We recommend: The best new movies and TV series

Editor’s note: Big week for Yash fans. The actor’s long awaited collaboration with Geetu Mohandas in Toxic finally releases in theatres; Nimisha Sajayan headlines a persuasive police procedural; Anurag Kashyap’s contentious Bandar drops on streaming, so does Alia Bhatt-starrer Alpha.

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New releases

Toxic (Kannada)

Geetu Mohandas’s latest, starring Yash, has been long anticipated. As the name suggests, the film unfolds as a longform dissection of hypermasculine toxicity, and while that might sound more of the same, the filmmaker pulls out a delayed trick at the end and subverts the familiar genre. 

The film has received mixed reviews. “Excess is the point in a 194-minute film that seeks to turn machismo on its head. On paper, Toxic threatens to re-examine the unreconstructed male character type personified by Yash in his KGF movies. Yash plays an anti-hero similar to Rocky from K.G.F but also different: Raya, unlikely Rocky, will be shown a mirror to the consequences of his actions, especially on the women he beds and sometimes weds,” writes Scroll. 

Where to watch: Theatre 

Babita Singh Reporting (Hindi)

Sudip Sharma and police procedural is a match made in heaven. The writer-director has helmed acclaimed shows like Paatal Lok (2020, 2025) and Kohrra (2023, 2026) and returns as a producer on Ambiecka Pandit’s film, with the film making nuanced gender commentary without much noise. The story revolves around a cop (Nimisha Sajayan) who finds herself in the midst of marital upheaval even as she investigates a murder. 

“Officer Babita Singh AKA Baby (a terrific Nimisha Sajayan) is, in spirit, the rookie cousin of Paatal Lok’s Hathiram Chaudhary. Like him, she’s an underestimated, overlooked cop who’s determined and recklessly brave. Self-destructive as it may be, she isn’t capable of looking the other way or, as Hathiram would say, putting naukri over duty. But unlike the tired, jaded Hathiram, Babita is the wet-behind-the-ears junior officer at the very start of her career. This film is the origin story of her becoming,” writes The Quint. 

Where to watch: Prime Video

Tony (English)

Matt Johnson’s film looks at the early years of Anthony Bourdain’s life before the celebrated chef became a household name. This shift in perspective lends a newness to the tried genre of biopics and reframes a familiar story as a rite of passage. Starring Dominic Sessa (of The Holdovers fame) in the titular role and helmed by BlackBerry (2023) director Johnson, Tony has received widespread acclaim upon release. 

“The smartest aspect of the film’s script — credited to Johnson, Todd Bartels, Lou Howe, and Matthew Miller — is how framing its lead as such an inveterate self-mythologizer allows ‘Tony’ to distance its version of Bourdain from the legend that he will ultimately become,” writes IndieWire. 

Where to watch: Theatre 

Mousetrap (Korean)

This South Korean mystery thriller is originally based on a webtoon called Field Mouse by Ludovico. Ryu Jun-yeol plays Je Moon-jae, a reclusive novelist who keeps his life extremely private. One day, Moon-jae  wakes up to find that a mysterious character called ‘The Rat’ has stolen his identity, and basically erased Moon-jae—the real Moon-jae—from existence. In order to find out why, and to hopefully reclaim his stolen life, Moon-jae joins forces with a dangerous loan shark-turned-private investigator, No-ja, played by Sul Kyung-gu.

A manhunt ensues, and with it, the dark, twisted story unravels.

Where to watch: Netflix

The Last Salute: A Love Letter To MiG-21 (English, Hindi)

For those who watched and enjoyed Operation Safed Sagar, the new documentary might be the perfect companion piece. That series was a fictional rendering of the IAF's 17 Squadron, the fighter unit, during the 1999 Kargil conflict. This recent non-fiction outing on the streamer brings the real faces to the fore. Fighter pilots sit before the camera and relay their experiences, adding a poignancy to stories that are often embellished for effect. 

A review on NDTV praises the documentary, stating, “Like the Netflix web series did, The Last Salute touches upon what the families of the pilots contribute to the countless sorties in times of military conflict. It is, as one seasoned fighter pilot says, not about the man behind the machine but about the family behind the man behind the machine.”

