Movie Review

• Squid Game S2

  Cast: Lee Jung-jae, Lee Byung-hun, Yim Si-wan, Kang Ha-neul, Wi Ha-jun, Park Gyu-young, Lee Jin-uk, Park Sung-hoon, Yang Dong-geun, Kang Ae-sim, Lee David, Choi Seung-hyun, Roh Jae-won, Jo, Yu-ri, Won Ji-an, Lee Seo-hwan and Gong Yoo

  Game for the Korean hit horror show

  (3.5/5)

  This reality TV game horror show is savage just like Season 1. The original brutal Korean satire, an allegory for the ills of capitalism, which became a worldwide phenomenon when it was first aired in 2021, has had a record...

  28 Dec 2024
• Lucky Bhaskar

  Cast: Dulquer Salmaan, Meenakshi Chaudhary, Surya Srinivas, Tinnu Anand, Sachin Khedekar, Ramki, Micky Makhija, Sarvadaman D Banerjee and Sai Kumar

  Making of a scamster

  (3.5/5)

  ‘Lucky Bhaskar’, starring Dulquer Salmaan in the lead role, is a captivating tale of resilience and survival. The film’s narrative is set against the backdrop of the infamous banking scam of the 1990s, which the audiences are now well-acquainted with...

  21 Dec 2024
• Mufasa: The Lion King

  Cast: Aaron Pierre, Kelvin Harrison Jr, Tiffany Boone, Kagiso Lediga, Preston Nyman, Mads Mikkelsen, Thandiwe Newton, Lennie James

  Visual Lion King treat that is too disorderly to be as memorable

  (3/5)

  This follow-up to Jon Favreau’s live-action remake is a sort of biopic on Mufasa that expands on the origins of his lethal feud with his brother Scar. Screenwriter Jeff Nathanson expands on the Disney legend with this prequel that heralds...

  21 Dec 2024
• Yo Yo Honey Singh: Famous

  An intimate portrayal

  (3/5)

  At best, documentaries on celebrities tend to be an ode to their stardom; at worst, these end up as an exercise in image makeover for those who have fallen from grace. Rare is a documentary, especially of a living person,...

  21 Dec 2024
• Girls Will Be Girls

  Cast: Preeti Panigrahi, Kani Kusruti and Kesav Binoy Kiron

  Being girls, and how emotions unfurl

  (3.5/5)

  ‘Girls Will Be Girls’ is a story of many firsts — the first touch, kiss, boyfriend, and a ‘girl’ being in a position of power. The first feature film by Shuchi Talati, who is also the writer of this coming-of-age...

  21 Dec 2024
• What’s streaming

  Red One Prime Video After Santa Claus — Code Name: Red One — is kidnapped, the North Pole’s Head of Security (Dwayne Johnson) must team up with the world’s most infamous bounty hunter (Chris Evans) in a globe-trotting, action-packed mission...

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  14 Dec 2024
• Zero Se Restart: Kahani Ke Pehle Ki Story

  Cast: Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Vikrant Massey, Medha Shankr, Anant Joshi, Priyanshu Chatterjee

  Milking success

  (2.5/5)

  A documentary (or is it a mockumentary?) on the making of Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s sleeper hit ‘12th Fail’, starring Vikrant Massey, is an interesting idea to begin with. Especially since post-hit book releases on the making of blockbuster films have...

  14 Dec 2024
• Zee5 Despatch

  Cast: Manoj Bajpayee, Arrchita Agarwaal, Shahana Goswami, Anand Alkunte, Riju Bajaj

  Implausible storyline, plausible result

  (2/5)

  In his recent interview with The Tribune, director Kanu Behl talked about how he felt the need to present his protagonist in ‘Despatch’ not as a ‘hero’ hero. Fair enough! He has the right to present Joy Bag (Manoj Bajpayee),...

  14 Dec 2024
• netflix One Hundred Years of Solitude

  Cast: Claudio Catano, Diego Vasquez, Marleyda Soto, Vina Machado, Loren Sofía and Janer Villarreal

  Marquez’s epic work as an equally exquisite series

  (3.5/5)

  ‘Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice…’ begins the great novel. The ambitious series ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’ retains the...

  14 Dec 2024
• Bandish Bandits

  Cast: Ritwik Bhowmik, Shreya Chaudhry, Atul Kulkarni, Rajesh Tailang, Kunaal Roy Kapur, Sheeba Chaddha, Divya Dutta, Aditya Roy Kapur, Arjun Rampal, Yashaswini Dayama, Saurabh Nayyar, Rohan Gurbaxani, Samad Khan and Aaliyah Qureshi

  Music, drama & smash hit panorama

  (3.5/5)

  When ‘Bandish Bandits’ streamed on Prime Video in 2020, it was a breath of fresh air wrapped in melody and a master class in classical music. As it enters the second season, there is good news and a bit of...

