Dorothy
Action, Adventure, Drama, Romance (Tamil)
Set in a world shaped by caste, violence, and toxic masculinity, two childhood friends grow up inseparable in rural Tamil Nadu. Their lives are transformed by the arrival of Dorothy, a woman whose compassion quietly challenges the world around them. (more…)
Hunkkaar: The Roar
Crime, Drama (Hindi)
A victim takes a courageous stand against a powerful godman accused of misconduct in an intense courtroom drama centered on her fight for justice. (more…)
Meesaya Murukku 2
Comedy, Romance, Drama (Tamil)
After facing rejection in love and getting into a fight, Jeeva learns about his father Siva's struggles and sacrifices. Inspired by his grandfather's legacy and father's dedication, Jeeva changes his outlook and works hard toward his musical dream. Through determination (more…)
Don't Be Shy
Romance, Comedy (Hindi)
Quintessential Mean Girl, Shyamili ‘Shy’ Das, finds herself suddenly relegated to Loser-ville when Mayank, her boyfriend of three years, suddenly dumps her. But Shy, all set to get her revenge, finds herself falling into friendship and compassion with someone unexpected… (more…)
The Paradise
Action, Thriller, Drama (Telugu)
In 1980s Secunderabad, a marginalised tribe battles discrimination and fights for citizenship under an unexpected leader's guidance, challenging systemic oppression. (more…)
Shaque: Trust No One
Drama, Crime, Mystery (Hindi)
A mother receives yearly photos of her missing child. After nine years of searching, she discovers the truth about the abduction lies not far away, but hidden among her closest circle. (more…)
Guild Reviews by Film
Don't Be Shy
Romance, Comedy (Hindi)
Quintessential Mean Girl, Shyamili ‘Shy’ Das, finds herself suddenly relegated to Loser-ville when Mayank, her boyfriend of three years, suddenly dumps her. But Shy, all set to get her revenge, finds herself falling into friendship and compassion with someone unexpected… Mayank’s new girlfriend - Tara.
Cast:
Arushi Bajaj, Ansh Duggal, Bianca Arora, Piyush Khati, Kunaal Roy Kapur, Neha Dhupia, Anurag Basu, Anju Alva Naik, Nazneen Madan
Director:
Sreeti Mukerji
Writer:
Sreeti Mukerji
Sat, September 26 2026
Don't Be Shy, backed by Alia Bhatt and Shaheen Bhatt, and directed by Sriti Mukerji, tells the story of an ambitious and controlling Shy. While the film is well-intended, the makers never go the extra mile to tell an effective story
Ever so often, Bollywood wants to speak the language of the youth. However, in an attempt to address their issues and growing pains, the industry often ends up stereotyping Gen Z and making them look superfluous. In Don’t Be Shy, director Sriti Mukerji attempts to tell a Gen Z story, but sets it in the early 2000s and delivers a very run-of-the-mill, coming-of-age campus tale. While it begins on a promising note, the film eventually becomes predictable and rather silly by the end. Produced by Alia Bhatt and Shaheen Bhatt, Don’t Be Shy introduces fresh faces to the film industry. The cast delivers credible performances, but does that salvage the film? Only in parts.
Fri, September 25 2026
1998 में जब करण जौहर ‘कुछ कुछ होता है’ लेकर आए थे तो दर्शक सोचते थे कि अपने देश में कहां पर होते हैं ऐसे कॉलेज जिनमें इतनी रंगीनी हो, इतनी चमक-दमक हो, जहां पढ़ाई के अलावा सब कुछ होता हो…? लेकिन वह फिल्म सुहानी हवा के झोंके की तरह आई थी। आर्चीज़ कॉमिक्स से निकली कहानी, कसी हुई स्क्रिप्ट, सधा हुआ निर्देशन, बड़े सितारे, शानदार म्यूज़िक और… फिल्म सुपरहिट। इसके 14 बरस बाद एक बार फिर करण जौहर ‘स्टूडैंट ऑफ द ईयर’ लेकर आए तो हम दर्शक फिर हैरान हुए कि यार, कहां होते हैं ऐसे स्कूल-कॉलेज जिनमें इस तरह की भौंडी हरकतें होती हों, इस तरह के चमकीले जीव ‘पढ़ाई’ के नाम पर फूहड़ता करते हों। लेकिन यह फिल्म भी अपनी चमक-दमक और रसीले एंटरटेनमैंट के चलते युवा दर्शकों को ही सही, पसंद आ गई थी।
Fri, September 25 2026
Prime Video’s new Hindi original film centres on Shyamili ‘Shy’ Das (Aarushi Bajaj), a college student who has her entire life mapped out. Shy has absorbed the rules of The Perfect Woman, a book that promises to show women how to get life right. Plan A revolves around Shy’s future with boyfriend Mayank (Piyush Khati), the heir to a business empire, and an imagined version of herself that bears little resemblance to her actual existence. Shy has no Plan B.
