ENTERTAINMENT
Mrs Movie Review: Sanya Malhotra lights up this domestic drama where food is both a liberator and oppressor
Mrs Movie Review: Kitchen is the solution to every problem in Aarti Kadav's Mrs. The film doesn’t shy away from showing the non-aesthetic aspects of cooking. The dirty dishes, wasted food and clogged sink — we get a full view of how ugly cooking can be. Domesticity consumes Richa as she is caught up in the household chores as she is constantly undermined by the men in her family.
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Anuja Review: Adam J. Graves’ Oscar-Nominated short film on poverty will tug at your heartstrings
Anuja movie review: Anuja, the film, shows that the mere appearance of a life-changing opportunity is not enough to change one’s life trajectory. Anuja, a fourteen-year-old girl from a slum, seems well-aware that appearing for the exam will change her life for the better, perhaps even enable her to reach great heights. But that would mean her sister will not be left with funds for her marriage.
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Deva Review: Shahid Kapoor Punches, Kicks And Pelvic Thrusts His Way To Rebel Cop Status In This Stylistic Actioner
Deva movie review: It is 2025, and given the direction the world is headed in, we need an Amitabh Bachchan ‘angry young man’ archetype more than ever. One who questions those in power, rebels against the oppressive societal structures, and takes an anti-establishment stance. Deva gives us just that.
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Queer Review: Daniel Craig fires off on all cylinders in this immersive, exquisite Luca Guadagnino period drama
Queer Movie Review: Unlike Challengers, a mostly-upbeat romantic sports drama, Queer is bleak. The film progressively gets darker as the plot progresses. As Lee looks for a deeper, emotional bond with Allerton, the latter is mostly non-committal. It becomes progressively harder to read Allerton’s intentions.
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Sundance 2025 Sabar Bonda review: Grief begets love in this poignant exploration of queer desire in rural India
Sabar Bonda (Cactus Pears) Review: Coming out of the closet doesn’t have consequences only for the queer folk but also their families, especially if they live in collectivist cultures like India. Rohan Parashuram Kanawade’s Sabar Bonda shows how these bonds keep queerfolk from fully exploring their sexuality, even if they have supportive parents.
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The Storyteller Review: Paresh Rawal in a stunning Satyajit Ray adaptation on artistic refinement
The Storyteller Review: In many ways, the dynamic between Tarini and Garodia continues to play out in the world around us. Bangalore tech bros minting lakhs look down on journalists. Rich CEOs hold condescending views on liberal arts graduates. IIT and IIM graduates scoff at JNU scholars. The battle between the capitalist and the artist rages on. Who will eventually win is anyone’s guess.
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Hisaab Barabar review: R. Madhavan, Neil Nitin Mukesh in a mathematics class you wish you had bunked
Hisaab Barabar review: Director Ashwni Dhir goes to great lengths to make the anti-corruption message painfully obvious. Hisaab Barabar practically hammers the social commentary in your head, like a henchman forcefully opening your eyelids, coercing you to look at the giant hoarding-sized social message in case you missed it the first hundred times it was spelled out.
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Saif Ali Khan attack case: Decoding the media frenzy around the stabbing incident
Is it okay for stars to use the photogs and paparazzi to their advantage but when it is inconvenient, ask them to ‘respect their privacy’? Conversely, shouldn’t paparazzi have exercised caution when it comes to photographing Saif’s family as they visited the actor in hospital?
ENTERTAINMENT
The Roshans Review: Insightful, nostalgia-laden biography on Bollywood's multi-talented family
The Roshans Review: From Farah Khan saying she wants people at her mayyat to do the hookstep to ‘Ek Pal Ka Jeena’ to Madhuri Dixit calling Hrithik Roshan's dance ‘poetry in motion’, Netflix's The Roshans explores the many intriguing facets of Bollywood's multi-talented family.
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Emergency Review: Kangana Is Indira, Indira Is Kangana In A Convincing Biopic Let Down By Misrepresentation
Emergency movie review: Undoubtedly, Emergency is Kangana Ranaut’s career-best performance. The film, though problematic, does justice to Gandhi’s conflicting legacy, even if it weaponizes her draconian policies to get back at the present-day opposition party. Ranaut has set a benchmark in her portrayal of Gandhi, even if it comes across as a bit caricaturish at times.
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Paatal Lok Season 2 review: Jaideep Ahlawat’s spunky Hathiram Chaudhary elevates this nuanced exploration of Naga history
How much Delhi is too much Delhi? From the slums of Jamna Paar to the posh clubs of South Delhi and Punjabi societies of West Delhi, where aunties swear by their Canadian visa, Avinash Arun’s Paatal Lok season 2 portrays the capital city like the Wild, Wild West that it is. This time, however, the show moves away from Delhi to Dimapur.
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Severance Season 2 review: Ben Stiller’s surreal psychological thriller peaks in a phenomenal second season
Severance season 2, despite a painfully slow first couple episodes, continues to be just the expose on corporate drudgery that has enthralled viewers since its premiere in 2022. It is creepy, weird, Illuminati-coded and also, batshit crazy! The mind games this season are intense. The Lumon industry honchos (aka the Eagens) are on their toes after Helly's outburst last year.
