Bethlehem Kudumba Unit
Romance, Comedy, Drama (Malayalam)
Ashley's homecoming from abroad takes an emotional turn when a wedding next door stirs memories of her first love, Justin. (more…)
Babita Singh Reporting
Crime, Drama (Hindi)
People-pleasing cop Baby accepts a fake charge to get leave for her sister-in-law’s baby shower in Rewa. There, she reunites with her childhood friend Bansi, who is murdered that very night. Defying dismissive in-laws, an indifferent husband and an apathetic (more…)
Operation Safed Sagar
Drama (Hindi)
A squadron of Indian Air Force pilots push beyond their limits to attempt a daring and dangerous mission. (more…)
Guild Reviews by Film
Hi!
Romance, Drama (Tamil)
Two individuals initially exchange a simple "Hi," but through a series of chance encounters, shared experiences, and deep conversations, they gradually develop a strong connection and eventually fall in love.
Cast:
Kavin Raj, Nayanthara, K. Bhagyaraj, Prabhu, Radhika Sarathkumar, VTV Ganesh, Fefsi Vijayan, Renji Panicker, Sathyan Sivakumar, Adithya Kathir
Director:
Vishnu Edavan
Writer:
Vishnu Edavan
Mon, August 31 2026
Nayanthara and Kavin are great when it’s all fun and games in director Vishnu Edavan's 'Hi,' but they’re not able to navigate the film through the more serious portions
There’s a forgotten brand of humour that works really well for the most part in Vishnu Edavan’s Hi. Reminding one of the loud, but likeable comedies from the ’90s made by directors like Ezhil and Sundar C, the intentional old-schoolness of Hi has a way of surprising you with its silliness. It doesn’t even attempt to play it safe or try the logical approach. If there’s a joke to be milked, the film will do anything, even if means hitting someone on the head with a pole. It’s desperate and immatur, but oftentimes also feels oddly sincere.
Mon, August 31 2026
The journey of Hi is made even more beautiful by the easy charm exuded by Nayanthara and Kavin, who ensure the romance doesn’t overshadow the comedy, and the comedy doesn’t overpower the romance
Desire. Almost every relationship is based on a desire of some sort. It can be a desire for companionship, touch, love, family, respect, and of course, lust. But at the base of it all is a desire to feel desired. Wanting someone to want you for who you are is a high that many go through life without ever feeling. It is in pursuit of this uns that people give their all. Vishnu Edavan’s Hi is about one such guy, Mayilsamy (A wonderfully understated Kavin), who has everything but love of the romantic kind. He meets a down-in-the-dumps woman, Devayani (A superb Nayanthara), who has nothing but the belief that love is destined for the more fortunate ones. No prizes for guessing where the movie goes from here, and the best part? Vishnu isn’t interested in making you play the guessing game, and just wants you to sit back and enjoy a simple, cheery romcom that hits you right at the feels.
Sun, August 30 2026
Director Vishnu Edavan's Hi, starring Nayanthara and Kavin, is a harmless romantic comedy that has some delightful stretches. The film aims for low-stakes and achieves them too.
Rom-coms have a timeless charm. They make you smile, tug at your heartstrings and, at their best, leave you walking out of the theatre with a little more hope than you walked in with. But very few films manage to get that emotional balance right these days. Last week, the Malayalam film Bethlehem Kudumba Unit did it effortlessly. This week, Tamil film Hi attempts to recreate that magic with a story rooted in romance, family and second chances. But does it work? Let’s find out.
Toxic: A Fairy Tale for Grown-ups
Action, Crime, Drama (Kannada)
A powerful drug cartel pulls the strings behind a facade of sun-soaked beaches as a gritty, violent underworld power struggle emerges during the crumbling of Portuguese colonial rule.