Dorothy
Action, Adventure, Drama, Romance (Tamil)
Set in a world shaped by caste, violence, and toxic masculinity, two childhood friends grow up inseparable in rural Tamil Nadu. Their lives are transformed by the arrival of Dorothy, a woman whose compassion quietly challenges the world around them.
Cast:
Keerthy Suresh, Sananth, Rishikanth, Jeeva Subramanian, Ramachandran Durairaj, Muthukumar, Soundara Raja, Anthony Daasan
Director:
Karthik Subbaraj
Sat, September 26 2026
Acceptance is a hard pill to swallow. Perhaps that is why “tolerance” survives in the lexicon of diversity. Here, the word feels almost offensive. Who are we to tolerate someone simply because they fall outside a dictionary definition of who they are supposed to be? Early in Dorothy, Subbu (Sananth) quotes a line about gender discrimination being the worst form of bias. The film treats that not as a slogan but as a first cut. The binary comes first: male or female. Only after that hurdle do caste, class and the other divisions get their turn. Karthik Subbaraj starts with those smaller divisions. When Subbu befriends Karthi (Rishikanth), a young boy from a lower-caste, lower-class family, the film looks ready to walk a familiar road. This is still a Subbaraj film, though, and it is not heading towards a hackneyed triangle, least of all one built around a woman named Dorothy (Keerthy Suresh).
Sat, September 26 2026
Sat, September 26 2026
The mere existence of Dorothy in this defiant form, in this suffocating space, and in this unforgiving world is the greatest defiance of the violence of acceptance
Acceptance. What makes one accept others? Is it their magnanimity, or education, or sensibilities, or simply empathy and compassion? Well, director Karthik Subbaraj’s Dorothy gives another reason as to why one might accept others. Because some people crave acceptance. Between this acceptance and rejection, two young boys, forced to be something they are not, somehow find what they think is… home.
Hunkkaar: The Roar
Crime, Drama (Hindi)
A victim takes a courageous stand against a powerful godman accused of misconduct in an intense courtroom drama centered on her fight for justice.
Cast:
Aneet Padda, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Raghubir Yadav, Zoya Hussain, Ram Kapoor, Rajesh Sharma, Arjun Mathur, Charu Shankar, Veen Harsh
Director:
Karan Kapadia, Nitya Mehra, Heeraz Marfatia
Writer:
Heeraz Marfatia
Sat, September 26 2026
Fri, September 25 2026
Aneet Padda, Fatima Sana Shaikh remain largely convincing, and own the best moments of the six-episode show.
The rampage of dhongi babas, spellbound bhakts and shell-shocked victims continues apace. The fresh spate began in 2020 with Bobby Deol spreading his beatific smile and vile ways through the multi-season ‘Ashram’ . In 2023, we saw Manoj Bajpayee fighting a lone battle against a powerful self-styled godman, based on the real-life Asaram, in ‘Sirf Ek Banda Kaafi Hai’. That was followed by Jaideep Ahlawat jumping into the role of the rapacious ‘Maharaj’ in a film of the same name in 2024. Now comes ‘Hunkkaar’, in which the excellent Raghubir Yadav plays Baapji, the all-seeing seer who preys upon young girls. While the casting seems, at first glance, to be inspired – I mean, the always likeable Yadav turning into a monster, can you imagine – not being able to overcome the utter familiarity of the subject never allows Hunkkaar to become its own beast.