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Babygirl Review: Nicole Kidman’s Explosive Erotic Thriller Looks At Sexual Dominance With A Female Gaze
Halina Reijn Babygirl might just be a film that is way ahead of its time. Provocative, brutally honest and progressive, it makes a strong case for sexual liberation and will likely be remembered for years for its phenomenal portrayal of consensual BDSM relationships. Full marks to Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson for making this on-screen pair so believable.
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The Last Showgirl review: Pamela Anderson delivers a career-defining performance in this luminous ode to ageing
Gia Coppola’s ‘The Last Showgirl’ has a lingering sadness to it. The all-pervasive gloom sucks you in as Shelley and her friends come to terms with their fading careers. The clash of sensibilities between Shelley and Mary-Anne/Jodie is the strongest arc in the film.
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Game Changer Movie Review: Ram Charan starrer political thriller offers familiar tropes, overly preachy political commentary
Game Changer Movie Review: Triple roles, anti-corruption PSAs and done-to-death formulas aside, Shankar’s Game Changer offers stunning visuals and that’s about it. The grand scale and entry sequences are let down by the heavy-handed political commentary and unconvincing tropes. At 2 hours 45 minutes, Game Changer is a slightly better version of Indian 2.
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Black Warrant Review: Vikramaditya Motwane’s Prison Reform Series Is A Treasure Trove Of True Crime Stories And Historical Trivia
Black Warrant reimagines masculinity as we know it. The very qualities that differentiate Sunil Kumar Gupta from the rest of his team sets him apart from others as he earns SP’s approval. My favourite moment from the show: Dahiya, a hot-headed Haryanvi constable speaking to his lover on the phone, who asks him if he reads Byron, Tagore and Keats. A confident Dahiya calls them his “padosis” and quotes one of his original shayaris.
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Best Films of 2024: Top Bollywood, Streaming, South And English Language Titles, Ranked
From Barzakh and IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack in Hindi OTT space, to Manjummel Boys and Sookshmadarshini in South cinema; from Stree 2 and Kalki 2898 AD to Dune: Part Two and Studio Ghibli’s The Boy And The Heron, 2024 was one helluva year. As the year draws to a close, Deepansh Duggal picks the best Hindi films, OTT shows and Hollywood releases of 2024.
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Squid Game Season 2 Review: Phenomenal anti-capitalist narrative works well but doesn't surpass the greatness of the original
Squid Game 2 Review: "The games will not end unless the world changes”, the Frontman tells Gi-Hun. Squid Game season 2 begins as an intense exploration of human greed and how it overpowers one’s moral judgement.
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Baby John Review: Varun Dhawan, Kalees’s action thriller is a misfire of epic proportions
The film’s blasphemously long 159-minute runtime will test your patience. I couldn’t help but wonder if this is how 2024 is meant to end. Not with a bang but a whimper. Rajpal Yadav’s comic chops cannot entirely salvage the narrative which isn’t engaging and often comes across as a disjointed, chaotic mess.
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Mufasa: The Lion King Review: Timon-Pumbaa’s banter, Rafiki’s pearls of wisdom shine in a Mufasa-Simba film
This critic tried his best, but couldn't form an emotional connection with Mufasa/Taka. All of this to say that I relished Timon-Pumbaa’s humour and Rafiki’s insightful pearls of wisdom way more than the central characters in the story. What also works well for the film is its exploration of Milele (‘Forever’ in Swahili), a place where lion’s find perpetual stability, safety and abundance.
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Yo Yo Honey Singh: Famous Review: Netflix docuseries exploring rapper’s mental health journey will leave you feeling conflicted
“My medication is high on sodium and lithium, which causes water retention and makes you put on a lot of weight”, Honey Singh says while hitting the gym. “No one wants a fat Honey SIngh.” Rarely have we seen mainstream rappers or public figures talk about the weight gain that comes with popping antidepressants. As a plus-size individual who has time-immemorial been accused of being ‘lazy’ and ‘careless’, I couldn’t help but empathize with many of the rapper’s struggles.
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Mismatched season 3 review: Rohit Saraf, Prajakta Koli’s GenZ-coded VR romance makes for a breezy, endearing watch
The showrunners have done a commendable job giving backstories to all the characters. In one scene, Anmol tells his girlfriend Vinny that he feels like a ‘defective piece’ and that he wasn’t sure if she is dating him as an act of ‘charity’. The many challenges faced by the disabled to find intimacy in their relationships are portrayed to stirring effect.
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Bandish Bandits Season 2 Review: Reconciling tradition with modernity takes center stage in this innovative season
What works for the second season of Bandish Bandits is that it stays true to its premise and within the pre-existing conflict, raises new questions to further the discourse on art and music. Is it okay to compromise on the originality of one’s art to appeal to a wider audience? Is it justified to dilute the form of one’s craft if it allows more people to engage with it? The show exposes the elitism and gatekeeping on both sides of the aisle---classical and contemporary music.
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Despatch review: Manoj Bajpayee, Kanu Behl’s long-winded newsroom drama makes for a laborious watch
Instead of giving us a bird’s eye view of all the key players in the 2G scam case, Despatch unfolds in a way that we are introduced to them as the plot progresses. Names like Wadhwa, Sylvia, Sundaram are thrown around as if the viewers are expected to have familiarized themselves with all the key figures of the scam prior to watching the film. It becomes so difficult to follow that you might just want to give up on the narrative after a point.