Cast:
Yash, Nayanthara, Kiara Advani, Rukmini Vasanth, Huma Qureshi, Tara Sutaria, Sudev Nair, Akshay Oberoi, Balaji Manohar, Darrell D'Silva
Director:
Geethu Mohandas
Writer:
Geethu Mohandas, Yash
Mon, August 31 2026
What might happen when a woman filmmaker gets the opportunity to make a film about violence and sex? What might happen when she gets access to all the familiar toys of the male-star vehicle: the punch dialogues, the star, the swagger, the slow-motion sequences, the sex, the violence… What might she bring to this cinema that we don’t generally get? As it turns out… quite a lot. First, she refuses to see the protagonist, Raya, as a ‘hero’. Quite the opposite, in fact. The film isn’t interested in hero-villain demarcations, right-wrong judgments. Raya (Yash) himself says as much at one point. When you are in pain, morality stops seeming important. The film, in fact, has a lot to say about the nature of pain, about what happens when you live with it for so long that you begin to fall in love with it, when it begins to feel more like home than any real home ever could, ever did. There’s a fantastic song in the Tamil version, ‘Vittupogaadha Yen Vali’, that speaks of this dichotomy. “Vittupoiduma en vali, poi vidaadhe en vali…”
Sun, August 30 2026
Three years after being announced, Toxic has reached theatres with its gangster world intact, but its women viewed largely through Raya. The central disappointment is that the promised female gaze never meaningfully shapes the film's perspective.
Three years after Yash and Geetu Mohandas announced Toxic, the film is finally in theatres. And after all the waiting, the anticipation and the speculation, one question remains stubbornly unanswered: where is the female gaze Geetu promised? In a throwback interview, Geetu described Toxic as a “gangster film”. She said, “It’s a gangster genre with a female gaze. How about that?” When the teaser dropped in July, that was the question everyone asked. Now, after three hours of Toxic, a more pointed one takes its place: does the film ever really see its women at all? Rewind to 2023. When Yash and Geetu Mohandas announced their collaboration, eyebrows went up. Here was a star coming off the monumental success of the KGF franchise, joining forces with a filmmaker known for her distinct, uncompromising voice. Would these two very different cinematic worlds click, or would the pairing end up a spectacular miss? There seemed to be little room for anything in between.
Fri, August 28 2026
The film moves at breakneck speed, leaving you no room to breathe
“Violence is my mother tongue, the universal language.” Indeed, this dialogue delivered by Kannada ‘rockstar’ Yash with the panache it deserves says it all. ‘Toxic’, as the name suggests, is about repressed emotions, which in their own convoluted way define toxic masculinity. Before we arrive at this emotion-charged and relevant conclusion, there is a set violence piece in this gangster drama every 10 minutes. The film moves at breakneck speed, leaving you no room to breathe — and often not in a good way. Just when you recover from the onslaught of the piling body count, yet another dance of death unfurls. Who is killing whom is not as important; half the time you don’t know either, as the symphony of violence unspools right through the film.
The Last Salute
Documentary (English)
Chronicles the MiG-21's final chapter in the Indian Air Force, showcasing stories of generations of fighter pilots who flew it.
Director:
Kushal Srivastava
Mon, August 31 2026
The Last Salute celebrates the MiG-21's immense power while honouring the pilots who flew it
The heady roar of the legendary supersonic fighter jet that served the Indian Air Force (IAF) for 62 years is muffled by nostalgia-dripping voices, an emotionally redolent background score, and a mind seeking to absorb loads of information. The “kick” inherent in the MiG-21 story is, however, given full rein in this engaging Netflix documentary conceived and executed as a companion piece to the hit web series Operation Safed Sagar. “Kick” is the word that several retired and serving pilots interviewed on camera use in describing what they felt when they sat in the cockpit of the now-retired-from-active-service MiG-21 and revved up the engine for take-off. The documentary transmits much of that to the audience.
Mon, August 31 2026
From the creator of ‘Operation Safed Sagar,’ this neat little documentary features the final hurrah of the Indian Air Force’s prized possession, the MiG-21 fighter jet
There’s something innately sincere about The Last Salute, a documentary about the 62-year-old marriage between the MiG-21 and the Indian Air Force (IAF). It revolves around the retirement of the iconic Soviet fighter jet in 2025, leading up to its farewell ceremony while telling its story through the lens of the chosen few who were qualified to fly them. “A Love letter to MiG-21” is part of the title, so it’s more of a personal ode than a formal chronicling; its reputation as “a flying coffin” is hastily dismissed and neatly glided over. It’s just like watching one partner say goodbye to another after a long and eventful relationship, choosing to remember them fondly despite all the flaws and illnesses. Given that it’s from the creator of the recent Kargil series, Operation Safed Sagar, perhaps this apolitical and isolated wistfulness isn’t surprising.
