This week, there is something for everyone – on your TV and on the big screen. There is drama, romance, comedy, music and mystery. Gehraiyaan, on Amazon Prime Video, is the big highlight for the weekend. Not far behind is Badhaai Do, which has been released in the theaters. Death on the Nile inspired by Agatha Christie’s novel of the same name is also available in theaters. If you’d rather stay home, The Sky is Everywhere on Apple TV+ and Snowdrop on Disney + Hotstar are other good picks – the latter mostly to figure the fuss around the controversy,
Gehraiyaan: Amazon Prime Video
A still from Gehraiyaan. (Photo: Amazon Prime Video)
Deepika Padukone, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Ananya Panday and Dhairya Karwa lead this relationship drama helmed by Shakun Batra. The film follows the story of a young woman Alisha (Deepika) whose relationship of six years with Karan (Dhairya) becomes monotonous and she falls in love with her cousin’s (Ananya) fiance Zain (Siddhant). Shakun Batra has tried to explore the complexities of modern-day relationships in the movie. The Indian Express‘ film critic Shubhra Gupta, gave the movie a 2-star review and wrote, “The foursome of Deepika Padukone, Ananya Panday, Siddhant Chaturvedi and Dhairya Karwa should have been a throbbing hot mess, but the film doesn’t go deep enough. “
Read the review of Gehraiyaan here.
Badhaai Do: In Cinemas
Badhaai Do stars Rajkummar Rao and Bhumi Pednekar in lead roles. (Photo: YouTube)
The central theme of Rajkummar Rao and Bhumi Pednekar’s latest release Badhaai Do is a lavender marriage. It is a marriage of convenience where a male and a female, who are queer, marry each other. It has Rao playing a police inspector, and Pednekar is seen as a physical education teacher. Shubhra Gupta, in her review of the film, wrote, “Badhaai Do falls into the same trap films with ‘brave subjects’ gravitate towards. Once it is put out there, it starts developing cold feet, and wraps up its crucial core under layers of heavy-handed humour, and the tiresome boister of a joint family we’ve seen over and over.”
Read the review of Badhaai Do here.
Death on the Nile: In Cinemas
A still from Death on the Nile.
Kenneth Branagh’s Death on the Nile is finally released in the theaters. An adaptation of the Agatha Christie novel of the same name, it features actors Kenneth Branagh, Gal Gadot, Ali Fazal, Dawn French, Armie Hammer, Emma Mackey, Letitia Wright, and Russell Brand. The film has Belgian detective Hercule Poirot in the middle of a murder investigation at an exotic location — a cruise across the length of the river in Egypt.
Read the review of Death on the Nile here.
Mahaan: Amazon Prime Video
Vikram in Mahaan.
Director Karthik Subbaraj’s Mahaan marks the maiden collaboration of actor Vikram and his son Dhruv. The official synopsis of the film reads, “Mahaan is the story of a man who strays away from his family in search of personal freedom and wealth. However, as he realizes his ambitions, he also misses the presence of his son in his life. Having fulfilled his dream of becoming a billionaire, does life give him a second chance to be a father?” indianexpress.com‘s Manoj Kumar R called the film “a spicy action drama” and gave it a rating of 3.5 stars.
Read the review of Mahaan here.
The Sky is Everywhere: Apple TV Plus
Based on a novel by Jandy Nelson of the same name, the Apple TV Plus film stars Cherry Jones, Grace Kaufman and Jason Segel in the lead roles. The novel narrates the story of a teen girl Lennie (Kaufman), whose world turns upside down after the death of her elder sister Bailey. She is trying to come out of the big loss and in her journey, she accidentally falls in love. The film is directed by Josephine Decker and written by Jandy Nelson. Indianexpress.com’s Rohan Naahar called the movie “a visually ambitious charmer.”
Read the review of The Sky is Everywhere here.
Snowdrop: Disney Plus Hotstar
Blackpink’s Jisoo and Jung Hae-in in Snowdrop (Photo: JTBC/ YouTube)
The political drama Snowdrop, after creating a furore for its content, has started streaming on Disney Plus Hotstar. Starring Blackpink’s Jisoo and Jung Hae-in, the show is set in the backdrop of 1987, the time when the Korean citizens protested and called for an end to the authoritarian government. It revolves around Jung Hae-in’s Im Soo-ho, a North Korean spy and Jisoo’s Young-ro, a college student. Jisoo hides him in her dormitory room thinking of him as a pro-democracy activist.
Read the first impression of Snowdrop here.
Freedom Fight: SonyLIV
The five-part anthology movie is helmed by Jeo Baby, Kunjila Mascillamani, Akhil Anilkumar, Jithin Issac Thomas, and Francies Louis. It stars a slew of actors including Rajisha Vijayan, Sriinda, Kabani, Rohini, Joju George, Unni Lalu, Sidhartha Siva among others. As per Jeo Baby, the anthology speaks “about the freedom of humans or an individual’s right for freedom.”
Read the review of Freedom Fight here.
FIR: In Cinemas
Actor Vishnu Vishal starrer mystery thriller, FIR, directed by debutant Manu Anand, hit the theaters on Friday. The film has Vishnu in the role of a Muslim youth named Irfan Ahmed who gets accidentally arrested by the police who are on the lookout for a terrorist named Abubakar Abdullah. Actor Gautham Menon heads the agency behind the mission to get hold of the dreaded terrorist. Besides Vishnu and Gautham, the film also stars Manjima Mohan, Raiza Wilson, Reba Monica John, Gaurav Narayanan and Gautham Vasudev Menon in pivotal roles.
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