Those who have not watched earlier seasons of Stranger Things would be baffled by it, but then the finale is meant for fans who understand the themes and remember its mythology, observes Deepa Gahlot.
2026 is all set to be big, when it comes to movie releases from Bollywood as well as pan-India releases from Tamil and Telugu cinema.
January releases also feature Pawan Kalyan, the Fukrey folks, Vir Das, and the Border stars...
The Union Budget backs skilling across animation, gaming and comics. But creators and studios confront a hard question: who owns what comes next?
2025 started with a blockbuster in Chhaava and ended with an even bigger one in Dhurandhar. There have been other Hindi hits too, and we take a look at the Top 10.
Thamma is mostly entertaining and not grotesquely horror-inducing, observes Deepa Gahlot.
'How to hold people's attention is challenging.'
Mehmood and R D Burman shiver, wail and flail when they encounter a stuffed tiger that wags its tail, furniture that moves on its own volition and dancing skeletons and mummies. Dinesh Raheja revisits a must-watch.
Men losing money, men turning money into superpower and lots more stranger things on OTT this week. Sukanya Verma lists them out.
Then there is Love And War featuring Alia, Ranbir, Vicky...
There's a lot of OTT entertainment in store this February. Joginder Tuteja lists the interesting line-up of movies and series coming up.
We were billed for silly things like cotton, toothbrush, toothpaste, moisturiser, hand sanitiser, etc. They did some HIV tests worth Rs 6,000 which were neither relevant nor required. Monali Pradeep Gaikwad shares her Hospital Horror Story
'If a horror movie does well at the box office, it doesn't mean people like to scared these days. People might like to get scared on one Friday, fall in love on other, and laugh on the next.'
The fact that a major studio put out a silent film starring some of the biggest names in the industry in these concerning times for the film business is the one big takeaway from Gandhi Talks, notes Arjun Menon.
'I would rather make movies in this universe and build up a loyal fan base over a period.'
In 2025, OTT series were entertaining enough, even though most were in the crime genre.
The Raja Saab is a poorly judged effort to appease to the lowest hanging fruit, and is not sincere in its ambition to entertain, notes Arjun Menon.
'What if a ring had gotten stolen, or a gem had fallen? There were uncut diamonds, rubies and emeralds. And the security from the jewellery shop came to watch the shoot.'
Witches and westerns, goosebumps and goldfish, it's all there on OTT this week.
Nine-year-old Devanshi was among the hundreds of pilgrims who had gathered in Chositi for the last leg of the yatra to Machail Mata temple when tragedy struck on Thursday. Buried under mud and debris when a Maggi-point shop was hit by flash floods, she emerged hours later, rescued by her uncle and other villagers.
Rishab Shetty's Kantara Chapter 1 is an ambitious, bold update of the ideas of the first film in a much bigger canvas, discovers Arjun Menon.
Over 25 years, societies evolve and tastes change. Cinema absorbs and reflects this transformation. Picking only 25 films from the first quarter of the century is tough.
'People worship Krishna. People don't worship Ved Vyas, who wrote the Mahabharata.' 'It's a cultural thing because we don't see the heroes behind the screen, we see the heroes who are in front of the screen.'
'While I would never wish for anyone to go through what we are, it has brought out the best in us by making each one of us a better version of ourselves.' 'Being courageous, fighting for freedom, taking the burden of responsibility to help each other...' 'I know hundreds and hundreds of examples where Ukrainians are risking their lives for complete strangers and it is only in moments like this that we truly understand what it means to be human.'
Though Vash Level 2 doesn't deliver an absolute knock-out experience we would expect from a horror sequel, it has got enough zing to keep the franchise hurtling forward, raves Mayur Sanap.
Deadly dolls, skeletons in the closet, haunted homes, this is just a warm-up on what to expect on OTT this week.
This is also the time when South Indian films started doing well, commercially and critically, on a Pan-India scale.
Jyoti Amge, the shortest lady on the planet, met Rumeysa Gelgi, the tallest woman on earth, for afternoon tea on the occasion of the 20th annual Guinness World Records Day at the Savoy Hotel in London last week.
This new year will bring, once again, a repetition of both intent and apathy, expects Aakar Patel.
Aseem Chhabra ranks the Best of 2025's films that released in theatres, or went directly to OTT platforms.
'Nawaz's character was created around Vikram Betaal.' 'Betaal was a little more gimmicky, funny; he would laugh at you, tease you.' 'That's why I made Nawaz very quirky.'
'IVF hospitals have very low success rates and provide very expensive treatment without having any knowledge of the real problem (it would seem)' says Rediff.com reader Tapasya Karthickeyan
'In the beginning of Thamma, he's a common man like all of us. At the end of the film, he's a sexy beast!'
'What would Ravana do in today's time?'
This Diwali will not see the three Khans or Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn or Hrithik Roshan bringing their films to the marquee, as is usually the norm. Even Ranbir Kapoor, Kartik Aaryan and Ranveer Singh will not treat us to a movie release.
Hema's father couldn't contain his rage and almost physically pushed Dharmendra out of the house. 'Why don't you get out of my daughter's life? You are a married man, you can't marry my daughter,' he repeatedly yelled. But a pleading, helplessly sentimental and slightly inebriated Dharam could not be budged.
'When I did Bhoot we got a lot of appreciation. After that I didn't get any script that was good in this genre.'
'We don't make films for profit and that's exactly why profit follows.'
Brij Mohan Gupta's wife developed numbness in her hands. A doctor suggested an operation. Post-surgery she became paralysed and lost the the use of both her hands and legs.
A special screening of Kajol-starrer Maa was organised in Mumbai, and film folk lined-up to watch the horror movie.