Babita Singh Reporting
Crime, Drama (Hindi)
People-pleasing cop Baby accepts a fake charge to get leave for her sister-in-law’s baby shower in Rewa. There, she reunites with her childhood friend Bansi, who is murdered that very night. Defying dismissive in-laws, an indifferent husband and an apathetic local police force, she secretly investigates the murder, uncovering family betrayals while finding her own voice, courage and place as a real cop.
Cast:
Nimisha Sajayan, Anshumaan Pushkar, Barun Sobti, Rajesh Kumar, Geetika Vidya, Muskan Arora, Priyanka Setia, Sunita Rajwar
Director:
Ambiecka Pandit
Writer:
Amita Vyas
Mon, August 31 2026
Director Ambiecka Pandit mounts a small-town murder mystery which functions far more effectively as a breakdown of hypocrisy than as an unconventional procedural.
At a time when the diary of police procedurals is cluttered with gravity-defying cops and preachy social commentaries masquerading as investigative dramas, Babita Singh reports with a quiet yet telling subversion. The biting social critique tells us how our society tolerates a woman’s professional ambition only on the condition of absolute domestic continuity. Her career must remain invisible to the men of the house; it cannot cost them their hot meals or their sense of absolute supremacy. It captures how this cycle is policed not just by men, but by the matriarchs of the family, the mothers and sisters-in-law. Of course, there is a murder investigation as well, but it works as a narrative camouflage. The mystery lies in decoding the pervasive patriarchy.
Mon, August 31 2026
Sat, August 29 2026
Babita is trying to climb the ladder in the police force, taking up a job she earns following her cop-father’s death. She is married to Sharad, who prods her to take a leave from work to return to their native village. Upon their arrival, she bumps into a childhood friend, Bansi, who’s found dead the next day. While investigating his death, the domestic tensions nearly consume her. Nimisha Sajayan stands tall in a superb, intense performance in a tailor-made role, navigating her dual identities as a cop with low self-esteem and an ill-treated wife to a conservative man. Though she’s increasingly being stereotyped in gendered parts that take on misogyny, it is compensated for by how craftily the story is woven.
Tony
Drama, Comedy (English)
A 19-year-old Anthony Bourdain travels to Provincetown and stumbles into the chaotic world of a restaurant kitchen, setting off a summer that will shape the course of his life.
Cast:
Dominic Sessa, Antonio Banderas, Emilia Jones, Leo Woodall, Stavros Halkias, Michael Jibrin, Monica Raymund, Rich Sommer, Dagmara Dominczyk, Liam Fitch
Director:
Matt Johnson
Writer:
Matt Johnson, Matthew Miller, Todd Bartels, Lou Howe
Mon, August 31 2026
Mon, August 31 2026
It repositions a cultural rockstar as a wannabe punk – dealing with life’s punches, which eventually contributed to his tough-but-fair demeanour.
“It’s going to be a bildungsroman…” Tony (Dominic Sessa) announces at the dinner table “… a coming-of-age novel.” He’s talking about a novel he has pitched at a prestigious scholarship interview. His father (Rich Sommers) is excited, his mother (Dagmara Dominczyk) is more circumspect. He’s almost certain he will be chosen for the scholarship, after which he will embark on his journey to be what he already believes is a crucial part of his identity. “I’m a writer,” our 19-year-old protagonist says while introducing himself at a bar in an earlier scene. As we all know now, the debut novel (Kitchen Confidential) would only arrive 25 years later. Before Anthony Bourdain became a renowned chef and a worldwide phenomenon – he was just a kid. An arrogant, entitled, insufferable young man, who thought the world owed him a stage to showcase his brilliance. He was also an incessant and effortless liar. In Matt Johnson’s film, we meet Bourdain when he’s – as the title suggests – Tony, and follow him over an eventful summer. His mother calls him Anthony, which the rebel can’t stand. Hence, he goes out of his way to ask people to not call him that.
