Cast: Pratik Gandhi, Divyenndu, Avinash Tiwary, Chhaya Kadam, Upendra Limaye, Nora Fatehi and Remo D’Souza
(2/5)Sheetal Call it an aspiration post ‘Dil Chahta Hai’, but we have all dreamt of at least one Goa trip with an all-girl/boy gang. Writer-director Kunal Kemmu has turned that aspiration into reality and immersed it in an over-dramatic fictional...
Cast: Sara Ali Khan, Sachin Khedekar, Emraan Hashmi, Abhay Verma, Sparsh Shrivastav, Anand Tiwari, Aditi Sanwal, Alexx O’Neil, Benedict Garrett
(2/5)Parbina Rashid Tune into Congress Radio! But before you do, adjust your mental antenna, which in all likelihood has been set to catch the ‘How is the josh’ kind of frequency. Reset it to ‘42.34 metres’ bandwidth to absorb those...
Cast: Randeep Hooda, Ankita Lokhande, Apinderdeep Singh, Amit Sial, Mark Bennington
(2/5)Johnson Thomas The biopic on Vinayak Damodar Savarkar tries really hard to enhance his image as a freedom fighter beyond what is known as fact. The film opens with the claim that research was the mainstay of this effort, but...
Nonika Singh Let us admit it, in a medium that thrives on binge watching, we are not great fans of episodic thrillers. But having said that, ‘Lootere’, two episodes of which are now available on Disney+Hotstar, will make you return...
Nonika Singh A documentary about the life of the famed Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, sourced in her own writings, her works and photographs sure is a daunting task. And on the face of it, appears a bit tedious too. Especially,...
Cast: Pooja Bhatt, Zoya Hussain, Tanya Abrol, Avantika Vandanapu, Aneet Padda, Akshita Sood, Vidushi, Lhakyila, Afrah Sayed, Dalai
(2.5/5)Sheetal When a new scholarship-winning teenager enters a prestigious boarding school and rolls down her socks to give off the cool kid vibe, you know you have arrived at a teen drama. The pressure to stay relevant and popular...
Cast: Adah Sharma, Yashpal Sharma, Naman Jain, Shilpa Shula, Raima Sen, Anangsha Biswas, Vijay Krishna, Rahuul Chwudhary, Subrat Dutta, Indira Tiwari
(1/5)Johnson Thomas The opening disclaimer makes a tall claim that this film is inspired by true incidents, but there’s little evidence of it in the telling. The disclaimer is obviously a ruse to enable and justify acutely discomfiting and...
Parbina Rashid Having established that there are good Muslims and there are bad Muslims with its innumerable outings, it’s time for B-town to become a little more precise. There are good Pakistanis and there are bad Pakistanis. And who...
Cast: Pankaj Tripathi, Sara Ali Khan, Vijay Varma, Karisma Kapoor, Dimple Kapadia, Tisca Chopra, Sanjay Kapoor, Suhail Nayyar and Deven Bhojani
(2.5/5)Nonika Singh ‘Murder Mubarak…’ the title might sound like an oxymoron, but is indicative of its two threads: mystery and humour. Besides, in Homi Adajania’s wacky world, nothing ever is as it seems. And as he moves into the...
Nonika Singh To say that The Program is an eye-opener would be an understatement. This horrific account of the troubled teen industry in America is so startling, that the first question that pops up is — how can it...
Cast: Huma Qureshi, Uday Atroliya, Sohum Shah, Kani Kusruti, Amit Sial, Parmod Pathak, Vineet Kumar, Dibyendu Bhattacharya
(2.5/5)Sheetal When the series was first launched on SonyLIV, it was immediately appreciated for the authentic portrayal by Huma Qureshi. She, as Rani Bharti, walked the distance — from a happy homemaker to a reluctant Chief Minister in the...
Johnson Thomas It’s a lonely world out there and this film takes you deep into the heart of the two characters central to this story, putting forward a nuanced underlining of loss, grief, heartbreak and healing. Adam (Andrew Scott), a...
Parbina Rashid Long live Bollywood binary! The makers seems to be in no hurry to let go of the good boy-bad boy concept. If anything, with every project, they bring it back with renewed vigour. Just when we were...
Cast: Emraan Hashmi, Mouni Roy, Shriya Saran, Naseeruddin Shah, Rajeev Khandelwal, Mahima Makwana, Vijay Raaz, Lillete Dubey and Denzil Smith
(2.5/5)Nonika Singh Vikramaditya Motwane’s ‘Jubilee’ proved how the behind-the-scenes business of movies is as fascinating as the films themselves. ‘Showtime’ takes a similar route, but in the contemporary era. Bankrolled by Dharmatic Entertainment and created by Sumit Roy, the...
Cast: Ravi Kishan, Naila Grewal, Yashpal Sharma, Rama Sharma, Nidhi Bisht, Vijay Rajoria, Anjum Batra, Anant Joshi and Ajay Raju
(2.5/5)Sheetal A humorous take on legal procedures in India, this is a series you never thought you needed. The quirky drama has its weak moments but the impeccable dialogue writing and a talented ensemble cast hold it together. The...
Parbina Rashid This four-episode docu-series ends with a question, “Did you kill Sheena Bora?” Indrani Mukerjea, in her cultivated accent and modulated voice, replies, “What a stupid question!” Well, it’s a stupid question considering that the series in its...