Fri, September 25 2026
A fairly familiar fight for justice that builds far too many flimsy narratives around its core conflict, runs out of ammunition and speaks out of turn in a needlessly cussing tone
A week after Daayra probed into India’s rampant rape crisis through the purview of a police procedural comes Hunkkaar: The Roar. In this six-part series created by the husband and wife duo of Karan Darius Kapadia and Nitya Mehra, a 17-year-old victim of sexual assault takes an influential godman to court in hopes of justice, only to encounter endless persecution and judgement at the hands of the law, society and media. You can find different takes on this theme across fare like Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai, Sia, Ashram and Maharaj. Hunkkaar’s generic treatment of a widespread problem doesn’t provide any fresh insights but engages in fits and starts on the strength of the talent on board.
The Uprising
Action, History, Drama (English)
As war and plague devastate 14th-century England, a humble peasant ignites a rebellion, uniting an army of commoners to defy the King’s might in a desperate fight for justice and survival.
Cast:
Andrew Garfield, Jamie Bell, Stephen Dillane, Tom Hollander, Cosmo Jarvis, Thomasin McKenzie, Jonny Lee Miller, Woody Norman, Katherine Waterston, Stanley Townsend
Director:
Paul Greengrass
Writer:
Paul Greengrass
Sat, September 26 2026
Fri, September 18 2026
Shot in bleak greys offering little by way of colour, on the muddy grounds or the cloudy skies, or the person of its characters – who are dressed uniformly, but for the royals, in clothes made of worn, torn sack material – The Uprising is often hard to see or follow.
In a world where ever-new oligarchs, from oil to tech, run the world, who cares for a peasants’ revolt 700 years ago? So, doff hats to Paul Greengrass and Andrew Garfield for lending their weight to this film about the 1381 uprising, widely considered the first populist rebellion in England. But, uprising does not mean uplifting. Shot in bleak greys offering little by way of colour, on the muddy grounds or the cloudy skies, or the person of its characters – who are dressed uniformly, but for the royals, in clothes made of worn, torn sack material – The Uprising is often hard to see or follow.
Primetime
Drama, Thriller (English)
In 2006, To Catch a Predator host Chris Hansen sets out to make television history, turning an undercover investigation into one of the most controversial cultural phenomena of the decade.
Cast:
Robert Pattinson, Merritt Wever, Skyler Gisondo, Phoebe Bridgers, Matthew Maher, Bokeem Woodbine, Alex Winter, Anna Faris, Eric Rahill, Bill Heck
Director:
Lance Oppenheim
Writer:
Ajon Singh
Sat, September 26 2026
Fri, September 25 2026
Director Lance Oppenheim turns his lens on the credibility, ethics and moral corrosion of vigilante justice in the reality-TV world. Pattinson is sensational as a man teetering on the edge of a nervous breakdown.
Primetime is based on the controversial mid-2000s true-crime series To Catch a Predator, hosted by American broadcast journalist Chris Hansen (Robert Pattinson). The psychological thriller follows Hansen and his production team as they conduct sting operations to expose suspected paedophiles who engage in online chats with minors. The team recruits adult volunteers posing as 13-year-olds to lure potential predators into meeting them. Once they arrive, they are ambushed on camera by Chris before being arrested by the police. The show was widely celebrated for its intent of exposing sexual predators but its methods often walked a murky ethical line. That moral ambiguity forms the heart of Primetime. Director Lance Oppenheim examines the credibility, ethics and moral corrosion of vigilante justice when packaged as entertainment. What begins as an ostensibly noble mission gradually becomes a spectacle, where humiliation, outrage and ratings feed off one another. The film also traces the systematic erosion of conscience among those involved, culminating in the suicide of one of the accused.
Shaque: Trust No One
Drama, Crime, Mystery (Hindi)
A mother receives yearly photos of her missing child. After nine years of searching, she discovers the truth about the abduction lies not far away, but hidden among her closest circle.