Sun, August 30 2026
In Matt Johnson's ‘Tony’, a young Anthony Bourdain is pulled towards discipline and craft on one side, and recklessness and transgression on the other
Before Anthony Bourdain became the chef, author and TV host who taught an audience to eat, travel and look at the world with curiosity, he was Tony, a 19-year-old who didn’t quite know what to do with himself. “I was—to be frank—a spoiled, miserable, narcissistic, self-destructive and thoughtless young lout, badly in need of a good ass-kicking,” Bourdain wrote of himself in Kitchen Confidential, his 2000 memoir. It is an unusually unsparing assessment, and very much the man we meet in director Matt Johnson’s coming-of-age film about the young Bourdain. Johnson and his co-writers Matthew Miller, Todd Bartels and Lou Howe take their ideas and inspiration from early chapters of the bestselling Kitchen Confidential, particularly Bourdain’s experiences in Provincetown, while taking cinematic liberties to shape it into a comic drama. Tony is less interested in recreating a life than in capturing a formative moment.
Once More
Music, Romance, Comedy (Tamil)
Raghu, a man caught up with a deep hold of grief comes across Anjali, who is spinning everything in her capacity to win him over. The love you gave away always comes back they say. In one way or other. Sometimes from a different human. This is a story of love coming back into the life of someone who doesn’t want to take it. A tale of second chances.. happy healing and bitter sweet closures.
Cast:
Arjun Das, Aditi Shankar, Dravid Selvam, Sona Olickal, Anusha Prabhu, Chitra Lakshmanan, Prithviraj, Jenson Dhivakar, Devadarshini, Rama
Director:
Vignesh Srikanth
Writer:
Vignesh Srikanth
Sun, August 30 2026
Director Vignesh Srikanth's Once More, starring Arjun Das, Aditi Shankar and Sona Olickal, is a romantic drama that works in parts. The film tries to explore closure, second chances and finding love again, but occasionally falls back on familiar cliches.
If you are a believer in destiny, life is all about second chances. Once More takes that idea and builds a romantic drama around a man who has almost forgotten what happiness feels like. Raghuvaran is stuck in a depressive state, barely pushing through each day, when Anjali, a woman who is quite literally walking sunshine, enters his life. She refuses to let him remain in his shell and slowly gives him another shot at happiness.
Fri, August 28 2026
Director Vignesh Srikanth’s romance drama finds charm in its quieter moments, but its emotional core wobbles in the latter half
Guy sees girl. Guy follows girl. Guy stalks girl. Eventually, girl falls for him. This is a template Tamil cinema has used several times over the last few years; some heroes have actually made entire careers doing just this. It is due to this overall situation that Once More’s first sequence grabs your attention. Raghu (Arjun Das) is seated at the Velachery bus stop — his bike has broken down, and he has to find some other means of transport to get home. With cab drivers unwilling to take up the ride, Raghu is wondering what to do. Enter a bright red car, with his college junior, Anjali (Aditi Shankar), offering him a lift.
Fri, August 28 2026
Shuffling between the naive optimism of a Vineeth Sreenivasan film and an ultra messy Gautham Menon romance, this is a neatly narrated and ably performed ‘whodunnit’ about a man, the person who killed him and the one that brought him back alive.
To call Once More an intense love story would be to reduce it to just one aspect that make this film wonderfully frustrating. Instead, I’d prefer to look at this story of a man named Raghuvaran (Arjun Das) as something of a cruel whodunnit. I call it that because the Raghu we first meet can barely be called a person who is well and alive. He’s a corpse, that’s just about capable of walking and talking. When we see him in constant conversation with both a priest as well as a psychiatrist, we see him grappling with spirituality and/or science to bring him alive. Instead of saying ‘Raghu is…’, the film trains you to say ‘Raghu was…’
Part Timers
Drama (Telugu)
Two roommates, worlds apart, barely stay together. But these two women share one grand dream: a start-up.
Cast:
Thanuja Puttaswamy, Gnaneswari Kandregula, Vajja Venkata Giridhar, Swapna Sankuratri, Sunandini, Ramesh, Swathi, Rajesh Khanna, Bhel Prasad, Koushik Mekala
Director:
Sampath Kumar Thota
Fri, August 28 2026
Teju is a rich businessman’s daughter, living independently on her terms and driving a cab for her livelihood. Her liberated lifestyle is a cause of concern for nagging neighbours. They use every trick in the book to kick her out of the apartment. All hell breaks loose when she has a new roommate in Sindhu, a corporate employee looking to escape her uncle’s rigid norms at home. While both the lead actors fit their parts in terms of appearance and styling, their performances are just okay and nothing great to write home about. Gnaneswari Kandregula is a decent casting choice to play the rebellious Teju. Thanuja Puttaswamy brings a good contrast with her role as a meek yet ambitious girl.
