We recommend: The best new movies and TV series
Editor’s note:
Sholay restored on the big screen, Brad Pitt’s box-office scorcher F1 on OTT. There are also charming comedies on streaming, featuring Kunal Kemmu as a divorcee adopting a baby to prove a point, and Peepli Live's Anusha Rizvi directing a battalion of women. Don’t miss the quiet dark comedy The Mastermind on MUBI, and Radhika Apte-starrer Saali Mohabbat, a lean and mean thriller. The theatres also have a lovely Korean animation film, Your Letter.
*****
New releases
Sholay: The Final Cut (Hindi)
Fifty-year anniversary of the classic curry Western has it returning to the big screen, restored by the Film Heritage Foundation. The original ending of Thakur killing Gabbar is back. A while back, Dharmendra passed away. And they don’t make films like these anymore. That’s two among 10 reasons to give this a try.
Where to watch: Theatres
Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon 2 (Hindi)
Unusually liberal-minded, the farcical comedy has funny man Kapil Sharma married to three women of different faiths, and he is planning a fourth one to avoid detection. Shilajit Mitra of The Hollywood Reporter India writes that the film "is as silly, juvenile and devoid of comic good sense as you'd think. Yet it is also a fairly open-hearted film—and a surprisingly committed skewering of bigoted and hyper-religious India."
Where to watch: Theatres
Real Kashmir Football Club (Hindi)
True story of Kashmir's first professional football team and its remarkable rise. Amidst political and social unrest, following devastating floods, football becomes both escape and emancipation. Directed by Mahesh Mathai (Bhopal Express) and Rajesh Mapuskar (Ventilator), and a cast led by Manav Kaul and Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub. Safe to say you are in good hands.
Scroll notes:
The political timidity is evened out by warmth, empathy and a welcome lack of hyperbole. It’s rare to have a show about a rumbustious sport that isn’t screaming from the stands. Instead, Real Kashmir Football Club focuses on the people behind the miracle, creating characters whose journeys eventually matter.
Where to watch: SonyLIV
The Mastermind (English)
One of America’s greatest active independent filmmakers, Kelly Reichardt (Meek’s Cutoff, First Cow), tackles the heist genre with The Mastermind. The title is a joke. Josh O’Connor is a carpenter who’s financially struggling, living on support from his parents and wife. He imagines himself as an art thief of high taste and sets about stealing four paintings. Of course, he is more concerned with feeling the high of being a mastermind. A quaint dark comedy.
Where to watch: MUBI
Your Letter (Korean)
Film begins with a withdrawn student in a new school, coping with the trauma of being bullied. Film must end with her problems solved. In between, she finds secret letters hidden around the school that bring meaning to her life. A gentle, measured film, this is part of the Korean animation boom whose flagbearer includes this year's superhit KPop Demon Hunters.
Where to watch: Theatres
Single Papa (Hindi)
The ever-dependable Kunal Kemmu is a 30 year-old manchild who gets a divorce and then adopts a baby to prove a point. We know where this is heading, and what the journey entails: relatives looming over him as he cleans diapers and becomes responsible.
Directed by Shashank Khaitan, Hitesh Kewalya, and co-creator Neeraj Udhwani, who has written the series with Ishita Moitra. All are alums of the Yash Raj and Dharma school of cinema, so expect good vibes with class and some thoughtfulness. The good vibes extend to the cast: Prajakta Koli, Manoj Pahwal, Ayesha Raza Mishra, and Neha Dhupia.
Critic Rahul Desai of The Hollywood Reporter India writes,
Given Hindi cinema’s long-standing relationship with hypermasculinity, it’s almost refreshing to come across a life comedy named Single Papa. Even the premise is a neat change — a single-parenthood story revolving around the kind of North Indian man-child character who would usually be the tortured hero of a romantic Bollywood film. The icing on this gluten-free cake is that Kunal Kemmu plays this man.
Where to watch: Netflix
The Fakenapping (Arabic)
Sattam, a failed entrepreneur, finds himself in deep debt, with the burdens of being a father weighing heavy on him. To repay his debts, he hatches a masterplan: he’ll fake-kidnap his own dad. As one does. The dad is of course a Scrooge-like miser, and Sattam wants to get as much as he can in ransom money.
This Saudi madcap comedy follows the chaos that ensues as Sattam sets about executing his harebrained get-rich scheme. The film offers “guaranteed belly laughs and a cheeky social mirror held up to our collective money anxieties”, writes Esquire Middle East. “It’s sharp, it’s silly, and it’s a visually stylish ride.”
Where to watch: Netflix
City of Shadows (Spanish)
This six-ep miniseries kicks off with a terrible crime. A charred body discovered on the façade of a famous building in Barcelona, and precious few answers. Inspector Milo Malart, known within the department for being a bit tetchy and currently serving a suspension for insubordination, is summoned to investigate. He’s joined by Deputy Inspector Rebeca Garrido, and the two set about solving this unsolvable case.
The series “blends murky mystery, procedural drama and psychological depth beautifully”, writes Leisure Byte, with the Catalan city of Barcelona adding a sense of mystery to this slow-burner series.
