair that pushes the limits of believability. But, it is to the credit of the makers and the actors involved that one goes along willingly with this rather unbelievable situation that propels the story forward. Thamar, going by the two movies he has made so far, appears to be adept at pulling off such uncommon occurrences in a light, engaging manner. For about half of its runtime, Sarkeet moves along two parallel tracks, one dealing with a couple who are struggling to manage their child with a severe case of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and another on the travails of a young Malayali who has landed up in a West Asian country in search of a job.
Sat, May 10 2025
Despite its underwhelming and predictable turns, you never doubt the inherent goodness with which the film says what it wants to.
If there’s one feeling that binds all the central characters of Thamar KV’s Sarkeet, it’s helplessness. In their efforts to make the most of the Malayali dream of making it big in the Middle East, we find a group of people who are just one bad day away from falling and breaking apart. You sense this helplessness the most with Balu (Deepak Parambol) and his wife Steffi (Divya Prabha), who are trying to have one normal day with their son Jappu (Orhan). He has been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and the early portions of the film are built over montages that ease you into realising just how impossible it is to live with Jappu. Sarkeet even opens with Jappu knocking over a birthday cake at a friend’s birthday party. You notice how the wife doesn’t get a second to socialise before it’s time to look after Jappu again. Even when Jappu knocks over the cake, you’re amused that there’s no explosive reaction from either parent; their expressions suggest that they’ve surrendered to their circumstances years ago, unable to muster the energy it takes to scold him yet again.
Naale Rajaa Koli Majaa
Drama, Comedy, Family (Kannada)
On the day of Gandhi Jayanti, when meat sale is prohibited nationwide, an 11-year-old girl goes on a quirky adventure in pursuit of a forbidden chicken curry.
Cast:
Samrudhi Kundapura, Sanidhya Acharya, Prabhakar Kunder, Radha Ramachandra, Supreetha K S, Shridhar M, Chandravathi, Ganesh Mogaveera, Akshay Kumar Shetty, Anil B
Director:
Abhilash Shetty
Writer:
Abhilash Shetty
Sun, May 11 2025
2021 में अपनी कन्नड़ फिल्म ‘कोली ताल’ (चिकन करी) लाकर तारीफें पाने वाले फिल्मकार अभिलाष शैट्टी अब उसी कतार में ‘नाले रजा कोली मजा’ (संडे स्पेशल) नाम की यह फिल्म लेकर आए हैं। स्नेहा के घर में हर संडे को चिकन बनता है। पूरे हफ्ते उसे इस दिन का इंतज़ार रहता है। लेकिन इस संडे को है गांधी जयंती और इस दिन चिकन की दुकानें बंद रहती हैं। अब स्नेहा को तो चिकन खाना ही खाना है। अब शुरू होती है चिकन की तलाश जो उसे एक दिलचस्प सफर पर ले जाती है। महज़ दो दिन की इस छोटी-सी कहानी को लेखक-निर्देशक अभिलाष ने रोचकता से फैलाया है और अंत में सार्थकता से समेटा भी है। बतौर लेखक वह यह संदेश दे पाने में सफल रहे हैं कि इंसान की खाने-पीने की अपनी-अपनी चॉयस होती है और किसी दूसरे को इस आधार पर उसे जज करने का कोई अधिकार नहीं है। अभिलाष के निर्देशन में परिपक्वता है और पूरी फिल्म में वह कसावट बनाए रखते हैं। यह फिल्म मनोरंजक है, दिलचस्प है और प्यारी भी।
Gram Chikitsalay
Comedy, Drama (Hindi)
The young, idealistic and brilliant Dr. Prabhat, takes charge of a neglected Primary Health Centre in a North India Village hoping to bring about much needed changes only to realise it is he who will have do change before anything else.