Operation Safed Sagar
Drama (Hindi)
A squadron of Indian Air Force pilots push beyond their limits to attempt a daring and dangerous mission.
Cast:
Dia Mirza, Jimmy Shergill, Siddharth, Abhay Verma, Mihir Ahuja, Taaruk Raina, Arnav Bhasin, Prajakta Koli, Adil Hussain, Vinay Pathak
Director:
Oni Sen
Thu, August 27 2026
1999-ம் ஆண்டு நடந்த கார்கில் போரின் பின்னணியில், அணு ஆயுதப் போர் மூளும் அபாயத்துக்கு இடையே நடக்கும் அரசியல், ராணுவ மோதல்களைப் பேசும் நெட்ஃபிளிக்ஸ் இந்தித் தொடர் இது. (தமிழ் டப்பிங் உண்டு).
18,000 அடி உயரத்தில் பாகிஸ்தான் ராணுவத்தின் ஊடுருவலை முறியடிக்க, இந்திய விமானப்படையின் ‘கோல்டன் ஏரோஸ்’ (Golden Arrows) ஸ்க்வாட்ரன் நடத்திய சவாலான வான்வழித் தாக்குதலை விவரிக்கிறது இந்தத் தொடர். ஸ்க்வாட்ரன் லீடர் அஜய் அஹுஜா (சித்தார்த்), விங் கமாண்டர் டோனி (ஜிம்மி ஷெர்கில்) இணைந்து தங்கள் இளம் விமானிகளைப் போருக்கு எப்படித் தயார்படுத்தி வழி நடத்துகிறார்கள் என்பதே இதன் விறுவிறுப்பான மையக்கதை. நிஜப் போர் வீரர்களாக சித்தார்த்தும் ஜிம்மி ஷெர்கிலும் எந்தவிதமான மிகைப்படுத்தலுமின்றி, தங்களின் முதிர்ச்சியான நடிப்பால் கதாபாத்திரங்களுக்கு உயிர் கொடுத்திருக்கின்றனர். பாகிஸ்தான் பிரதமர் நவாஸ் ஷெரீஃபாக வினய் பதக், அவரைத் தந்திரமாக இயக்கும் ஜெனரல் முஷாரஃபாக மனு ரிஷி சத்தா ஆகியோரின் நடிப்பும் தொடருக்குப் பெரும் பலம். அபய் வர்மா, மிஹிர் அஹுஜா, பிரஜக்தா கோலி, தியா மிர்ஸா எனத் துணைக் கதாபாத்திரங்களின் பங்களிப்பிலும் நேர்த்தி.
Mon, August 10 2026
Sat, August 8 2026
‘Operation Safed Sagar’ occasionally drags and doesn't shun its propaganda duties. But it's a rare war narrative that keeps a cool head and focuses on strategy, processes and individual skill
Two months into the Kargil War, Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif determines to see with his eyes what his heart already suspects: that they’re losing the battle. At Skardu base, he’s received by Maj Gen Javed Hassan, who invites him to the officer’s mess for a briefing. Sharif fixes with a stare and says, “The truth of democracy is revealed at the polling booth, and the reality of war in the hospital.” The condition of the wounded and general despondency in the hospital tent tells him all he needs to know, prompting a rare act of rebellion and a covert trip to Washington.
Irumudi
Drama (Telugu)
An alcoholic with a violent past—living peacefully with his daughter beside a waterfall—decides to take Ayyappa Deeksha (a 41-day spiritual vow and period of intense austerity) at her request.
