Guild Reviews
The Royals
Drama (Hindi)
When charming Prince Aviraaj meets Sophia, a self-made girl boss, the worlds of royalty and startups collide in a whirlwind of romance and ambition.
Cast:
Bhumi Pednekar, Ishaan Khatter, Sakshi Tanwar, Zeenat Aman, Nora Fatehi, Vihaan Samat, Udit Arora, Chunky Pandey, Lisa Mishra, Milind Soman, Sumukhi Suresh, Dino Morea, Luke Kenny, Kavya Trehan, Nina Kulkarni, Yashaswini Dayama, Shweta Salve, Alyy Khan
Director:
Priyanka Ghose, Nupur Asthana
Writer:
Neha Veena Sharma, Vishnu Sinha
Wed, May 14 2025
‘Khoobsurat’ premise with good vibes
Tue, May 13 2025
Netflix’s new steamy series tries very hard to play on the sexual undercurrent between its two leads—Ishan Khatter and Bhumi Pednekar—but the pressure to look vibe-worthy all the time hampers its chances. However, it’s breezy and enjoyable for the most of it, and gives viewers a nice binge time. A fierce new-age CEO Sophia Shekhar (Bhumi) and a modern-day prince Aviraaj (Ishaan) meet by chance and their frenemy phase begins. They need each other for financial reasons but their functioning styles demand a lot of tweaking. The physical attraction between them is also strong and that only complicates the proceedings. The Royals delivers what you can easily anticipate—a fading palace, hard to maintain lifestyle and the immediate need of money, and then some more money. Sprinkle this with bare body princes and tall horses with a lot of kissing, and you would get more or less the entire run time of The Royals.
(Writing for M9 News)
This Royal Romance Is a Mixed Bag
Sat, May 10 2025
Sophia, a CEO, clashes with a reluctant prince Aviraaj while trying to turn their struggling palace into a BnB, sparking an attraction despite their differences. Amidst a sabotaged pitch, a palace photo shoot, and a royal ball where Aviraaj avoids his ex and Jinnie finds romance, their connection deepens. Turning a king, he learns a shocking secret, only for a fundraiser to reveal more family truths. It’s surprising how Ishan Khatter goes about his choices – from the big-scale fantasises to earthy indie films – making him unpredictable as a performer. While Aviraaj as a character may be one-dimensional, he tries to make something out of it, without interfering with the creator’s approach. Bhumi Pednekar is impressive, but appears in autopilot mode with her performance, which works on a surface level, though it doesn’t strike a chord.
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
Asif Ali’s gentle drama on ADHD brims with unrealised promise
Mon, May 12 2025
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.
Asif Ali Stars in Affecting Drama About Two Lost Boys And Their Boyhood
Sat, May 10 2025
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, Darshan N Gowda, Manjunath L, Kling Johnson, SN Gopiraj Beejadi, Asha, Raghavendra Shiriyara, Kota Shivananda, Raghavendra Onimane, Sadashiva Amin, Lakshmi Nedaravalli, Jyothi Kodlady
Director:
Abhilash Shetty
Writer:
Abhilash Shetty
चिकन करी का मज़ा ‘नाले रजा कोली मजा’
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
The Calm We Need
Sat, May 10 2025
Safe and staid Panchayat redux colours itself in sameness
Sat, May 10 2025
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.
A 'Panchayat'-Sized Misfire
Fri, May 9 2025
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.
Tourist Family
Comedy, Drama, Family (Tamil)
A quirky Sri Lankan family seeking a fresh start in India transforms a disconnected neighborhood into a vibrant community with their infectious love and kindness.
Cast:
M. Sasikumar, Simran, Mithun Jai Sankar, Kamalesh Jegan, Yogi Babu, Bagavathi Perumal, M. S. Bhaskar, Elango Kumaravel, Yogalakshmi, Ramesh Thilak, Sreeja Ravi
Director:
Abishan Jeevinth
Writer:
Abishan Jeevinth
A Moving Drama Of Unrealistic But Aspirational Optimism
Sat, May 10 2025
Tourist Family is the kind of film that relies immensely on creating beautiful moments. There isn’t much in terms of the story in such dramas. With Tourist Family, the trailer pretty much revealed all of it, which is about a family of illegal immigrants from Sri Lanka trying to find a home in Chennai, while the police are on their tail to pin a small bomb blast on them. As a story, Tourist Family has a lot of potential for a misstep given the sensitivity of the subject of Sri Lankan civil conflicts. However, debutant Abishan Jeevinth carefully avoids the mines and lands on brilliant emotional notes. The volatility of the film’s subject is never felt as its tone and nature are too affable. We tend to forget the logistics, logic, and the plausibility of the events as the film and its characters are too heartwarming. Tourist Family appeals to the heart more than the brain, and it wins you over.
