Movies

🍿 Dhurandhar (2025) – ★★★★☆

A solid 3 and half stars – I added half more purely for the soundtrack which I am fan off and how well it’s used in the movie. It absolutely could have done without the jingoistic nonsense towards the end coz it really didn’t need it at all – but for a three and half hour movie it was entertaining enough to wait for the next part. Just how good was Alshaye Khanna though in his role? And refreshing that for pretty much majority of the movie the “hero” of the movie is actually in the background.

🍿 Diés Iraé (2025) – ★★★★☆

A rare Indian horror movie that earns its keep. It doesn’t try to do too much, but what it does it does very well. Malayalam movies are on a different level! And how gorgeous was that house half the movie is set in? Just gorgeous modern architecture.

🍿 Homebound (2025) – ★★★★☆

A poignant movie about two halves – of caste and privilege which had similarities with Dhadak 2 – and other half of how the govt failed to come in need of the very people that needed it most during the pandemic. The final act is very moving.

🍿 One Battle After Another (2025) – ★★★★☆

I had some Amazon credits to kill so we rented this movie. Terrific pacing for a nearly 3 hour movie and entertaining but it’s mostly hollow shit. There is no way I would have spent 60+ $ to see this movie in a theater. Even at 10 bucks rental was fairly high. This is a great made for TV movie – I can totally see why it bombed.

🍿 Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra (2025) – ★★★☆☆

First half was great but second half falls off. Could have been so much better than end result. Still, beautiful cinematography and I can’t believe they made the movie in <40 crores. It absolutely doesn’t look like it!

🍿 Dhadak 2 (2025) – ★★★★☆

Calling a sequel to original dhadak was such a crime. This is a very gritty coming of age story of a dalit man and a privileged woman. Much parallels to today’s times as well. And yes this dark side of India does exist. Highly recommended even though dark and grim.