Cast:
Ravi Teja, Nakshathra C M, Priya Bhavani Shankar, Sai Kumar, Ajay Ghosh, Swasika, Rajkumar Kasireddy, Ramesh Indira, Kishore Kumar Polimera, Laxman Meesala
Director:
Shiva Nirvana
Writer:
Shiva Nirvana
Thu, August 27 2026
Mon, August 24 2026
Sat, August 22 2026
The Telugu film brings to the fore the pertinent issue of empowering daughters to speak up, anchored by Ravi Teja and child actor Nakshatra’s performances
At the first sign of abuse, a character in the Telugu film Irumudi asks his daughter not to blow it up into a big issue. She wants to raise a complaint, but he states that fear is the best safety armour for a girl child. Another character empowers his daughter to be transparent and share all the happenings at school and the village without fear. These contrasting approaches of two fathers become the film’s biggest takeaway. The other significant takeaway is how Irumudi marks the return of Shiva Nirvana and Ravi Teja to form after a few middling films.
Bethlehem Kudumba Unit
Romance, Comedy, Drama (Malayalam)
Ashley's homecoming from abroad takes an emotional turn when a wedding next door stirs memories of her first love, Justin.
Cast:
Nivin Pauly, Mamitha Baiju, Sangeeth Prathap, Suresh Krishna, Vinay Forrt, Shyam Mohan, Bindu Panicker, Roshan Shanavas, Srindaa, Shameer Khan
Director:
Girish A. D.
Writer:
Girish A. D., Kiran Josey
Thu, August 27 2026
Sun, August 23 2026
With a fun mix of relatable characters and snappy dialogues, Girish AD’s ‘Bethlehem Kudumba Unit’, starring Nivin Pauly and Mamitha Baiju, is a charming age-gap romance
Of all the things Justin (Nivin Pauly) and Ashley (Mamitha Baiju), the protagonists of Bethlehem Kudumba Unit, bond over, music is perhaps what triggers the initial spark. He dusts off an old cassette player, and she brings in her box of cherished old audio cassettes, which she refused to leave behind when her strict mother asked her to while shifting houses. She is surprised that he has heard of the alternative rock band ‘Breeders’, her favourite. It changes her serious, old-man image of him. When Ashley lands in this neighbourhood with her family, reluctant to leave her small home in the village, she is a little circumspect and even melancholic, as one of the characters puts it. Soon, she gels in, as if she has found her tribe. Girish AD does something similar with the audience. He places us firmly amid this bunch of closely-knit characters, all with relatable qualities, quirks and failings, making us feel as if we are among a group of our own friends. It also feels as if everyone here, except Ashley and her family have known each other all their lives, for such is the easy camaraderie and the sharpness of the repartees.
Sat, August 22 2026
Gireesh AD's film has a narrative softness that’s obsessed with making you feel, rather than telling you about it
Set aside all temptations to speak about small town Angamaly as a character in Bethlehem Kudumba Unit, because even a guitar has a full character arc in Gireesh AD’s effortlessly charming film. The first scene of the film is Ashley (Mamitha Baiju) getting ready to say goodbye to her group of close friends as we hear chatter about her moving to a college in Ernakulam. They click selfies, hug each other all teary eyed and as a farewell gift, her friends gift her a new guitar. It takes an hour more, but it’s when we see the wallpaper on Ashley’s screen that we’re told about a band named Room 17 and of how she was its lead guitarist. When her new neighbour Justin (Nivin Pauly) identifies the band that features on this wallpaper, it immediately brings Ashley closer to Justin, someone she thinks off as the only person around her who’s even heard of that band.
Insidious: Out of the Further
Horror, Thriller (English)
Gemma, a young mother raising her daughter in the house she grew up in, discovers she can travel into The Further, where she possesses an ability to bring what lives there back to the real world.
Cast:
Amelia Eve, Island Austin, Lin Shaye, Sam Spruell, Brandon Perea, Maisie Richardson-Sellers, Joseph Lopez, Laura Gordon, Charli Penton, Taylor Bogrand
Director:
Jacob Chase
Sun, August 23 2026
ஹாலிவுட்டின் புகழ்பெற்ற `இன்சிடியஸ்' (Insidious) ஹாரர் யுனிவர்ஸில் ஆறாவது பாகமாக வந்திருக்கிறது `இன்சிடியஸ்: அவுட் ஆஃப் தி ஃபர்தர்'. `தி ரெட் டோர்' படத்துக்குப் பிறகு நடக்கும் இந்தக் கதை, லேம்பர்ட் குடும்பத்தைத் தாண்டி வேறொரு குடும்பத்தின் கதையைப் பேசுகிறது.