Cast:
Parineeti Chopra, Jennifer Winget, Tahir Raj Bhasin, Anup Soni, Chaitannya Choudhry, Sumeet Vyas, Soni Razdan, Harleen Sethi
Director:
Renzil D'Silva
Fri, September 25 2026
Director-writer Rensil D’Silva weaves an interesting albeit clichéd storyline
Illusion meets reality… those of us who have watched Christopher Nolan’s ‘Inception’ with rapt attention know all too well what a fascinating blend it is. Of course, Netflix’s latest web series ‘Shaque: Trust No One’, which too marries phantasmagoric elements with truth, bears no similarity with the acclaimed film. Rather, on the surface, it bears an uncanny resemblance with another of Netflix’s new films, ‘Gandhari’. Yes, like the Taapsee Pannu starrer, ‘Shaque’, which marks the web-series debut of Parineeti Chopra, too, deals with a mother’s search for her daughter.
Fri, September 25 2026
The corny seven-episode series stars Parineeti Chopra as an unhinged mother who receives a photograph of her missing child every year
When I was little, my mother’s very North Indian family would clink glasses, raise voices and play card games on winter nights. As the only sober primate in the room (I wasn’t sure about the wayward dog), calling the adults’ bluff was a cinch, because their intoxicated minds and muscles kept failing them: they’d place the cards face-side up by mistake, coughed harder every time they tried to lie, or even forgot the name of the suits (“3 of Souls!”) before playing their hand. If they ever played poker, I thought, we’d end up homeless. Shaque: Trust No One is the cinematic equivalent of those nights: the harder it strives to be serious (or just convincing), the funnier it gets. Some might call that entertainment; I call it the comforting embrace of mediocrity. At times, I got excited at the prospect of those farcical, downright incompetent card games.
Fri, September 25 2026
एक मां के लिए इससे बड़ा सदमा क्या होगा कि उसकी नवजात बच्ची उससे दूर हो जाए? वो मां ना अपनी पहली संतान को भूल सकती है, ना ही उसे वापस पाने की उम्मीद चैन से जीने देती है। एक मां की ऐसी ही भावुक कहानी वाली वेब सीरीज ‘शक: ट्रस्ट नो वन’ से परिणीति चोपड़ा ने ओटीटी पर वेब सीरीज की दुनिया में अपनी पारी शुरू की है। हालांकि, मेकर्स ने मां-बेटी की इस भावनात्मक कहानी के इर्द-गिर्द शक और साजिशों के ढेर सारे जाले बुनकर इसका मजा थोड़ा किरकिरा कर दिया है।
Dhoomakethu
Comedy, Thriller (Malayalam)
On the morning of his wedding, 36 year old Kuttan wakes from a disturbing dream about his own death. As the day unfolds, familiar moments begin to repeat and reality becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish from memory. Realizing that something is terribly wrong, Kuttan races to uncover the truth before the day repeats itself again.
Cast:
Nikhila Vimal, Sajin Gopu, Ganapathi S. Poduval, Shine Tom Chacko, Sidharth Bharathan, Manju Pillai, Rajesh Pandian, Abel Twinkle, Adish Praveen
Director:
Sudhi Maddison
Writer:
Sonny, Manu
Fri, September 25 2026
For a part of the film’s runtime, a blend of the now familiar time loop trope with humour seems to work, until some of the hard work unravels due to weak writing of the background story
Any out of the world concept can lose its sheen when it becomes too commonplace and is overused. So it is with the time loop concept in cinema, the latest iteration of which is in Sudhi Maddison’s Dhoomakethu (comet). There is some irony in naming a film with a now commonplace concept with something as rare as a comet. Yet for a part of its runtime, the blend of this now familiar trope with humour seemed to work, until some of the hard work unravels due to weak writing of the background story.
The Vvaan: Force of the Forest
Action, Adventure, Thriller (Hindi)
A rational urban man defies his ancestral forbidden forest and awakens a divine goddess, only to realise that not only do some powers exist beyond logic but he must rise as the village’s only saviour to protect his people from annihilation.
Cast:
Sidharth Malhotra, Tamannaah Bhatia, Nimrat Kaur, Maniesh Paul, Sunil Grover, Shweta Tiwari, Yo Yo Honey Singh, Manu Rishi Chadha, Durgesh Kumar, Anup Soni
Director:
Deepak Kumar Mishra
Writer:
Arunabh Kumar
Fri, September 25 2026
Engineered to exploit the current devotional fervour at the box office, in this tale of divine retribution, both the plot and the message are ultimately buried beneath a high-pitched, artificial theme-park aesthetic.
