We recommend: The best new movies and TV series
Humans in the Loop (Hindi, Kurukh)
Can humans tame artificial intelligence? Is moulding artificial intelligence not unlike nurturing an infant? These are some of the questions probed in Aranya Sahay's acclaimed 74-minute Humans in the Loop. The Hindi-Kurukh drama follows Nehma (Sonal Madhushankar), an Adivasi from Jharkhand, as she raises her children while working as a data labeller at an AI centre. Nehma slowly notices and resists the in-built prejudices of AI systems as she tries to piece her life back together after a troubled divorce.
Sahay drew inspiration from journalist Karishma Mehrotra's 2022 longform article Human Touch published in Fifty Two. In an interview with ASAP Art, Sahay spoke of the "central thread" of his film being "AI as a child".
He explained, "In psychology, a lot of research talks about children being born as a clean slate and that in the first five years the patterns begin to develop. There is other research too where people speak of more than 300 behavioural patterns within children which are ancestral and which get triggered based on specific situations or environments they are put in. This way of thinking about child rearing and development is what I applied to AI in story making. I asked myself, is AI really a clean slate or is it going to have the prejudices of its predecessors?"
Premiered at the 2024 MAMI Mumbai Film Festival, Humans in the Loop has a limited release across Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Chennai and Thiruvananthapuram.
Where to watch: Theatres
This psychological thriller miniseries might feel uncomfortably familiar to Indian viewers.
An overbearing mother, Laura (played by Robin Wright), gets red-hot jealous of her son’s new girlfriend, Cherry (Olivia Cooke). A series of escalating moves soon develops into full blown psychological warfare between mother and girlfriend, with the hapless son, Daniel, stuck in the middle. It’s a “wild, thrilling ride” according to Variety, who note that halfway through, the show “takes a jaw-dropping turn, forcing audiences to question everything they’ve learned up to that point.”
Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle (Japanese)
Behold the highest-grossing film of the year in Japan—and the third highest-grossing film of all time there as well. The mammoth 155-minute anime production is a dark fantasy action story adapted from the 2016-2020 manga series of the same name.
Our take: While the trailer promises breathtaking animation and well-choreographed action, do note that the film might appear confusing for audiences unfamiliar with the manga and the anime television series.
Their take: The film has scored a 95% approval rating from the critics on review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes! Peter Martin of ScreenAnarchy raved, “I was overwhelmed… completely unexpected for how it touched me on a deep emotional level. It is also the complete antithesis of anything I'd expect to see in a Hollywood blockbuster.”
Where to watch: Theatres
Green Girl (Kannada)
Jeevan (Mayur Gowda), Hindu, loves Ameena (Sucharita), Muslim. Drama enough in India 2025. Sarthak Hegde's 50-minute Green Girl, set in Southern Karnataka, follows these lovebirds as they confront religious strife and nurture American dreams.
Film critic Baradwaj Rangan suggests watching out for "the wonderfully naturalistic lead performances", "Abhinay Pandit's unflashy docu-style cinematography", and "Surya Srini and Daniel Marin's electronic music". He adds that the story may be old but the film is "a terrific example of the maxim that it’s not about what you say but how you say it."
Where to watch: Theatres
We were sold at Mark Ruffalo, FBI agent. The plot sounds like your average Hindi crime series, except it’s been created by Brad Ingelsby of Mare of Easttown fame. Ruffalo is placed in charge of a task force in a working-class Philadelphia suburb. They need to put an end to a string of violent robberies carried out by, you guessed it, your average Joe, your everyday family man.
Tom Pelphrey plays Robbie (a rather unsubtle name), garbage collector by day, thief extraordinaire by night, and perpetual nemesis to Ruffalo’s Tom Brandis. You wouldn’t want to miss this cat-and-mouse crime HBO miniseries.
Where to watch: JioHotstar
Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale
If it feels like you’ve been hearing about Downton Abbey sequels for years, it’s probably because you have.
To be clear, the British historical drama aired its series finale in 2015. The first film sequel was released in 2019; the second in 2022. The finale (or so they say) is set to release this week. Many of the incredibly talented original cast members will reprise their roles for this final iteration, written by series creator and Academy Award winner Julian Fellowes.
As the Crawley family enters the 1930s in financial distress, Mary (Michelle Dockery), the eldest daughter finds herself amidst a public divorce. As they always have, the family must grapple with the changing times.
Directed by Simon Curtis, the film features a star-studded cast, including Imelda Staunton, Paul Giamatti, Mathew Goode, Hugh Bonneville, Jim Carter, and more.
Where to watch: Theatres
Master horror novelist Stephen King (IT, Stand By Me, The Shining) has a way with writing about children. He once said childhood is a “secret world that exists by its own rules and lives in its own culture”, which explains his frequent choice of knee-high protagonists. King’s 1979 novel The Long Walk, initially published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman, is not supernatural horror. It is political. In a futuristic, totalitarian state, young boys sign up for an annual contest to walk at four miles per hour until one survivor remains. Anybody who cannot keep up is shot dead by the troopers tracking the participants.
The film adaptation comes from director Francis Lawrence who has tackled post-apocalyptic themes (I am Legend) and the coming-of-age genre (The Hunger Games) before. The star is the talented Cooper Hoffman, son of the legend Philip Seymour Hoffman. Feels like a nerve-wracking time at the movies.