Johnson Thomas ‘Dune: Part 2’, the second part of the filmed adaptation of Frank Herbert’s seminal 1965 novel, is creative, stunning in its expanse, tragic and ensnaring. The battle between the Fremen and the Harkonnens for the control of...
Cast: Nitanshi Goel, Sparsh Shrivastava, Pratibha Ranta, Ravi Kishan, Geeta Aggarwal and Chhaya Kadam
(3.5/5)Nonika Singh What happens when two young brides get mixed up and land up where they are not meant to be? Well, a pleasurable tale begins to acquire flesh, blood and a beating heart. Kiran Rao’s second directorial venture,...
Gurnaaz Kaur In this digital age, the horror of cyberstalking constitutes real harm, and like all other crimes, it needs to be taken seriously. With that as its pivot, ‘Can I Tell You A Secret?’, a true crime two-part...
Johnson Thomas Set in 1997-98 when Kota’s IIT coaching classes were gaining momentum and recognition, this film, replete with nostalgic moments and songs that remind one of college hostel days, has something worthwhile to talk about, but the slow-mo...
Parbina Rashid When a film finds a mention at a political rally even before its release, one knows which direction it is going to take. We are well acquainted with the genre ‘P’ (propaganda) by now. The opening voiceover...
Cast: Nimisha Sajayan, Roshan Mathew, Dibyendu Bhattacharya, Ankith Madhav, Kani Kusruti, Sooraj Pops, Sanoop Dinesh, Ranjitha Menon and Vinod Sharawat
(3.5/5)Nonika Singh “Man is the most dangerous animal in the jungle.” Clearly, catching the hunters/poachers can be perilous. Kartiki Gonsalves’ Oscar winning documentary ‘The Elephant Whisperers’ established the deep bond between humans and the magnificent animal. Acclaimed director-creator Richie Mehta’s...
Disney+Hotstar: After a successful collection at the box office, Prashanth Neel’s ‘Salaar’ is dropping on OTT. The ‘KGF’-fame director has proposed ‘Salaar’ as a two-part film series. This Telugu and Kannada film is also available in Malayalam, Tamil and Hindi....
Cast: Shuang Hu, Yoson An, Jon Prasida, Desmond Chiam, Ilai Swindells, Tiffany Wong, Renee Lim and Mel Jarnson
(3/5)Sheetal ‘Five Blind Dates’ is the first Prime Video original film to have been shot in Australia. It is written by actor-influencer Shuang Hu and actor-comedian Nathan Ramos Park as they both wanted to portray the family pressure of getting...
Cast: Aekta Kapoor, Ullekh NP, Nicholas Jonathan Kharnami, Rajani Karki Chhetri, Farida Saha, Sunit Kumar Saha, Rahul Banerjee, Subhadra Khaperde, Dhanya Ravindran, Homayon Khoram, Tista Das and Dipan Chakraborty
(3.5/5)Nonika Singh The man who has given us gooey notions of pyar-mohabbat, the one who makes love seem so surreal, the quintessential romantic Karan Johar comes up with a real slice of love storiyaan, pulsating with sincere emotions and true...
Cast: Jennifer Lopez, Ben Affleck, Jane Fonda, Fat Joe, Jenifer Lewis, Trevor Noah, Kim Petras, Keke Palmer, Sofia Vergara, Jay Shetty, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Sadhguru and Post Malone
(3.5/5)Parbina Rashid Is it a musical? A rom-com? A stylised biopic, or simply an elaborate music video for an upcoming album? All of it, and none of it. As writer-producer-actor of ‘This Is Me… Now’, Jennifer Lopez dares us to...
Cast: Kingsley Ben-Adir, Lashana Lynch, James Norton, Tosin Cole, Umi Myers, Anthony Welsh, Nia Ashi, Aston Barrett Jr, Anna-Sharé Blake, Gawaine ‘J-Summa’ Campbell, Naomi Cowan, Alexx A-Game, Michael Gandolfini
(3/5)Johnson Thomas Bob Marley was one of the most iconic and influential Jamaicans, perhaps even more so than Harry Belafonte, Marcus Garvey and Usain Bolt. That’s mainly because of his enduring contribution to peace in his country and his universal...
Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Kriti Sanon, Dharmendra, Dimple Kapadia, Rakesh Bedi, Rajesh Kumar and Ashish Verma
(2.5/5)Sheetal It’s all about the right pairing on screen and the lead actors of ‘Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya’, Shahid Kapoor and Kriti Sanon, show us how to do it with a predictable script and 20 per cent of...
Cast: Bhumi Pednekar, Sanjay Mishra, Aditya Srivastava, Sai Tamhankar, Surya Sharma
(3/5)Nonika Singh Sexual abuse in shelter homes — how often have newspaper headlines screamed this horrifying truth? As ‘Bhakshak’ tells us the story of protectors turning predators, what is already in public domain clearly acquires an even more monstrous...
Cast: Johnny Lever, Jitendra Kumar, Nimisha Sajayan, Jisshu Sengupta and Boloram Das
(3/5)Parbina Rashid Had I not witnessed many a scene playing out in small towns in Punjab where a convict, secured by a rope, is being taken to attend court hearings in public transport, I would have brushed aside the opening...