தாயின் துர்மரணத்துக்குப் பின், தன் பழைய வீட்டிலேயே மகள் மாயாவுடன் வசிக்கிறார் பல் மருத்துவர் ஜெம்மா. அங்கே அந்த வீட்டில் அமானுஷ்ய நிகழ்வுகள் அரங்கேற, மறைந்த அமானுஷ்ய ஆராய்ச்சி நிபுணர் எலிஸின் (Elise) ஆன்மாவின் உதவியுடன் தன்னைப் பற்றிய உண்மையை அறிகிறார். அதாவது ஆன்மாக்களின் உலகத்திற்கு (The Further) சென்று வருவது மட்டுமன்றி, நிஜ உலகத்திலிருந்து அங்கும், அங்கிருந்து நிஜ உலகிற்கும் எந்தப் பொருட்களையும் எடுத்துவரும் ‘கூரியர்’ (Courier) என்ற அபூர்வ சக்தி தனக்கு இருப்பதை உணர்கிறார் ஜெம்மா. அவரின் இந்தச் சக்தியைப் பயன்படுத்தி நிஜ உலகைக் கைப்பற்றத் துடிக்கும் அசுர ஆன்மாக்களிடமிருந்து ஜெம்மாவும் அவரது மகளும் தப்பித்தார்களா, அவர்களுக்கு எலிஸ் எப்படித் துணையாக நிற்கிறார் என்பதே திகில் நிறைந்த திரைக்கதை.
Sat, August 22 2026
The first Insidious film came out in 2011, and since then, the franchise has spawned six films, including the latest, Out of the Further, directed by Jacob Chase, who makes his debut in the franchise. Horror franchises like this are low-hanging fruit for producers and studios. The six films have collectively made more than $700 million at the box office on a combined budget of less than one-tenth of that amount, making the math fairly simple. The franchise has also attracted some reputed names from the world of horror. James Wan, of The Conjuring fame, directed the first two films, while Oren Peli, who made Paranormal Activity, has served as a producer on all six.
Fri, August 21 2026
It’s only so many ways that you can take this story about the Further farther, told as it has been in four films before.
If the thought of lying defenceless on a chair as a dentist pokes around inside your mouth leaves you queasy, you are in kindred company. This latest chapter in the Insidious franchise does draw on teeth, the full rotting spectrum of them, to add bite to its howls. And who better than beings suspended between life and death (the “Further” world, in the film’s words) for a specimen of ghastly pearly whites)? However, as and when it pulls out, the film is only passingly effective. It’s only so many ways that you can take this story about the Further farther, told as it has been in four films before. And the effort to do that shows, though as mother and daughter, the pair of Amelia Eve (in the role of Gemma) and Island Austin (Maya) are pretty good.
Ram and Leela
Romance, Comedy (Tamil)
The story revolves around a 30-year-old man whose family is searching for a suitable bride For his marriage. At the same time, he is also hoping to find true love, but nothing works out. Eventually, he meets a young woman named Leela, they fall in love, face several Unexpected challenges and twists, and finally overcome them to unite
Cast:
Rio Raj, Vartika Jain, Chetan, Malavika Avinash, Balaji Thiyagarajan, Thaafia, Ma Ka Pa Anand, Deepa Venkat, Kavinn Coacharya, Munishkanth
Director:
Ramachandrran Kannan
Writer:
Ramachandrran Kannan
Sat, August 22 2026
Despite an interesting idea and almost all the required ingredients, Ram and Leela neither has its heart in the right place, nor does this experiment yield promising results
Ideas. Every piece of art is built on an idea, upon which various layers are laid before it reaches its final version. Even if the idea is enterprising, the same can’t be guaranteed for the finished content. Just like how it isn’t enough that a film has its heart in the right place, one can’t really bat for a film just because it is an experiment, or a ‘brave’ attempt. That is the problem that plagues debut director Ramachandran Kannan’s Ram and Leela: neither does it have its heart in the right place, nor does this experiment yield promising results. It tries too hard to play around with the form only to end up as a convoluted mess.