Anna MM Vetticad
Charles Enterprises movie review: Urvashi and Lord Ganesha take a backseat to listless storytelling
Kalaiyarasan and Abhija Sivakala stand out against all odds, but Urvashi is a casualty of Charles Enterprises’ sagging writing
2018 movie review: Hollywood-style disaster flick swings between moving moments and predictability
This star-studded, visually striking film on the Kerala floods is intermittently poignant despite its templated format and decision to avoid the politics of the tragedy
Spadikam re-released: The parable of the prodigal son overturned in a 1990s Malayalam commercial framework
Spadikam was a milestone for Mohanlal. The digitally enhanced version is as simultaneously impactful and troubling as the 1995 original, Mohanlal himself still as striking, the treatment of some of the women characters still appalling.
Family movie review: Poetic minimalism brilliantly used to capture a society sweeping its skeletons under a carpet
Vinay Forrt and Divya Prabha’s wonderfully naturalistic performances anchor Don Palathara’s observant portrait of a repressed, conservative society.
Thankam movie review: Precious!
Thankam (Gold) is a travelogue within a police procedural, a friendship saga and a study of the human condition. It has its flaws, but its socio-cultural insights are priceless.
Pathaan movie review: Shah Rukh Khan zips around a slick, addictive version of the Akshay Kumar universe
Pathaan is so much fun when it’s being fun – especially with a smashing Salman Khan cameo – that it is tempting to overlook its play-it-safe politics.
Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam movie review: Mammootty and LJP shoulder a whimsical tale of re-awakenings
If Rorschach and Puzhu hinted at it, Lijo Jose Pellissery’s latest film confirms that Mammootty is steering his career into a whole new experimental phase.
Best and Worst Hindi Films 2022: Lows that left the bottom of the barrel behind plus a handful of highs
The overall quality of Hindi films produced this year was abysmal, but the industry did throw up a handful of gems in 2022, holding out the hope that all is not lost.
Cirkus movie review: Sparsely funny, mostly listless Comedy of Errors with a message
Ranveer Singh and Rohit Shetty team up to spoof the 1960s and ’60s Hindi cinema while entering the long-running nature-vs-nurture debate with good intentions.
Gold movie review: Neglects Nayanthara, wastes Prithviraj's zeal and redefines lack of cohesion
Seven years after his mega-success with Premam, Alphonse Puthren misses the mark while trying to reinvent the musical with Gold.
An Action Hero movie review: Ayushmann Khurrana is such fun in this outlandish dark action comedy
An Action Hero combines slick action with crackerjack chemistry between its leads. The near-erasure of women in the story is depressing, but the film’s pace gives us little time to think.
Bhediya movie review: Horror comedy that marginalises the people of Arunachal while opposing marginalisation
Varun Dhawan has natural comic timing but Bhediya’s best lines go to Abhishek Banerjee who outshines everyone else in a film that dilutes the impact of its theme by being consistently inconsistent.
Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey movie review: Domestic abuse satire that seesaws from realism to myth, depth to superficiality
This farce-driven take-down of spousal violence offers insights into male abusers up to a point, but trips over a woman survivor and violence itself.
Drishyam 2 movie review: At last a southern Indian film gets a Hindi remake that's an adaptation, not a mindless cc
While being largely faithful to the Malayalam original, this Hindi version establishes a distinct identity with its portrayal of Goa, Goans and Christians that is unusual for stereotype-ridden Bollywood.
Uunchai movie review: Hum saath-saath hain now too with sugary sweetness, group dances and zero subtlety
A life-affirming lesson about how you are never too old to scale great heights is drowned out by predictability, stereotypes, silliness and dated storytelling.
Joyland movie review: Beautifully told tale of soul-crushing patriarchy and LGBTphobia in Lahore
Saim Sadiq’s Joyland, Pakistan’s entry for Oscars 2023, is a wonderfully sensitive chronicle of friendship, love, sexual desire and the everydayness behind which oppression and repression thrive.
Ram Setu movie review: A Hindutva project pretending to be scientific, with aspirations to being a Baahubali
Akshay Kumar stars in yet another boring film. Ram Setu is significant only because of the dangers posed by painstakingly disguised propagandist cinema, especially in the current socio-political climate.
Chattambi movie review: Initially gripping, later too sparse to fully explore Sreenath Bhasi’s solo hero potential
The protagonist is the most sketchily written character in Chattambi, a film that is distinguished more by its technical excellence and atmospherics than depth.
Thallumaala movie review: Energetic, experimental, empty
Tovino Thomas is loveable, but Thallumaala’s lively soundtrack and visual gimmicks conspire to generate a sensory overload that camouflages a thin-as-a-pappadum story and emotional emptiness.
Brahmastra movie review: Pretty people, flashy but repetitive SFX, boring – oh so boring – mumbo jumbo
In the absence of relatable human equations, all the talk about astra and doom in Brahmastra sounds like mumbo jumbo, which gets extremely boring after a while.