What happens when the custodians of ecological preservation form a corrupt alliance with political forces in the name of progress? Arunabh Kumar and Ekta Kapoor combine to present the dialectic between ecological conservation and modernisation, wrapped in a glossy, high-pitched divine intervention, for a mass audience that, these days, looks South for grand mytho-mystical experiences. When Rishi (Sidharth Malhotra), a rational professional, returns to his ancestral village with his wife Mamta (Tamannaah Bhatia) to sell off his inherited land, he is sucked into a raging debate. Led by the double-faced Deepak (Sunil Grover), those aligned with the development agenda offer a better rate because they want to build a road through the forest to reduce travel time to city infrastructure. In contrast, the traditionalists, including his well-meaning brother Shashi (Anup Soni) and bitter sister-in-law (Shweta Tiwari), don’t want to upset the forest’s reigning deity and invite her curse. Because of a past incident, Rishi has lost faith in the goddess, but Mamta remains devoted. When Rishi ignores the sacred decree forbidding entry into the forest after sunset, fury breaks loose as we gradually discover that beneath the supernatural lies a timely message: reneging on a pact with nature can unleash self-seeking dark forces. Drawing from folklore, it reminds us that the ruler has a role to protect nature and what happens when the custodian goes corrupt.
Fri, September 25 2026
Some films are bad. Some are terrible. And some are pure torture. Sidharth Malhotra-Tamannaah's The Vvaan falls neatly into that third category.
Some films are bad. Some are terrible. And some are pure torture. The Vvaan falls neatly into that third category, in which I struggled to find a single redeeming feature, and failed spectacularly. When we first come upon a Mumbai-based engineer (Sidharth Malhotra) and his wife (Tamannaah Bhatia), childless but certainly not loveless, they are a) singing songs in a large sea-side bungalow, b) fetching up at a quack who hands out potency powders and c) participating in a hideous racist-colourist joke. The Vvaan never recovers from this early blow. Nor did I, as the film kept drawing me deeper into an off-colour, off-putting mix of so-called fantasy and folklore, of the kind that involves dark forests and their resident guardian devis, and evil spirits which devour those who dare walk into their domain after dark.
Fri, September 25 2026
Meesaya Murukku 2
Comedy, Romance, Drama (Tamil)
After facing rejection in love and getting into a fight, Jeeva learns about his father Siva's struggles and sacrifices. Inspired by his grandfather's legacy and father's dedication, Jeeva changes his outlook and works hard toward his musical dream. Through determination and perseverance, Jeeva earns recognition in the music industry and brings pride to his family.
Cast:
HipHop Tamizha Adhi, Ketika Sharma, Chaithra J Achar, Ramya Ranganathan, Harshath Khan, Shah Ra, Karunas, Nassar, Aadukalam Naren, Karunakaran
Director:
HipHop Tamizha Adhi
Writer:
HipHop Tamizha Adhi
Fri, September 25 2026
Directed by Hiphop Tamizha Adhi and starring himself, Karunas and Baba Baskar, the gaana-driven musical explores the class divide in the music world and the struggle for gaana to find mainstream recognition. Spanning the musical dreams of three generations, the film has an interesting premise but remains disappointingly hollow.
Meesaya Murukku arrived in 2017 and remains a film that still serves as solid motivation to youngsters. A coming-of-age musical that doubled as Hiphop Tamizha Adhi’s biography, it was everything youngsters lapped up. Eight years later, Meesaya Murukku 2 is here. A spiritual sequel, the second part now sheds light on gaana — often linked to a particular era — and how it hasn’t got the recognition it deserves.
Fri, September 25 2026
Takes on gaana culture, caste and class barriers in the music industry, but its many ideas come at the cost of a focussed story
Meesaya Murukku 2 has some basic ideas that would fill the first few pages of a Pa Ranjith or a Mari Selvaraj script, which explains how it opens: a traditionalist orthodox musician grabbing a recording chance that was otherwise meant for a rooted gaana artiste. Here, we see characters named Das and Lakshmi from Royapuram, in true retro style, filling the theatre with lines in Madras baashai. Very soon, we cut to characters called Siva and Jeeva. What connects these people and why do they struggle to find success in this world?
