Small Wins and Big Lessons

THUG LIFE| Director: Mani Ratnam | Cast:Kamal Haasan, Trisha Krishnan, Ali Fazal | Tamil

Kamal Haasan and Mani Ratnam reunite after their masterful col­laboration Nayakan in 1987. That alone should be enough to excite filmgoers, but Ratnam has also cast stars across languages, from Silambarasan to Pankaj Tripathi, Trisha to Aishwarya Lekshmi. The shoot has taken the cast and crew from Delhi to Serbia, Puducherry to Jaisalmer. The gangster epic comes on the heels of Ratnam’s outstanding two-part adaptation of the Tamil classic Ponniyin Selvan, so forgive us if expecta­tions are sky high.

SUPERBOYS OF MALEGAON | Director: Reema Kagti | Cast: Adarsh Gourav, Anuj Singh Duhan, Jagdish Rajpurohit | Hindi

It was first a documentary by Faiza Ahmad Khan in 2008. Directed by the redoubtable Reema Kagti, the film is based on the life of Nasir Shaikh and features fine actors such as Adarsh Gourav, Shashank Arora and Vineet Kumar Singh. Written by Varun Grover, the movie made an impact at the Toronto International Film Festival.

WAR 2 | Director: Ayan Mukerji | Cast:Hrithik Roshan, NT Rama Rao Jr, Kiara Advani | Hindi

The best of Mumbai and Hyderabad collaborate on War 2, the sequel to Siddharth Anand’s War (2019). Hrithik Roshan’s Agent Kabir reports for duty again, trying to save the world, while Junior NTR plays the antagonist. It is the sixth edition in the YRF spyverse and expect chest beating patriotism with high octane action.

JOLLY LLB 3 | Director: Subhash Kapoor | Cast: Akshay Kumar, Huma Qureshi, Arshad Warsi | Hindi

If this cannot save Akshay Kumar’s career, nothing else will. Kumar returns as the lucky lawyer with the original Jolly LLB Arshad Warsi. Directed by Subhash Kapoor, the film tries to recapture the magic of the 2013 original with Boman Irani and Warsi. It is all about small wins and big lessons, and the film’s delicate balance of humour and tragedy brings out the best in audiences who love to root for the little guy.

MMMN | Director: Mahesh Narayanan | Cast: Mohanlal, Mammootty, Fahadh Faasil | Malayalam

Could there be a greater joy than to watch two acting greats with each other? Narayanan has promised us Mammooty and Mohanlal together with an array of beautiful and talented women, Nayanthara, Huma Qureshi and Darshana Rajendran. The editor turned director has a knack for telling contemporary stories with style.

IKKIS | Director: Sriram Raghavan | Cast: Jaideep Ahlawat, Dharmendra, Agastya Nanda | Hindi

2025 will see a plethora of war movies, from Sky Force, starring Akshay Kumar, to The Battle of Bhima Koregaon, but Sriram Raghavan’s Ikkis, with Agastya Nanda, Dharmendra and Jaideep Ahlawat should be the one to watch. Based on the life of Second Lieutenant Arun Khetarpal, who was killed in the Battle of Basantar in 1971, it recreates the heroism of that time.

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