Cast:
Amol Parashar, Vinay Pathak, Anandeshwar Dwivedi, Akash Makhija, Akansha Ranjan Kapoor, Garima Vikrant Singh
Director:
Rahul Pandey
Writer:
Vaibhav Suman, Shreya Srivastava
Sat, May 10 2025
Sat, May 10 2025
The TVF stamp is clear, and the mandate appears to be the same -- give the viewers yet another slice of ruralcore where the clash between city and village is laid out in slow-paced easily digestible chunks.
A doctor comes to a village, there to discover a place where a familiar mix of innocence and craftiness is at play, where a quack has a bustling practice, and where he, the well-intentioned doc, learns life lessons. Replace Amol Parashar’s doctor with Jitendra Kumar’s sachivji, and you will get the set-up for Panchayat, TVF’s much-loved show, with so little difference as to be negligible. But given that clueless shehari babus having to check their privilege can make for an entertaining ride, there will always be similar shows.
Fri, May 9 2025
The five-episode TVF series unfolds with the freshness of a processed microwave dinner.
Needless to say, the creators of Gram Chikitsalay — a five-episode dramedy that revolves around an urban doctor (Amol Parashar, as Dr. Prabhat Sinha) who arrives to take charge of a derelict PHC (Primary Health Center) in rural Jharkhand — are also the creators of Panchayat. In recent interviews, they mentioned the term “Village Cinematic Universe,” a grounded TVF version of the Marvel Cinematic Universe or the YRF Spy Universe. The irony of the commodification of small-town life (featuring Gullak, Kota Factory, Aspirants) is lost on most, but that’s a formal complaint for another day. The streaming platform, Prime Video, is already a step ahead: its release of Dupahiya (a motorbike goes missing in a…Bihari village) in March marked the expansion of the ‘Cutesy Village Universe’ franchise: a nice cast, colourful personalities, curated nothingness, grassroots commentary, cultural tokenism.
Thunderbolts*
Action, Adventure, Science Fiction (English)
After finding themselves ensnared in a death trap, seven disillusioned castoffs must embark on a dangerous mission that will force them to confront the darkest corners of their pasts.
Cast:
Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Lewis Pullman, David Harbour, Wyatt Russell, Hannah John-Kamen, Olga Kurylenko, Geraldine Viswanathan, Wendell Pierce
Director:
Jake Schreier
Sat, May 10 2025
The origin story of a new decade of people—fictional and real—hoping to move on from the Avengers into an era of uncertainty and promise.
Thunderbolts* has a soul beneath layers of superhero set pieces and tropes — it mixes a bit of Inception (shame rooms full of old memories) with some Inside Out and Hancock. It’s not subtle with its gimmicks and visual symbolisms, of course, but it suggests that all the superhero fans who flock to theatres in search of escapism and thrills are inherently wired to avoid the imperfections of being human. It forces most MCU enthusiasts to confront the very life that the comic-book multiverse protects them from.
Mon, May 5 2025
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) factory line is long and there’s lots of money to be made at the box office.
If there’s one thing the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is good at, it’s capitalising on its self awareness. Tony Stark knew he was the smartest guy in any room, and didn’t bore people with false humility. Steve Rogers knew how corny his idealism sounded in a largely-cynical world, so he kept up a stoic face while being mocked for it in film after film. Peter Parker was just another New York teenager anxious about not fitting in. Ant-Man and Hawk-Eye knew their powers were perceived as ‘sillier’ compared to the A-listers, and they owned this silliness. It’s what used to be endearing about these films [till Avengers: Endgame, 2019] – but once the stronger actors and directors quit, it became increasingly clear there was nothing beneath the layer of self-awareness.
Sat, May 3 2025
If you are curious about the significance of the asterisk in Thunderbolts*, it denotes the New Avengers, as revealed at the film’s conclusion. Maybe they could have revealed it earlier but it was probably a marketing decision, like most things in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The Four Seasons
Comedy (English)
The decades-long friendship between three married couples is tested when one divorces, complicating their tradition of quarterly weekend getaways.
