We recommend: The best new movies and TV series
Editor’s note: Many releases this week. Ayushmann Khurrana returns to the big screen with Udta Teer, Manoj Bajpayee is a stand-out as a corrupt cop in Gajab Raat, a charming coming of age drama called Matargashti drops on Netflix, and Karthik Subbaraj’s Dorothy is finally streaming.
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New releases
Little Thomas (Hindi)
Kaushal Oza’s charming little film, set in Goa in the 1990s, centers around a seven-year-old boy who wants his parents to stop fighting. The reason is simple: he wants a brother. Backed by filmmaker Anurag Kashyap and starring Gulshan Devaiah, Rasika Dugal, and Hridansh Parekh, the film finally gets a theatrical release after having its world premiere at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) last year.
“Most kids turn to imagination and art as a refuge, but the film has fun with Thomas’ uncluttered mindset — he gets obsessed with how children are born so that he can hasten the process of getting a brother,” writes The Hollywood Reporter.
Where to watch: Theatres
Udta Teer (Hindi)
Given the spate of spy films crowding the Hindi cinema landscape today (here’s looking at you, Dhurandhar), a spoofy take on the genre was both imperative and awaited. Aakash Kaushik’s directorial debut is an espionage drama where a spy from Pakistan comes to India and loses his memory. The chaos merely starts there as he also believes that he actually belongs to the Indian Counter-Terrorism Squad. Fronted by Ayushmann Khurrana, the film is backed by Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions.
Where to watch: Theatres
Sumo Didi (Hindi)
Biopics are a tried and tested genre in Bollywood and, although mostly hackneyed, watching them can be fun at times. Case in point: Jayant Rohatgi’s directorial feature about Hetal Dave, India's first and only professional female sumo wrestler. The film tracks her story as a girl from a conservative household who braved insurmountable odds and emerged victorious.
With familiar family dynamics and a predictable story arc, the film feels a bit overstretched at 114 minutes. What director Jayant Rohatgi does well is craft touching moments around an ordinary, middle-class heroine, who is nobody’s idea of a champion, willing her mocked body to glory.
Where to watch: Zee5
Gajab Raat (Hindi)
In Ritesh Shah’s directorial debut, a corrupt cop in Delhi has been summoned to investigate a high-profile case of a girl thrown off a moving car. Written by Neeraj Pandey and Shah, the film stars Manoj Bajpayee and unfolds across one night. Much of the pleasure of watching it resides in watching Bajpayee go about the proceedings and well, cuss.
Where to watch: Netflix
Matargashti (Hindi)
The latest coming of age series is a lovely take on a father-daughter relationship. Dhara (Adrija Sinha) is a 19-year-old girl, suddenly aware of the existence of the opposite sex. But her father, Prakash (Rajesh Kumar), on the other hand, struggles to deal with this development as he himself struggles with the absence of his wife. Across five short episodes, the show rounds up as a cogent take on what is a familiar story.
The Hollywood Reporter writes:
The reason Matargashti works is because it refuses to look like the defiant story of a 19-year-old girl. It doesn’t pretend to be the unapologetic female (or feminist) version of those sex comedies featuring funny boys trying to lose their virginity. If anything, it reclaims the diversity of middle-class conflict from the clutches of male-created TVF family universes. You almost don’t expect the setting to be Lucknow. It unfolds like a lightweight antidote, not a conscious subversion, to a genre largely dominated by men.
Where to watch: Netflix
Fresh off the big screen
Dorothy (Tamil)
Karthik Subbaraj’s latest is a daring take on toxic masculinity about two boys who grow up in Tamil Nadu. Using this as a scaffolding, the filmmaker turns in an audacious exploration of gender with major sweeps rare in the mainstream space. Starring Keerthy Suresh, Sananth, and Rishikanth, the film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival this year and drops on streaming after a theatrical release.
Where to watch: Netflix
This action vehicle, starring Nani in the lead, is set in the 1980s and centres around a marginalised tribe, Savaari. A monarch (Mohan Babu) mistreats them and the people from the community, having no papers, cannot escape. Enter Jadal (Nani) who sees it first-hand and soon emerges as a man living within this atrocity to fight against it.
Where to watch: Netflix
Fairy Folk (Hindi)
Karan Gour’s experimental feature is a delightful take on the intricacy and intimacy of marriage and relationships. Starring Mukul Chadda and Rasika Dugal in the lead (who are also married to each other), the film unfolds as a weird, experimental take on people’s constant search for newness in long-term relationships. Despite the heavy symbolism, Gour opts for easy playfulness and magic realism, making the outing accessible in ways that are almost scary in how familiar they feel.
Where to watch: Brew TV
One more chapter
Nobody Wants This S3 (English)
We’re now approaching the ‘happily ever after’ phase of Noah and Joanne’s journey in this charming romcom series led by the captivating performances (and chemistry shared) by its leads. Adam Brody stars as the deeply sincere and earnest Noah, a rabbi who’s fallen for the rather more volatile and atheistic Joanne (Kristen Bell). And, after a prolonged meet-cute and figuring-things-out over the first couple of seasons, the two have decided to make things work. It’s a low stakes season for the main couple, but fear not: there are twists and turns in the lives of their siblings, Sasha (Timothy Simons) and Morgan (Justine Lupe) find themselves drawn to each other in the newest season. The Guardian remains a fan: “It may have put down roots, but Nobody Wants This knows how to make us fall in love with it all over again.”
Where to watch: Netflix
Lupin S4 (French)
The popular French heist series returns for its fourth season. The lead, Omar Sy as Assane Diop, is a gentrified thief who models his work after Maurice Leblanc’s early 20th-century literary creation Arsène Lupin. He resorts to disguises and charm to carry forth his actions.
The latest season opens four years after the last concluded. Assane is in jail and only days away from being released. However, his plan to return to normalcy and see his son is disrupted when is framed for heists by a copycat.
The heart of the show has always been Omar Sy’s performance as the dashing Assane, and there’s no change in Lupin Part 4. Assane is still the effortlessly cool and utterly charming rogue he’s always been, and Sy’s work in the role is as solid as ever. That said, the performances are a relatively minor aspect of the show’s appeal when compared to its amazing production values, and that’s where Part 4 really shines.
Where to watch: Netflix
Where's Wanda? S2 (German)
This critically acclaimed German dark comedy series returns for its second season this week. The first season saw the Klatts (Heike Makatsch as Carlotta; Axel Stein as Dedo) search frantically for their missing teenage daughter, Wanda, in turn stumbling upon some deep dark secrets in the town of Sundersheim, famous for its monster-related annual festival.
Things are back to normal in season two; they’ve found Wanda (Lea Drinda); oh, except this time Wanda is caught red-handed standing over a dead body. The Klatts, thus, must do everything they can to prove Wanda’s innocence. Not so normal after all.
Where to watch: AppleTV
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