Where to watch: Netflix
Wake Up Dead Man (English)
Daniel Craig returns as private eye Benoit Blanc in Wake Up Dead Man—directed by Rian Johnson—the third instalment of the Knives Out series. Here, amid a sprawling ensemble, the Agatha Christie homage of a detective, with his Southern charms, has to solve a murder that takes place in a church whose very charismatic, very anti-woke preacher has been warning his flock against the evils of modernity.
Beyond the murder mystery itself, the film moves around a lot and tackles loaded themes of religion and Christianity. Writes The New York Times: “In characteristic ‘Knives Out’ fashion, this one’s another moderately bawdy romp with a stacked ensemble cast, chock-full of twists and turns, and laced with winking contemporary references.”
Where to watch: Netflix
Saali Mohabbat (Hindi)
Actor Tisca Chopra co-writes and directs her first feature, a psychosexual neo-noir about a scorned woman laying the smackdown after she finds her husband frolicking with a younger woman during a gathering at their house.
Cast headlined by the incredible Radhika Apte, ably supported by Divyenndu, Anshumaan Pushkar, Sauraseni Maitra, Sharad Saxena (cast against type), and director Anurag Kashyap, who has been luckier onscreen than offscreen these past few years.
Where to watch: Zee5
The Great Shamsuddin Family (Hindi)
Fifteen years after Peepli Live, writer-director Anusha Rizvi returns with this heartfelt story about the quirks and intricacies of a large, chaotic family in the heart of Delhi, starring Kritika Kamra, Farida Jalal, Sheeba Chaddha, Natasha Rastogi, Shreya Dhanwanthary, and more.
This comedy-drama film centers around Bani Ahmed, played by Kritika Kamra, who is racing against time to meet a deadline for a job application that could land her in the United States if all goes right.
But, as the day goes on, Bani—the eldest daughter extraordinaire—must contend with her dramatic Muslim family’s conflicts and confusions, while working towards her goal of completing the application. According to The Hindu, “The Great Shamshuddin Family offers the warmth of a quilt and the taste of ginger tea in a Delhi winter.”
Where to watch: JioHotstar
Merv (English)
Is co-parenting a pet with your ex sustainable, or just a logistical headache? Well, here’s a Christmas film that might answer your question. Merv is a typical holiday romcom, this time with… a depressed dog. You read that right.
Starring Zooey Deschanel and Charlie Cox as the leads Anna and Russ, this film brings together two exes post a break up as they try to raise the spirits of the sad dog they co-parent, all during the season of cheer.
Where to watch: Prime Video
Fresh off the big screen
Superman (English)
One more Superman film. Director James Gunn's reboot is a sunny, kindhearted response to the grimy and gritty Man of Steel films from Zack Snyder. David Corenswet stars as DC's second-most popular superhero. Nicholas Hoult is a hoot as the baddie, Lex Luthor.
Where to watch: JioHotstar
F1 (English)
Brad Pitt casually saunters across the Formula One race course in tastefully scruffy clothes and hairdo while the supporting cast stands in awe, clapping at his cool machismo. Not complaining. Pitt is suitably complimented by the young turk, Damson Idris, who plays the hot-headed rookie Pitt’s senior F1 driver has to tame. The racing scenes are exhilarating, the masculine catharsis popcorn-fun. There’s also Javier Bardem in the cast, having a good time.
Where to watch: Apple TV
Here's a new chapter
Had I Not Seen the Sun Part 2 (Taiwanese)
A convicted serial killer develops a crush on a radio DJ whose voice triggers memories of a lost teenage love. Only the latest example of the cultural fascination with a bad boy tamed by a nice woman. The first instalment ended with the Rainstorm Killer's confessions. Now he has to wait for love to cutely pull his cheeks.
Where to watch: Netflix
Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft Season 2 (English)
Ace adventurer and all-round badass Lara Croft returns to the screen for about the thousandth time. The iconic video game character has become a staple in the world of action-adventure storytelling, with little signs of diminishing returns.
This time, in the second season of the American animated series, Lara (voiced by Hayley Atwell) teams up with Sam Nishimura (Karen Fukuhara), her best friend, as they travel the world in search of stolen African Orisha masks. There’s a devious billionaire lurking; he wants the masks—which contain some mystical secrets and superpowers—all for himself.
The season doesn’t do much in terms of moving the needle, lacking a sense of adventure in its storytelling. But, writes Bubbleblabber, “when it comes to its globe-trotting aesthetics and entertainment values, it’s another tomb that specific fans wouldn’t mind raiding.”
Where to watch: Netflix
Man vs Baby (English)
Rowan Atkinson is an easy comedy favourite. In this sequel to Man Vs Bee, he reprises his role as a housesitter. After having been driven out of his last housesitting job by an insect, Atkinson’s character, Trevor Bingley, takes on a brand new job, but this time he has an unlikely companion—a baby.
According to Moneycontrol,
Rowan Atkinson’s return in ‘Man vs Baby’ feels like discovering a delightful gift you didn’t know you needed but end up cherishing.”
Unlike the last season, this one is festive and set against the lead up to Christmas, but it has similar household mishaps, messes and of course, an absolutely adorable baby, all in time for the holidays season.
Where to watch: Netflix
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