Cast:
Tina Fey, Steve Carell, Colman Domingo, Erika Henningsen, Kerri Kenney, Will Forte, Marco Calvani
Sat, May 10 2025
Explores time’s inevitable passage and its impact on people’s resistance to change, particularly in long-time friendships.
A miniseries adaptation of Alan Alda’s moderately popular 1981 rom-com of the same name, The Four Seasons revolves around a group of six lifelong friends — or three couples — on four seasonal trips together. Two episodes per ‘season’: a neat riff on the TV-sitcom template. It opens with a lake-house weekend to celebrate the 25th anniversary of one of the couples. Things go awry for the gang when the seemingly loving husband expresses his desire to divorce his wife. The woman, on her part, is blissfully planning a vow renewal ceremony. The consensus among the friends is that the successful 50-something man is having a midlife crisis. The consensus is also that nobody is as happy as they appear.
Fri, May 9 2025
Featuring an all-star cast that includes Tina Fey and Steve Carell, Netflix's new mini-series can't decide if it wants to be a broad comedy or a sentimental meditation on middle-age.
If they can keep all the dads satisfied with shows about burly men going on secret missions and feuding families in the American West, they can certainly take care of the moms as well. Netflix’s The Four Seasons, a comedy drama that follows three married couples across one year, is designed as something of a palate cleanser for middle-aged audiences to watch between the latest true crime offerings. It’s pleasant enough to qualify as undemanding, and has enough moments of insight to elevate it above the ambient TV line. The Four Seasons isn’t good, but it’s good enough. And good enough is good enough these days, especially if you’ve just survived stuff like Jewel Thief or Nadaaniyan. Co-created by and starring Tina Fey, The Four Seasons features a stacked cast that also includes her Saturday Night Live buddy Will Forte — they play a couple — as well as Steve Carell and two-time Oscar nominee Colman Domingo. Think of The Four Seasons as the Friends reunion you never got. These characters could just as easily have been living in New York City apartments back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, worried about where life will take them.
Padakkalam
Comedy, Fantasy (Malayalam)
Four nerdy comic book enthusiasts find themselves in an unexpected adventure when their school's charming new professor turns their academic world upside down with supernatural events.
Cast:
Suraj Venjaramoodu, Sharafudheen, Sandeep Pradeep, Niranjana Anoop, Ishan Shoukath, Arun Pradeep, Pooja Mohanraj, Arun Ajikumar, Saaf, Nahas Hidayath
Director:
Manu Swaraj
Writer:
Nithin C Babu, Manu Swaraj
Sat, May 10 2025
'Padakkalam' takes a few outrageous steps to give us a plot that goes beyond the basic setup-payoff pattern of most body-swap comedies.
There’s an infectious amount of silliness in Padakkalam which makes this fantasy impossible to take seriously. Speaking broadly, it’s another one of those body-swap comedies in which the jokes emerge out of our amusement on seeing one actor perform like another. There have been dozens of comedies in a similar vein, including Big (1988), The Hot Chick (2002) and Freaky Friday (2003), with Malayalam cinema getting its version in Shine Tom Chacko’s Ithihasa (2014). But with Padakkalam, we take a few outrageous steps ahead to be left with a plot that goes beyond the basic setup-payoff pattern of most body-swap comedies. The writers of Padakkalam push their concept to the limits, not just by throwing in the idea of one character being able to control the body of another, but also by making this a three-way swap.
Bad Boy
Drama (Hebrew)
Dean, a young teen living with his mother and younger brother, prepares to turn in for the night when a knock on the door changes his life forever. Correctional officers storm into his room and haul him, barely clothed, out of the house.
Cast:
Guy Menaster, Daniel Chen, Liraz Chamami, Havtamo Freda, Yishai Lalush, Bat-Chen Sabag, Neta Plotnik, Ben Sultan, Amjad Shawa
Director:
Hagar Ben-Asher
Fri, May 9 2025
From the creator of the original Euphoria and Homeland, the new Netflix drama is a grittier, grimier companion piece to Adolescence.