Where to watch: Theatres
Jugnuma (Hindi, English)
Indie star Raam Reddy, who directed the acclaimed Kannada feature, Thithi (2015), returns with his second film, Jugnuma (originally called The Fable). Whimsical forays into magical realism—intercutting real and surreal effortlessly—lend this film a fantastical quality.
Manoj Bajpayee, or Dev, is a man at war with the elements; he’s the owner of a fruit orchard, battling the wrath of nature. One day, the orchard is set ablaze. Who did it? How could it happen? Is it nature, or man, or is it the supernatural?
Beyond the story, acting and all that stuff, the film also just looks really sexy. It’s shot on film by lensman Sunil Borkar. Hindustan Times praises Bajpayee’s turn as Dev; of the film, it says: “It leaves you with questions, images, and a mood that lingers far longer than the runtime.”
Where to watch: Theatres
“Winning” has never looked this ugly. Now seven years sober, actor/monster Charlie Sheen looks back at his past, a drug-and-booze haze of partying, casual sex, alienating and mistreating everyone around him, and, indeed, an HIV+ diagnosis.
In aka Charlie Sheen, the new Netflix tell-all, the actor—at his charismatic best—talks about his fame and very public downfall, alongside friends and family (at least the ones who agreed to participate). There are moments of vulnerability here between a celebratory perspective of his controversial past but, as The Guardian notes, “signs of true contrition, remorse or understanding of the suffering he must have put so many others through are increasingly conspicuous by their absence.”
Where to watch: Netflix
Dashavatar (Marathi)
Octogenarian Marathi thespian Dilip Prabhavalkar plays an aging folk artist in the coastal Konkan region. When a murder happens in this densely forested area, locals believe a supernatural force is to blame. Enter tough cop (Mahesh Manjrekar) who suspects there’s a human behind all of it. The trailer promises a curious mix of a vigilante tale, folk horror and ecofiction.
Where to watch: Theatres
Fresh off the big screen…
Coolie (Tamil, available in dubbed languages)
A monster-budget Rajinikanth joint written and directed by Lokesh Kangaraj who handed Kamal Haasan (Vikram) and Vijay (Master, Leo) blockbusters in the past. Packed with hand-picked stars from competing film industries: Nagarjuna (Telugu), Upendra (Kannada), Aamir Khan (Hindi) and Soubin Shahir (Malayalam). Superstar Rajni plays a former dock union leader who returns from the shadows to straighten up some crooked guys.
The third-highest grossing Indian film of the year, Coolie met with mixed reviews. Scroll argued, “the 168-minute film has an overdose of gory, nails-driven-into-flesh brand of violence to compensate for its cliche-ridden, contrived plot. Kanagaraj hopes that the brain that isn’t yet jaded by visuals of gruesome torture won’t start thinking about the holes in the plotting.”
In any case, good news for Rajni fans, Kangaraj fans, and especially those looking forward to seeing Shahir shake a leg to composer Anirudh’s earworm Monica.
Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video
Saiyaara (Hindi)
This bad boy-good girl love story punched with Bollywood emo rock, Hallyu romance, and sharply filmed musical sequences broke the box office earlier this year. Mohit Suri (Zeher, Murder 2, Aashiqui 2) sure knows how to get the lovebirds weeping in the theatre.
Film critic Rahul Desai of The Hollywood Reporter India wrote, "While exiting the Mumbai cinema hall with a bunch of college-goers on a Friday morning, I felt a bit embarrassed to be choking up and wiping my face. I was probably the oldest there, but it was soothing to hear a symphony of muffled sobs around me." So, Netflix and feel, with tissues nearby.
Where to watch: Netflix
Gen X and millennials of a certain era have been familiar with Leslie Nielsen’s bumbling cop Frank Drebin from the police comedy Naked Gun franchise. Back in the day, these films would get several reruns on Indian television. The proudly over-the-top series has a sequel after decades!
Liam Neeson, well past 70, takes a break from the Taken sort of brawny action films that had become his bread and butter, and goofs about as Leslie Drebin Jr. in the fourth installment of the Naked Gun franchise.
The cast includes slay queen Pamela Anderson (Baywatch! Please. Can we have some 30-year-olds around here?) And you couldn’t go wrong with the director: Akiva Schaffer of the comedy music group The Lonely Island, who previously made the very underrated Justin Bieber spoof Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016).
Where to watch: Available to buy & rent on BookMyShow Stream
Su from So (Kannada)
Reportedly budgeted at five crores, Su from So minted 25X the amount at the box office, bringing to mind fears of a potential Bollywood remake. Until that happens, enjoy this wacky combination of rural comedy-of-manners and supernatural horror.
A young man develops a crush on a village belle. Meanwhile, superstitions about a spirit Sulochona from the nearby Someshwara region abound. Somehow, the village starts to believe this young man is possessed. Lots of shouting and scampering leads to the reveal of some thorny truths about rural life.
Here’s a new chapter…
The inimitable trio (Martin Short, Steve Martin and Selena Gomez) returns in this comedy-drama series. Welcome back to the “most murderous building in New York”!
With stars like Meryl Streep, Nathan Lane, Renee Zellweger, and Christoph Waltz, to name a few, there’s always someone in this show whom you will love.
Where to watch: Jio Hotstar
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