What to watch on OTT this weekend: Leila's Brothers, Gangers and more
Leila's Brothers (MUBI)
Directed by Saeed Roustayi, Leila's Brothers is a moving family drama set in Tehran. It is about Leila (Taraneh Alidoosti), who has spent her whole life taking care of her parents and her four brothers.
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Indian Express
6 days ago
- Indian Express
Kiss movie review: Varun Grover's ambitious directorial debut combats authoritarianism with empathy
Comedian-writer-lyricist Varun Grover's directorial debut, Kiss, contains multitudes. The ideas that it is preoccupied by can be upsetting, even terrifying. But, made by someone who has clearly benefited from therapy, the movie is able to comprehend, contest, and communicate these preoccupations with a necessary calm. Kiss was finally released for public viewing on MUBI recently, a full three years after its festival run first began. It isn't at all like Grover's feature-length debut All India Rank, although both projects are marked by a decency that seems altogether absent from our culture these days. Fascinated by the idea of cinema as a therapeutic medium, the 15-minute short stars Adarsh Gourav as Sam, a young filmmaker who finds himself in a rather awkward ideological stand-off with a couple of men after the dreaded 'censor board' screening of his latest movie. The two men are played by Swanand Kirkire and Ashwath Bhatt; they're meant to represent this unnamed censor board, but they may as well be the moral police that sends filmmakers to prison in Iran, the settlers who drive people out of their homes in Palestine, or the Romeo squads that torment young lovers in India. Kiss could be set in the distant future, for all we know. There is a certain dystopian quality to the movie. Also read – Tees movie review: Dibakar Banerjee's unreleased saga is ambitious, intimate, and incendiary Sam waits patiently for the screening to end, confident that his film will emerge unscathed from the censors' unnecessarily violent cuts. The men tumble out of the ravishing art deco auditorium. Something is wrong, Sam can tell. He asks them how it went, and they tell him. The two men simply cannot fathom why Sam would make all their lives difficult by including an extended same-sex kiss in his film; they're so outraged at the idea of sexuality that they haven't even begun to wrap their heads around the fact that the kiss takes place between two versions of the same character. It's like a lazy cop rolling their eyes in frustration at a petty theft complaint. So much paperwork; why can't people keep an eye on the till? They're openly disdainful of Sam and his artistic vision, although they don't quite have the vocabulary to verbalise their complaints. Were a gun to be put to their heads, they would probably struggle to explain why exactly they're so offended. Are they troubled by the simple act of sensuality, or are they more annoyed by the prospect of performing overtime just because little old Sam wanted a kiss in his movie? Conditioned to view art through the lens of someone who sits at a 'galla', the two men demand that Sam present the timecodes for the kissing scene. He tells them that it lasts 28 seconds, which strikes them as odd. They could've sworn that it went on for longer. Sam suggests that they watch the scene again, with their timers on, only to make a more informed decision on how to approach cutting it. The three men trudge back into the old-timey theatre, and watch the scene again. A work of art has been reduced to CCTV footage. Grover's camera doesn't get distracted by what's happening on the screen; he trains his focus on the faces of the three men. Each of them gets a different reading on their watch; the same scene lasts under a minute for Sam, over two minutes for one of the men, and over three for his colleague. Time, it seems, is relative. 'No good movie is too long and no bad movie short enough,' said the great critic Roger Ebert once. One wonders what he'd have made of Kiss. Read more – Maagh – The Winter Within: The finest Indian film of the year, the only alternative to all the Animals out there The movie doesn't limit itself to this one idea, though. Having established the premise, it goes for a grand payoff. Grover is, after all, a comedian; not to mention the writer of perhaps the single greatest Hindi film of the last decade. He understands structure better than most. Kiss is able lure us into its world with a clearly enunciated simplicity, before pushing the envelope ever so gently. Having trained the audience to expect the unusual, it takes the potentially divisive risk of swinging hard as it enters its third act. In the climactic five minutes, Kiss turns into what can only be described as a Nolan-esque reimagining of Ratatouille. Both Sam and Grover are addressing their traumas the only way they know how: through their art. They have a right to be disheartened by the world they inhabit. But neither Grover nor his alter ego resorts to retribution. It would've been easy for him to vilify the two men. He's in control; one turn of the dial here, one pull of the lever there. And et