We recommend: The best new movies and TV series

Editor’s note: A young adult film produced by Alia Bhatt, a compelling courtroom drama starring Aneet Padda, Parineeti Chopra makes her digital debut, and Robert Pattinson plays NBC television journalist Chris Hansen. A full and interesting week in theatres and on streaming.

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New releases

Dorothy (Tamil)

The Karthik Subbaraj film is set in the early ’90s and tracks two boys, Karthi (Rishikanth) and Subbu (Sananth), who grew up in Tamil Nadu. They are fated to navigate a world stratified by patriarchal norms and caste hierarchies. However, things take a turn when Dorothy (Keerthy Suresh), a woman kind to both, goes through something terrible. The incident triggers a journey of introspection for both men. 

The film premiered at the recently concluded Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). A review in Next Best Picture states:

Among the visual arts, cinema is uniquely transporting. It doesn’t merely show you a world; it immerses you in it, making you live with the characters and feel what they’re feeling. A film like “Dorothy”, with its boldly emotional lead performances, expressive cinematography, and engaging, surprising story, can make people reassess their views on life through its empathetic nature. 

Where to watch: Theatres

The Vvaan: Force of the Forrest (Hindi)

Mythology thrillers have been quite a rage in Hindi cinema of late. Deepak Kumar Mishra’s film is the latest addition to the genre. Starring Sidharth Malhotra and Tamannaah Bhatia, the outing revolves around a city-bred atheist who goes to a village and then starts believing in God. 

Sounds simple enough? Well, no. Deepak Kumar Mishra (also the director of Amazon Prime’s cult show Panchayat) creates an unbelievable spectacle out of it (non-complimentary) where the VFX looks straight out of the 90s’ Zee horror shows (complimentary). Sample this: people are fighting in the air with trishuls and devotional song plays. If the question is why is the film listed here, well, one has to watch it to believe it. 

Where to watch: Theatres

Don't Be Shy (Hindi)

Coming of age films are a dime a dozen today. In her directorial debut, Sreeti Mukerji tries infusing some individuality to the genre by assembling a fresh cast. The film centres around a 20-year-old girl, Shyamili Das (Aarushi Bajaj), whose life takes unexpected turns. 

Don’t Be Shy has received mixed reviews but the performances have been singled out for praise. “The four young actors are reasonably well cast, but they are let down by the writing and direction. Although Aarushi Bajaj tends to overact, she has enough screen presence to anchor the film,” reads a review in Scroll. 

Where to watch: Prime Video

Hunkkaar: The Roar (Hindi)

A young girl accuses a godman of raping her. This might not be the most ingenious premise but the show, starring Fatima Sana Shaikh and Aneet Padda, avoids generic trappings thanks to some stupendous performances. Designed as a courtroom drama, Hunkkaar focuses on Meenu Rawat (Padda), a young girl who was sexually abused by a godman her parents had complete faith in. The rest of the narrative tracks her fight for justice against a mountain of opposition comprising an apathetic crowd, a male lawyer who slut shames her, and all the time she loses awaiting justice. 

“In essence, Hunkkaar is that rare beast: a well-performed and intuitive Hindi series that mines the uncomfortable fence between procedural reality and public perception, between deep-rooted prejudice and disruptive truth,” raves The Hollywood Reporter. 

Where to watch: JioHotstar 

Brothers (English)

The conspiracy theory has been going on for too long: the resemblance between Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson. The new series playfully reimagines this. It follows two long-time friends—both stars play fictionalised versions of themselves—as they confront a startling revelation that they might be half-brothers. Their bickering and chemistry is what holds the show in good stead even when the writing falters. 

“The gags aren’t exactly belly-laugh-inducing. A hunting trip gone wrong. A spectacular bull-riding mishap. An unfortunate Uber share incident. But the two leads have such terrific chemistry that it’s hard not to just enjoy this for what it is,” reads a review on Forbes. 

Where to watch: AppleTV

Primetime (English)

Set in 2006, this Robert Pattinson-starrer black comedy is about reality sting operations; crew members pretend to be minors online as they lure adult suspects into a camera-infiltrated house. Pattinson plays NBC television journalist Chris Hansen, host of the 2000s series To Catch a Predator, tasked with confronting the pedophiles. 