Where to watch: Netflix

Fresh off the big screen

Bandar (Hindi)

Anurag Kashyap’s knotty exploration of the post Me Too era revolves around a washed-up actor falsely accused of rape. Using this as the premise, the film leans into the legal maze that Samar Mehra (Bobby Deol) and other men like him are thrown into as the law, as Bandar claims, is tilted against them. It is a thorny setting that works up provocation without earning it. 

However, the film has been lauded for being one of the more interesting works by Kashyap of late. Deol too has fetched praise. A review in The Hindu states, “For an international audience, Bobby in Bandar might represent a fascinating, minimalist exercise in de-glamourising a commercial star. For a casual fan, it is a thrilling subversion of the alpha energy he has been exuding in Bollywood.”

Where to watch: Zee5

I, Nobody (Malayalam)

In Nissam Basheer’s film, Rajeevan (Prithviraj Sukumaran) is a government employee whose life changes when he witnesses a bank heist. The tension only heightens given that this unfolds in tandem with his marital crisis. As the film develops, more problems follow, pushing Rajeevan to rise to the occasion. 

The film received mixed reviews but Prithviraj’s performance was largely praised. 

Where to watch: JioHotstar

Alpha (Hindi)

The latest from the YRF spy universe featured women in the lead. Directed by Shiv Rawail and starring Alia Bhatt and Sharvari, Alpha follows the production house’s familiar trajectory of disgruntled spies tasked with saving the country. Unlike previous iterations though, the film failed to make a mark, with Bhatt’s performance being singled out for being compelling. 

“Alpha is so careful that it’s defensive and underconfident. It’s so afraid of losing that winning is no longer an option. In the spirit of the ongoing FIFA World Cup, it’s the cinematic equivalent of a team that forsakes its own ideology and playing formation on the basis of what’s working for other football teams,” writes The Hollywood Reporter. 

Where to watch: Netflix

Michael (English)

Antoine Fuqua’s biopic follows the early years of Michael Jackson. The music legend is portrayed by his nephew Jaafar Jackson and the film unravels largely as a fan service. As is often the case, it overlooks the many controversies and is committed to the myth that was Jackson. 

“Michael is an abjectly bad movie, but that’s secondary. It’s an act of moral cowardice—of its makers and backers but also potentially of a viewing public that, as of opening weekend, seems fine with its existence (it’s off to record start at the box office both in the US and abroad),” asa review in Mint Lounge asserts. But fandom is hardly objective. 

Where to watch: JioHotstar

Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin (Hindi)

This 1996 Sudhir Mishra classic is essential watching. Starring Tara Deshpande and Nirmal Pandey, the film takes place across a single night as an advertising executive gets embroiled in a crisis and has his life threatened by gangsters. Mumbai has forever been an excellent setting for such films (Sriram Raghavan’s 2024 film, Merry Christmas, is a more recent example) but Mishra does something more fascinating here as he ekes out the sordid reality of the city without offsetting its charm. 

Where to watch: JioHotstar

One more chapter

Family Kirana Store S2 (Hindi)

Gajanand and family are back with a second season. The popular TVF series, praised for its reliability, explores a family’s daily joys and strife as they run a neighbourhood kirana store. Starring actors like Shrikant Verma, Garima Vikrant Singh, Hemant Mishra, among others, the show’s first season dropped in February this year. 

Where to watch: YouTube

Dark Matter S2 (English)

This “sad dad sci-fi” series, created by author Blake Crouch based on his own 2016 novel of the same name, is a twisty, mind-bending thriller that takes the everyman life of its protagonist, physicist and professor Jason Dessen (Joel Edgerton in an impressive turn), and turns it into an upside-down, alternate reality version of it. In the first season, he’d built a device called the Box that allowed free movement between parallel universes. And, as luck would have it, he got abducted by his own petard (or Box). 

In the new season, Jason and his family are finally settling into their new life until, lo and behold, an entirely new Jason shows up. And he claims to be the original Jason. Phew. While Edgarton remains the heart of this series, the wonderful Jennifer Connelly, who plays his wife, Daniela, has also come in for praise. Writes Collider: “Her Daniela is unraveling, growing more paranoid with every door they open. Connelly plays that fear so raw, you wish the show would just park the camera on her face and let her work.”

Where to watch: AppleTV