A comedian recounts the four traumatic years that he spent in a juvenile detention centre as a teen in the Israeli coming-of-age drama Bad Boy, now out on Netflix. The eight-episode series is interspersed with grainy footage of the comedian, who goes by Daniel, telling jokes about his troubled youth and life-threatening stint in juvie. He used to be called Dean Shaiman back then, and it’s a miracle that he survived. Co-created by Ron Leshem, who remains best-known for the original Euphoria, the series can best be described as the unholy lovechild of Adolescence and Seinfeld. Like that landmark Netflix mini-series, which shattered viewership records only a few weeks ago, Bad Boy opens with a teenage boy being arrested by cops armed with a search warrant of his house. His bedroom is turned upside down, and within minutes, he’s shoved into the back seat of a police car before his mother can even get him his clothes. Like Jamie Miller from Adolescence, Dean is a deeply troubled kid. The difference is that Bad Boy lets us in on his psyche from minute one. The question, then, isn’t if he’s a problem child, but why he’s a problem child.
#Single
Comedy, Romance (Telugu)
An unlucky-in-love man unexpectedly finds himself in a complicated love triangle with two spirited women
Cast:
Sree Vishnu, Ketika Sharma, Ivana, Vennela Kishore, VTV Ganesh
Director:
Caarthick Raju
Writer:
Bhanu Bogavarapu, Nandu Savirigana, Caarthick Raju
Fri, May 9 2025
Director Caarthick Raju’s Telugu film, led by Sree Vishnu and Vennela Kishore, is a vain attempt at confusion comedy
It is one thing to not take yourself seriously, and another to be genuinely funny. Actor Sree Vishnu’s #Single, a 129-minute ode to the male gaze, narrates the story of a man caught between two women. The film mistakes catchy one-liners for situational humour, leaning on capable actors to carry an obnoxious, aimless premise. A banal idea is stretched to the point of exhaustion, and in trying to be cool, it ends up being neither clever nor funny. Directed by Caarthick Raju (of Ninu Veedani Needanu Nene and Thirudan Police fame), #Single resorts to lazy writing, attempting to mask its flaws with a barrage of pop culture references, borrowed film tropes, and social media memes. Its male leads, insurance agents Vijay (Sree Vishnu) and Aravind (Vennela Kishore), are desperate for female attention — using metro rides to ogle women, hiring goons to stage rescues, and winning a girl’s sympathy.
Subham
Horror, Comedy (Telugu)
A group of married men band together after their wives become transfixed by a cable TV soap opera serial.
Cast:
Harshith Malgireddy, Srinivas Gavireddy, Charan Peri, Shriya Kontham, Shravani Lakshmi, Shalini Kondepudi, Vamsidhar Goud, Samantha Ruth Prabhu
Director:
Praveen Kandregula
Writer:
Vasanth Maringanti
Fri, May 9 2025
Director Praveen Kandregula and writer Vasanth Maringanti’s Telugu film is an entertaining indie-style horror comedy and social satire
It is always a joy when a modest film swings big and lands comfortably, andSubham, a Telugu horror comedy, does just that. Marking actor Samantha Ruth Prabhu’s debut as a producer, the film is directed by Cinema Bandi’s Praveen Kandregula and written by Vasanth Maringanti. On the surface, it is a spooky comedy, but at heart, it is a sharp commentary on gender sensitivity — made all the more effective by smart writing and charming performances. Set in the early 2000s, in the pre-internet days of coastal Bheemili, undivided Andhra Pradesh, the story begins with a sweetly awkward pelli choopulu (an arranged marriage meet-cute) between Srinu (Harshith Reddy), a cable TV operator, and Sri Valli (Shriya Kontham), a bank employee. The backdrop — where cable still reigns while satellite TV starts inching in — adds nostalgia without overwhelming the narrative.