  14 Dec 2024
• Solo Leveling: ReAwakening

  Cast: Taito Ban, Genta Nakamura, Haruna Mikawa, Reina Ueda, Daisuke Hirakawa, Hiroki Touchi, Banjo Ginga, Makoto Furukawa

  Reawakening the taste buds for a new season

  (3/5)

  This omnibus movie fan offering recaps Season 1 before moving on to two brand new, never-before-seen episodes of the upcoming Season 2. It’s the ideal catch-up for fans who want to relive the journey on the big screen and a...

  07 Dec 2024
• Agni

  Cast: Pratik Gandhi, Divyendu, Sai Tamhankar, Jitendra Joshi, Saiyami Kher and Udit Arora

  Fire within and dousing flames

  (2.5/5)

  Hindi movies have never had firefighters as heroes, so it’s heartening to see them getting the central focus in a film that has them putting their lives at risk to save lives of civilians caught in some of the deadly...

  07 Dec 2024
• Jack in Time for Christmas

  Cast: Jack Whitehall, Jimmy Fallon, Rebel Wilson, Michael Buble, Dave Bautista, Daisy May Cooper and Tom Davis

  Not the best of times for Christmas themes

  (2.5/5)

  It’s just about time to hunt for films that rekindle the joy and magic of Christmas. So far, 2024 does not seem in luck, with very average outings making it to the OTT. ‘Jack in Time for Christmas’, sold as...

  07 Dec 2024
• Pushpa: The Rule

  Cast: Allu Arjun, Rashmika Mandanna, Fahadh Faasil, Jagadeesh Prathap Bandari, Jagapathi Babu, Sunil, Anasuya Bharadwaj, Rao Ramesh and Dhananjaya Shanmukh

  Brand Pushpa rules, not the sequel

  (2.5/5)

  It opens on a Japanese port with a clever twist to the famous song ‘Mera joota hai Japani’, giving a miss to the second line that talks of the country, now an aggressor. But the aggression in the film is...

  07 Dec 2024
• What’s streaming: The Snow Sister

  Netflix It follows the tender journey of a young boy whose grieving family has forgotten about Christmas. He forms an unexpected bond with a girl full of holiday spirit. His uncontainable spirit breathes life into her fractured heart, yet her...

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  30 Nov 2024
• ZEE5 Divorce Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega

  Cast: Abigail Jain, Rishab Chadha, Pankit Thakker and Cindrella D Cruz

  Punchlines lose fizz

  (2/5)

  They should have put up a statutory warning — no journalist was harmed during the shooting of this film! A news channel with the tagline ‘Sabse Tez, Sabse Aage’; a fidget-spinning boss Panchal (Pankit Thakker); entertainment editor Nikki Kothari (Abigail...

  30 Nov 2024
• Netflix Our Little Secret

  Cast: Lindsay Lohan, Ian Harding, Kristin Chenoweth, Jon Rudnitsky, Katie Baker, Jake Brennan, Dan Bucatinsky and Tim Meadows

  Letting you in on a secret, can skip it

  (2/5)

  It’s the season of love alright, but with a twist. ‘Our Little Secret’ has Avery (Lindsay Lohan) returning to her childhood sweetheart, but the situation is such that it has to be kept a ‘secret’. Ten years back, Avery made...

  30 Nov 2024
• Moana 2

  Cast: Auli‘i Cravalho, Dwayne Johnson, Alan Tudyk, Rachel House, Temuera Morrison, Nicole Scherzinger, HualÄ lai Chung, David Fane

  Half-baked adventure

  (2.5/5)

  This sequel to the memorable 2016 original looks gorgeous, but its convoluted plotting and distracted scripting don’t allow for any great attachment. Pacific Islander Moana (Auli‘i Cravalho) is an explorer who travels across the ocean — beyond just her tiny...

  30 Nov 2024
• Netflix Sikandar Ka Muqaddar

  Cast: Avinash Tiwary, Tamannaah Bhatia, Jimmy Shergill and Divya Dutta

  Not easy to keep faith in the fate tale

  (2.5/5)

  Heist dramas can be a lot of fun as National Award-winning director Neeraj Pandey proved with his ‘Special 26’. Based on a real life crime of 1987, it remains one of cinephiles’ favourite films on the subject. Only, as Pandey...

  30 Nov 2024
• What’s streaming: Waack Girls

  Prime Video Created and directed by Sooni Taraporevala, the series has been co-written by her, along with Iyanah Bativala and Ronny Sen. It features Mekhola Bose, Anasua Chowdhury, Rytasha Rathore, Chrisann Pereira, Priyam Saha, Ruby Sah, Achintya Bose, Barun Chanda,...

