A guide to all the movies that released this weekend. Read the reviews and take your pick!
'Udta Punjab': a choppy but wholly worthwhile trip
No surprise then that the film is forced to kick off with one of the longest disclaimers seen recently. Not once does Chaubey glamorise the use of drugs. Nor does he turn exploitative with the grime, filth and muck. In fact the film is unpleasant, disturbing and raw in the way it lays the abuse bare. The lives lost to addiction cut an immensely sorry figure, more so the desperate families when things reach home, when it’s no longer about “Sadde munde theek, horan de kharab (our kids are fine, it’s the others who have turned wayward)”. > Read the review
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Finding Dory: An unforgettable fish called Dory
When a movie comes 13 years after a massively successful first part, you know it’s not going to be one of those tiring, expensive and completely unnecessary sequels that we are subjected to at least once a month. In many ways, Finding Dory is the same movie as Finding Nemo. Yet, Finding Dory fills us to the brim till the end in a joyous climactic experience . > Read our review
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Gentleman: An intriguing tale marked by fine performances
Gentleman is Mohanakrishna Indraganti’s most ambitious project, and arguably, among his best. If, in the past, he’s made some good films with reasonable budgets, here he’s pushing the envelope. He chooses an actor he introduced eight years ago. In a film where the hero is bound to walk away with plaudits, Mohanakrishna ensures the women get their due. > Read our review
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Muthina Kathirikka: Vegging out
All of which is a way to get around talking about the film, directed by Venkat Raghavan. Frankly, there isn’t much to talk about. A few scattered laughs, maybe. The story is about Muthupandi (Sundar C), who wants to become a politician. He also wants to marry Maya, despite the fact that he went to school with Maya’s mother and had a crush on her. > Read our review to know what follows next.
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Enakku Innoru Per Irukku: A new don
After a series of action-dramas featuring rowdies, we seem to be in for comedies featuring rowdies, which tweak our cinema’s obsession with anti-heroes. We recently saw Naanum Rowdy Dhaan. Now we have director Sam Anton’s Enakku Innoru Per Irukku. The film revolves around the power games in Royapuram, where the godfather is called “Naina.” > Read our review
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Beat: On a very beaten track
It seems as if the filmmaker wrote the story as he began shooting. Sequences are added and characters are developed almost as an afterthought. This becomes particularly evident towards the end, when a character we thought was incidental to the plot dominates the screen. > Read our review
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Meeku Meere Maaku Meme: A cute little surprise
A debutant’s film is worth rooting for, the maker has everything to prove and nothing to lose. Even if there are loose ends and the storytelling finesse is amiss, you give them that extra leverage when they believe in their methods and not bow down to market diktats. > Read our review>
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Central Intelligence: This one is all about sugar and spies
It’s the sort of film you will enjoy a lot if you’re in the mood for such hyperbolic humour. A detective is busy checking out porn during an important investigation, Robbie role-plays as Calvin’s wife under the guise of marriage counselling in a sequence so outlandish that you can’t but keep chuckling… But mind you, even if you’re in the mood, there are a few jokes that could potentially fail: like the Indian security guard who has a pet snake called Snake Gyllenhaal. But there isn’t a lot of that, thankfully. > Read our review
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Dhanak: Children of heaven
Good children’s films or those with children at the centre are often as unknowingly profound for adults as they are obviously engaging for kids. Here, one stayed invested and smiled along only because of the adorable actors with Bollywood references adding to the cute appeal. But it needed a lot else. > Read more