The actor’s performance is earning praise. “Pattinson plays Hansen as if he’s a pod person who has decided to live among humans, or maybe a minor demon who took a job in TV hoping to corrupt as many people as possible. His inhumanity is disquieting, then scary, and finally, horribly funny. The man is just not wired right,” states a review in Roger Ebert.

Where to watch: Theatres

Shaque: Trust No One (Hindi)

A mother gives birth and loses her child in the hospital. She spends the next nine years searching for her child, her agitation perceived as paranoia by the rest. Directed by Rensil D'Silva, the show is as Netflix India as it gets, which is to say: it is template-driven and with moody lighting. There are some incredulous leaps in the narrative, a cop moonlighting as a tarot card reader being one of them. Yet, one must watch Parineeti Chopra’s digital debut, if only to marvel at how unintentionally campy things can get. 

“If it isn’t clear already, Shaque is the kind of mainstream Bollywood relic that flaunts the smartness of an unsalted peanut. You don’t watch it; it watches you — and scoffs at you for expecting better,” a review in The Hollywood Reporter states.

Where to watch: Netflix

Bhed Bakri Bhoot (Hindi)

Shivam Shankar’s short starts out with a message. Set in a public bathroom, an indignant brass band player writes a message on the wall. And soon, strangers keep adding their own grudges till the wall resembles a sort of a page from a diary with notes written by different hands. Much like the title suggests, the film plays on the herd mentality and its upshot. The short has been presented by filmmakers Abhishek Chaubey and Navdeep Singh. 

Where to watch: YouTube

Unabomber (English)

This crime drama directed by Janus Metz Pedersen is a fictionalised take on Ted Kaczynski, a terrorist who carried out several bombings over two decades. Kaczynski was a student at Harvard in the 1950s and, later, was wanted by the FBI for bombings across 1978 and 1995. The film, too, straddles these two timelines. Jacob Tremblay plays Kaczynski as the film stars popular names like Russell Crowe and Shailene Woodley. 

Tremblay, 19, is terrifyingly good in the leading role. A review in IndieWire maintains the same. “Obviously, when you’re dealing with a politically motivated murderer, that deceit offers a lot to dramatize. And Tremblay proves an extraordinarily good fit for the slippery material, delivering monologue after monologue about abstract social concepts with the blood-boiling conviction of a prodigy who, even suffering manufactured duress, is convinced that he is fundamentally right.”

Where to watch: Netflix

The Love Hypothesis (English)

Based on Ali Hazelwood’s popular book, the new romcom is all sorts of sweet. Olive Smith (Lili Reinhart), a PhD candidate at Stanford University, kisses her professor, Dr Adam Carlsen (Tom Bateman), to convince her best friend that she has, indeed, moved on. What follows is… well ..Adam and Olive fall in love.

Although the film has received mixed reviews, it works as a swooning love story where chemistry and awkwardness claim equal stakes in the narrative. A review in Elle agrees. “At its heart, The Love Hypothesis is, of course, a love story. But what makes it work is the chemistry. Reinhart and Bateman have insane chemistry, the kind that makes even the familiar beats of a fake-dating romance feel genuinely exciting.”

Where to watch: Amazon Prime

Fresh off the big screen

Toxic (Kannada)

Geetu Mohandas’s ambitious gangster drama might not have fared as well as it was expected to but there remain some merits. For once, the lead star Yash is quite terrific playing double roles and the filmmaker, despite the excess, attempts something interesting within the familiar ambit of hypermasculinity. Even as a self-absorbed gangster with flexing biceps is hacking people to death, Toxic, unlike others, asks: but at what cost?

Where to watch: Zee5

Baby Do Die Do (Hindi)

Twin sisters, one gets killed and the other takes revenge. Nachiket Samant’s directorial is a distinct Mumbai film that takes all the familiar tropes, commits to them and, in the process, underlines their merit. Written by Jasmeet Kaur Reen, Gaurav Sharma, Parveez Shaikh, and Samant, it is an audacious outing that takes on capitalism without taking itself too seriously. At the heart, however, is a deaf and mute killer on hire (Huma Qureshi), navigating Mumbai local trains like the rest of us. 

Where to watch: Netflix