The Paradise
Action, Thriller, Drama (Telugu)
In 1980s Secunderabad, a marginalised tribe battles discrimination and fights for citizenship under an unexpected leader's guidance, challenging systemic oppression.
Cast:
Nani, Mohan Babu, Kayadu Lohar, Sonali Kulkarni, Raghav Juyal, Sampoornesh Babu, Vishika, Tanikella Bharani, Priyadarshi Pullikonda, P. Vijay Kumar
Director:
Srikanth Odela
Fri, September 25 2026
Directed by Srikanth Odela and starring Nani, Mohan Babu, and Sonali Kulkarni, The Paradise is so fragmented that it struggles to establish cohesion and continuity and, most importantly, lacks a substantial story to hold it together.
Nani, the Natural Star and one of Telugu cinema’s most relatable, family-friendly heroes, has been steadily pivoting towards action-heavy films over the past few years. His latest outing, The Paradise, is his biggest yet in terms of scale and action. But does Nani’s second collaboration with director Srikanth Odela work as well as their first? Can The Paradise take the actor and filmmaker to the next league? What works, what doesn’t, and what really goes wrong? Let’s find out.
Fri, September 25 2026
Nani’s physical transformation in this Srikanth Odela-directed film is striking, but it cannot make up for a narrative that struggles to establish its characters or conflict
The Paradise begins by paying tribute to some of the Indian cinema legends we have lost in recent times. It also remembers revolutionary Telangana poet Gummadi Vittal Rao, better known as Gaddar. It is director Srikanth Odela’s way of tipping his hat to his Telangana roots and the region’s textured history. In his debut, Dasara, also starring Nani, Srikanth explored caste hierarchies around Telangana’s coal mines during the era of prohibition, weaving a tale of friendship, loss and revenge. It wasn’t a perfect film, but it established its emotional conflicts well.
Brothers
Comedy (English)
Hollywood actors Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson have been best friends for years, but a shocking family secret suggests their connection might be closer.
Cast:
Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson, Natalie Martinez, Brittany Ishibashi, Nolan Almeida, Ella Grace Helton, Noah Carganilla, Highdee Kuan, Oona Yaffe, Holland Taylor
Fri, September 25 2026
The Hollywood stars act as fictionalised versions of themselves in this far-out comedy that imagines the two as brothers after a real-life rumour.
Actors Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson have been good friends since they met on the film Edtv (1999) and went on to collaborate on HBO’s award-winning series True Detective (2014). In recent years, a rumour about the two keeps surfacing from an interview with Matthew’s mother Kay revealing that she ‘knew’ Woody’s father, Charles, a felon, in her past. While it was suggested that the two actors could be brothers, a DNA test was never taken. In the new Apple TV series, Brothers, created by the two stars, David West Read and Lee Eisenberg, the outlandish series imagines a fictional scenario in which this plays out. The cheeky, wink-wink narrative works best when it remains on the actors, as it gets way too sitcom-ish when applied to their extended families.
Mobland S02
Crime, Drama (English)
Two mob families clash in a war that threatens to topple empires and lives.
Cast:
Tom Hardy, Pierce Brosnan, Paddy Considine, Joanne Froggatt, Lara Pulver, Anson Boon, Mandeep Dhillon, Jasmine Jobson, Teddie Allen, Emmett J. Scanlan
Fri, September 25 2026
The British crime thriller returns to London as the Harrigan family finds themselves in the middle of another turf war.
The first half of MobLand Season 1 moved around at a slow pace, introducing characters and setting up the chaotic world of the Harrigan crime family. Returning for its second season, the series, created by Top Boy’s Ronan Bennett, wastes no time in setting up another threat for the Harrigans, who find themselves in the midst of a civil war. Directed by Guy Ritchie, the Paramount+ show has been in the news for its on-set drama, with reports of discord between the leads. However, the show is back with gusto on Season 2 that quickly establishes the stakes and the players. It remains to be seen if it can stick the landing with what lies ahead.