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  23 Nov 2024
• Wicked: Part I

  Cast: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum, Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Kristin Chenoweth and Peter Dinklage

  Fanciful drama

  (2.5/5)

  When L Frank Baum wrote the children’s fantasy novel ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’ in 1900, did he have any inkling that his fantasy story and memorable characters would be inspiring films and theatre more than 100 years later? Shiz...

  23 Nov 2024
• Netflix Nayanthara: Beyond the Fairy Tale

  Cast: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Vijay Sethupathi, Nagarjuna, Rana Daggubati, Radikaa Sarathkumar, Taapsee Pannu, Tamannaah Bhatia, Nelson Dilipkumar

  Beyond fairy tale, a masala film

  (1.5/5)

  “I have never spoken about my past relationships. People assume a lot of things and they go ahead with the stories they want to believe in,” says Nayanthara in one of the scenes from ‘Nayanthara: Beyond the Fairy Tale’. She...

  23 Nov 2024
• Netflix Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein 2

  Cast: Tahir Raj Bhasin, Aanchal Singh, Gurmeet Choudhary, Shweta Tripathi, Saurabh Shukla, Varun Badola and Arunoday Singh

  Season 2, minus seasoning

  (2.5/5)

  The course of true love never did run smooth. The series begins with this quote from Shakespeare and you might think it is a love story of great intensity. But those who have seen the first season of ‘Yeh Kaali...

  23 Nov 2024
• All We Imagine as Light

  Cast: Kani Kusruti, Divya Prabha, Chhaya Kadam and Hridhu Haroon

  Alienation, sisterhood & shining light

  (4/5)

  ‘All We Imagine as Light’ is an artistic narrative feature about three women struggling to make things work, in a city that never sleeps. Mumbai, the city of dreams and nightmares, is one of the subjects here. The film opens...

  23 Nov 2024
• Gladiator II

  Cast: Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington, Connie Nielsen, Pedro Pascal, Joseph Quinn, Fred Hechinger, Derek Jacobi and May Calamawy

  Stunning sequel

  (3.5/5)

  The sequel to Ridley Scott’s unforgettable original is a wonderful experience if you go with the expectation of having fun and being entertained by the spectacle of a high production value Hollywood blockbuster. This film leans heavily towards the original...

  16 Nov 2024
• The Sabarmati Report

  Cast: Vikrant Massey, Raashii Khanna, Ridhi Dogra

  Fact, fiction, all jumbled up

  (2/5)

  If one chooses to walk into a theatre for a film which is titled ‘The Sabarmati Report’, one knows what to expect. But here we get more than what’s expected! Not just a narrative aligned with the findings of the...

  16 Nov 2024
• The Lost Children

  Cast: Mucutuy family, Pedro Arnulfo Sanchez Suarez, Nicolas Ordonez, Henry Guerrero and Shaman Don

  How a rescue mission united a country

  (3.5/5)

  A story of courage and resilience, ‘The Lost Children’explores the rescue mission for the four children who got stranded in the Colombian Amazon rainforest after a plane crash. In the hands of Oscar-winning director Orlando von Einsiedel, the 40-day ‘Operation...

  16 Nov 2024
• SonyLiv Freedom At Midnight

  Cast: Sidhant Gupta, Chirag Vohra, Rajendra Chawla, Luke McGibney, Cordelia Bugeja, Malishka Mendonsa, Arif Zakaria, Ira Dubey, Rajesh Kumar, KC Shankar, Andrew Cullum and Alistair Findlay

  New light on freedom at midnight

  (3.5/5)

  At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom... We, the post-Independence generation, have grown up listening to or reading this historic speech by India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. But...

  16 Nov 2024
• NETFLIX Meet Me Next Christmas

  Cast: Christina Milian, Devale Ellis, Kofi Siriboe, Tymika Tafari and Mitch Grassi

  Passable romcom

  (2/5)

  ‘Meet Me Next Christmas’ packs in a Pentatonix treat this holiday season. A do-gooder, Layla (Christina Milian) holds the promise to meet the Mr Right of her life — James (Kofi Siriboe) — if only she can find a ticket...

  09 Nov 2024
• NETFLIX Vijay 69

  Cast: Anupam Kher, Chunky Panday, Mihir Ahuja, Vrajesh Hirjee, Guddi Maruti, Paritosh Sand, Kunal Vijayakar

  Reckless hero in baseless story mould

  (1.5/5)

  “Because I am 69, should I stop having dreams?” roars Anupam Kher’s character Vijay Matthew. His intense monologue reminds us of one of the most memorable scenes from his debut film, ‘Saaransh’, in which his character, BV Pradhan, confronts the...

  09 Nov 2024