Release date: February 23, 2024 Director: Varun Grover Cast: Bodhisattva Sharma, Samta Sudiksha, Geeta Agarwal, Shashi Bhushan, Sheeba Chaddha, Neeraj, Ayush Pandey, Saadat Khan Language: Hindi    “Tum ladkon ke akal mein phaphoond laga hota hai kya?” (Have you boys got fungus on your brains?) Sarika Kumari asks her classmate Vivek Singh in the new Hindi film All India Rank. It’s the sort of throwaway line that indicates the user’s comfort with the tongue.    The ease with which Sarika slips phaphoond into the right context ma ..read more

Release date: February 22, 2024 Director: Chidambaram Cast: Soubin Shahir, Sreenath Bhasi, Deepak Parambol, Chandu Salim Kumar, Khalid Rahman, Ganapathi S. Poduval, Balu Varghese, Abhiram Radhakrishnan, Arun Kurian, Lal Jr, Vishnu Reghu  Language: Malayalam with Tamil    “Jeevithathil stuck aayitulla paara.” That’s how one of the key players in the new Malayalam film Manjummel Boys, describes a precariously poised, giant boulder that he sees while wandering around Kodaikanal in Tamil Nadu with a gaggle of man-children. His words are a ..read more

Release date: Festival: January 2023 Theatrical: February 22, 2024 Director: Don Palathara Cast: Vinay Forrt, Divya Prabha, Mathew Thomas, Nilja K. Baby, Abhija Sivakala, Jolly Chirayath, Prathapan K.S., Jitin Puthanchery, Sajitha Madathil Language: Malayalam    (This review was written and first published in February 2023 right after Family had its world premiere at the International Film Festival of Rotterdam)   In the higher reaches of the mountains of Idukki, in a village thick with verdure and hypocrisy, a man called Sony makes everyo ..read more

Release date: January 25, 2024 Director: Lijo Jose Pellissery  Cast: Mohanlal, Katha Nandi, Sonalee Kulkarni, Manoj Moses, Danish Sait, Hareesh Peradi, Sanjana Chandran, Manikandan R. Achari Language: Malayalam    Malaikottai Vaaliban features some of the most sensational images and sound ever created for the Indian screen. Sadly though, it is proof that visual and aural stimulation alone do not guarantee greatness. Writer-director Lijo Jose Pellissery’s new venture is a feast for the eyes and ears, but it is also stretched to nearly three hour ..read more

Release date: December 21, 2023 Director: Jeethu Joseph  Cast: Mohanlal, Anaswara Rajan, Priyamani, Siddique, Santhi Maya Devi, K.B. Ganesh Kumar, Sreedhanya, Jagadish, Aditi Ravi, Nandhu Language: Malayalam with English    Sara Mohammed (Anaswara Rajan) is an artist who is blind. When Sara is home alone one day, she is raped by a stranger. She gathers her wits about her during the assault, and much to the surprise of the police, is later able to identify the attacker despite her inability to see.    It is an intriguing concept, and with J ..read more

Release date: January 25, 2024 Director: Siddharth Anand  Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Deepika Padukone, Anil Kapoor, Karan Singh Grover, Akshay Oberoi, Ashutosh Rana  Language: Hindi    “PoK ka matlab hai Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. Tumne occupy kiya hai. Maalik hum hai (PoK stands for Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. You have occupied it. But we are the actual owners),” says Hrithik Roshan’s character in the midst of raging fisticuffs with a Pakistani terrorist in the new Hindi film Fighter.    For the record, the di ..read more

  Release date: South India: January 5, 2024 Rest of India: January 12, 2024 Director: Anand Ekarshi  Cast: Zarin Shihab, Vinay Forrt, Kalabhavan Shajohn, Selvaraj Raghavan V.R., Aji Thiruvankulam, Sudheer Babu, Madan Babu, Santhosh Piravom, Sijin Sijeesh, Jolly Antony, Nandan Unni, Sanosh Murali, Prasanth Madhavan Language: Malayalam    Conversations on the all-pervasiveness of patriarchy and violence routinely draw this clichéd caveat from defensive participants: Not All Men. Aattam is a quiet reminder that perpetrators of male ..read more

  Release date: January 12, 2024 Director: Sriram Raghavan  Cast: Katrina Kaif, Vijay Sethupathi, Sanjay Kapoor, Pari Maheshwari Sharma, Vinay Pathak, Pratima Kannan, Luke Kenny, Cameos: Radhika Apte, Gayathrie Shankar  Language: 2 versions of this film were shot – one Tamil, one Hindi – with different supporting casts. This is a review of the Hindi version.    “So this is Christmas / And what have you done?” These words from the 1971 John Lennon-Yoko Ono song Happy Xmas (War Is Over) flash on the screen as a prelude to the dire ..read more

Release date: December 21, 2023 Director: Rajkumar Hirani  Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Taapsee Pannu, Boman Irani, Anil Grover, Vikram Kocchar, Cameo: Vicky Kaushal Language: Hindi    There’s always a first time for everything. Your first love. Your first kiss. Your first paycheck. Even your first boring film.    Now there’s a word I never expected to use for a Rajkumar Hirani venture. Yet “boring” is the aptest adjective for the director’s latest film Dunki that he has also co-written with Abhijat Joshi and Kanika Dhillon. W ..read more

  Release date: December 7, 2023 Director: Zoya Akhtar Cast: Agastya Nanda, Khushi Kapoor, Suhana Khan, Vedang Raina, Mihir Ahuja, Aditi “Dot” Saigal, Yuvraj Menda, Suhaas Ahuja, Tara Sharma, Satyajit Sharma, Alyy Khan, Kamal Sidhu, Luke Kenny, Vinay Pathak   Language: Hindi and English   “I get a huge kick out of life. But I just don’t think about politics. What’s it got to do with my life?” Archibald/Archie Andrews asks his teacher Miss Grundy in reaction to his classmates’ concerns that the changes being wrought in their hill station, Riverdale ..read more