This Sasikumar-Simran feel-good film leaves you all fuzzy
Fri, May 2 2025
A family is trying to flee Sri Lanka and lands up in Rameshwaram, only to get noticed by the cops. They are picked up in a police van. The mood is sombre. But what follows is a really funny five-minute sequence that sets the tone for the entire film. It can be argued that Dharmadas (Sasikumar) is this movie’s hero, but the script does not have a single protagonist; rather, it’s this entire family of four that forms the fulcrum of the script. Director Abishan Jeevinth’s Tourist Family is all about boundaries and ways to break them. A Sri Lankan family with fake documentation has arrived in a Chennai colony, which has, among other people, a grumpy man who rarely socialises, a drunkard who keeps getting yelled at, and a girl wanting to move abroad but changing her mind. That all these characters live together and are close-knit makes things interesting. Remember director Radha Mohan’s Mozhi? The first half of Tourist Family reminds one of that 2007 Tamil film, just in terms of feeling and flavour.
(Writing for Made in Mangalore)
A family you’d love to spend time with
Fri, May 2 2025
There’s a scene well into Abishan Jeevinth’s Tourist Family when the reticent Gunasekhar (Ilango Kumaravel) who shies away from speaking to anyone decides to open up to Vasanthi (an utterly lovely Simran) about how he met his Mangayarkarasi (Sreeja Ravi, who is a puddle of warmth) and why they are all alone. He mentions love, and eloping, and you sense him blushing, despite the age. Elsewhere, a teacher who does not smile easily hides a ready-to-bloom smile at school thinking of the student Mulli (firecracker Kamalesh) who got him to drop him off with absolute nonchalance. At home, tensions rise over a father and son sparring. And then, Nithushan (Mithun Jai Shankar aces this part) shows his folks something and the family struggles to control their laughter. The way this scene plays out is gold.
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, Chris Bauer, Violet McGraw, Alexa Swinton, Eric Lange, Chiara Stella, Stefano Carannante, Gianfranco Terrin, Georgui Kasaev, Charlotte Ann Tucker, Gabrielle Byndloss, Regina Ting Chen, Mallory Hoff, Jennifer Chung, Julia Aku, Clayton Cooper, Joshua Mikel, Molly Carden, Harrison Russell, Robert Germar, Matt Einhorn, Kelvin Witherspoon, Anny Jules, Chad Gall, Danielle DeBrock, Phong Giang, Mackensi Emory, Alexander Roberts, Chris Heeder
Director:
Jake Schreier
(Writing for OTT Play)
The Marvel Cinematic Universe Goes To Therapy
Sat, May 10 2025
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.
Teases a Possible Reinvention of the MCU, But Ends up as One More From the Assembly Line
Mon, May 5 2025
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.
Superheroes, Again
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
(Writing for OTT Play)
A Friendship Poem Disguised As A Hollywood Rom-Com
Sat, May 10 2025
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.
The Friends reunion you never got; Tina Fey and Steve Carell’s Netflix show is a star-studded misfire
Fri, May 9 2025
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
Suraj Venjaramoodu, Sharaf U Dheen's Comedy Is One-Note, But Still Infectious Fun
Sat, May 10 2025
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
A grittier, more gruesome companion piece to Adolescence; Netflix’s teen drama is a brutal coming-of-age tale
Fri, May 9 2025
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
(Writing for The Hindu)
Sree Vishnu’s romcom is a bag of outdated tricks
Fri, May 9 2025
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
Samantha’s maiden production is a hilarious genre bender
Fri, May 9 2025
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.
Jai Mata Ji Let's Rock
Comedy, Family, Drama (Gujarati)
An 80-year-old woman faces four wild options after a government program disrupts her life: revenge on family, rekindling romance, living luxuriously, or choosing it all in this comedy about family surprises
Cast:
Malhar Thakar, Vyoma Nandi, Tiku Talsania, Vandana Pathak, Shekhar Shukla
Director:
Manish Saini
मज़ा, मस्ती, मैसेज ‘जय माता जी-लैट्स रॉक’ में
Fri, May 9 2025
सरकार ने ऐलान किया है कि 80 साल से ऊपर के हर बुजुर्ग को हर महीने एक लाख रुपए की पेंशन मिलेगी। अब अचानक से सब लोगों के भीतर वृद्धों के प्रति प्रेम जाग गया है। अपने माता-पिता को वृद्धाश्रम में छोड़ आए लोग अब विनती करके उन्हें वापस ला रहे हैं। जो कमल और गुलाब अपनी मां को पास नहीं रखना चाहते थे, अब उन्हें अपने-अपने पास रखने के लिए लड़ रहे हैं। दोनों बहुओं में तकरार हो रही है कि सास की ज़्यादा सेवा कौन करेगा। लेकिन सासू बा भी गजब हैं। इस नई पारी के खुल कर मज़े ले रही हैं। और तभी आता है एक ट्विस्ट…! मनोरंजन के रैपर में लपेट कर मैसेज देने वाले लेखक-निर्देशक मनीष सैनी अपनी दो गुजराती फिल्मों ‘ढ’ और ‘गांधी एंड कंपनी’ के लिए राष्ट्रीय पुरस्कार पा चुके हैं। अब अपनी इस अगली गुजराती फिल्म ‘जय माता जी-लैट्स रॉक’ में भी वह तारीफें पाने लायक काम करते दिखे हैं।