‘Mission Mangal’ review: Space Popcorn
Reading Time: 4 minutes Director Jagan Shakti keeps his ambitions—and the space mission story arcs—light and digestible. It’s entertaining for sure, but could he have aimed higher?
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‘Escape at Dannemora’ review: A Rectangular Triumph
Reading Time: 3 minutes Director Ben Stiller keeps the simmer on in his superbly crafted mini-series, keeping the tension and drama at high tensile, even as he zooms into the minds of his protagonists to understand what makes them do what they do to lay out this complex true-life story.
‘The Family Man’ review: Lyin’ Eyes
Reading Time: 6 minutes With writer Suman Kumar, directors Raj Nidimoru and Krishna D.K. spin out a series that’s a zinger for the most part. ‘The Family Man’ soars when it swoops down to the minutiae of everyday life. And Manoj Bajpayee is its trump card—he sure can hide those lyin’ eyes.
The Original Global Warming Alert
Reading Time: 3 minutes Anand Bakshi pens the past, present, future that Laxmikant-Pyarelal set to a haunting movement. Kishore Kumar doesn’t sing. He singes.
‘Dream Girl’ review: My Cherie a Moan
Reading Time: 5 minutes Director Raaj Shaandilyaa teams up with Ayushmann Khurrana to create another aspiring small-town character in a movie that can be best described as aspiring comedy. With a repetitive script and strained comedy, ‘Dream Girl’ remains a weak shadow of what it could have been.
‘Kumbalangi Nights’ review: Casting a Net
Reading Time: 3 minutes Writer Syam Pushkaran and director Madhu C. Narayanan weave a delightfully soaring movie about four brothers, raising laughs and quiet emotions as their relationships push and pull, and they find the meaning of love within and without their four corners.
‘Sacred Games 2’ review: What Goes Up
Reading Time: 4 minutes Directors Anurag Kashyap and Neeraj Ghaywan keep season 2 predictable in its violence , but darkly unpredictable in its rumination. But ‘Sacred Games 2’ is more about the inevitable decline of humankind and ties it to a ticking bomb that’s a totem for religious manipulation, madness, and the insanity of it all.
‘Batla House’ review: Trauma Drama
Reading Time: 4 minutes Director Nikhil Advani’s latest outing is a nifty thriller in parts, a tepid template in others. He smartly keeps the acting bandwidth requirement for his lead within manageable spectrum, making John Abraham’s intense and stoic act a highlight. But it’s the trauma that real-life cops, soldiers, and women and men whose daily routine involves staring down a barrel, must face, that truly stuns you.
‘Super Deluxe’ review: A Philosophy of the Universe
Reading Time: 5 minutes Taking seemingly stray incidents across different people’s lives, director Thiagarajan Kumararajan creates an intimate microcosm of the universe, nay, of our galaxy. With a terrific ensemble cast, ‘Super Deluxe’ is a heartfelt and intimate rumination on life, politics, relationships, sex, lust, and life, in a never-ending circle that connects all of its characters and their struggles in the most unexpected ways.
‘Virus’ review: Amidst the Chills, Heartwarming Hope
Reading Time: 4 minutes Director Aashiq Abu contact traces his way into your senses with the slow-rising tension of a virus creating a domino of devastation. And yet, amidst the thrills and (the literal) chills that he creates, ‘Virus’ also installs a picture of hope and courage that’s painted by everyday women and men.