voila, he'd have a couple of two-dimensional villains. Certainly, most people seem to appreciate thinly written characters these days. But he approaches the story with a Javed Akhtar-level sympathy for the devil. Along with Rohin Raveendran's The Booth, Shazia Iqbal's Bebaak, and Faraz Ali's Obur, Kiss is an urgent reminder of the paranoia that contemporary India has been cloaked under. Kiss Director – Varun Grover Cast – Adarsh Gourav, Swanand Kirkire, Ashwath Bhatt Rating – 4.5/5 Rohan Naahar is an assistant editor at Indian Express online. He covers pop-culture across formats and mediums. He is a 'Rotten Tomatoes-approved' critic and a member of the Film Critics Guild of India. He previously worked with the Hindustan Times, where he wrote hundreds of film and television reviews, produced videos, and interviewed the biggest names in Indian and international cinema. At the Express, he writes a column titled Post Credits Scene, and has hosted a podcast called Movie Police. You can find him on X at @RohanNaahar, and write to him at He is also on LinkedIn and Instagram. ... Read More
New Indian Express
04-06-2025
- New Indian Express
Rima Kallingal Interview: It's frustrating to be reduced to labels like 'bold and beautiful'
More than a decade into her film career, actor Rima Kallingal refuses to be boxed by industry expectations. Although she was last seen in Neelavelicham (2023) on the big screen where she was also the producer, Rima's name continues to make headlines for the interesting projects that she chooses to work in. The short film Lalanna's Song (currently streaming on Mubi) is one of them, where she plays Miriam, a quiet, yet fierce witness to religious hatred and prejudices in the heart of Mumbai, along with Shoby (Parvathy Thiruvothu). 'This piece was liberating,' shares Rima. 'As both a human being and an artist, these issues have always troubled me, and it gave me a medium to confront those concerns directly—to look them in the eye,' she adds. In this interview, Rima elaborates on these themes, why the ripples of the Hema Committee report haven't died down, exploring different platforms to share stories, the importance of creating inclusive spaces for art, and more…
Time of India
01-06-2025
- Time of India
Radhika Apte expresses challenges for new mothers in film industry: 'I don't know how I am going to navigate it'
Radhika Apte , who announced her pregnancy last year at the BAFTA Awards, now opened up about the difficulties new mothers face in the demanding film industry. Her British film, Karan Kandhari's black comedy Sister Midnight, which premiered at Cannes last May, is now releasing in India, and Apte's daughter is six months old. Short maternity leave and Industry realities Radhika had a remarkably short "maternity leave," returning to work just a week after her daughter's birth. Last December, she even shared a picture of herself attending a virtual work meeting while breastfeeding, highlighting her immediate return to professional life. While virtually speaking to SCREEN from London, Apte candidly addressed whether the film industry is supportive of new mothers. "I don't think they are. I don't know how I'm going to navigate that going ahead," she confessed. Her statement comes amid a broader discussion within the industry, with reports suggesting actors like Deepika Padukone potentially walking out of films over concerns like requesting eight-hour shifts post-pregnancy. While actor-producer Ajay Devgn recently defended the industry, claiming shorter shifts are now common for everyone, Apte emphasized the unique challenges for new mothers. Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Най-продаваните ежедневни обувки това лято – виж защо! ZAROTRAVEL® КУПИ СЕГА Undo "It's really difficult to work in our film industry, given the number of hours and how we film generally, and the time for which we don't get to see the child. So I guess I'll just have to figure it out now," she explained. This challenge is compounded by Apte's long-standing practice of dividing her time between India and London. A shifting focus from acting to screenwriting Even before embracing motherhood, Radhika found herself dissatisfied with the acting roles coming her way, which led her to explore screenwriting. She previously directed the short film The Sleepwalkers, starring Gulshan Devaiah and Shahana Goswami, available on MUBI. "I'm tired of acting because you don't necessarily get the kind of work you want. I'm tired of doing the same thing or doing things just for the sake of it," she admitted, explaining her decision to be more selective. Apte revealed that writing began out of this frustration, allowing her to explore subjects that weren't offered to her as an actor. She unexpectedly found joy in the process, inspiring her to delve deeper into it. On the acting front, Radhika will next be seen in Dharmaraj Shetty's revenge thriller show Akka on Netflix India and Justin Lin's American film Last Days, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival this year. Embracing character transformation beyond stereotypes Discussing her role as Uma in Sister Midnight, Apte highlighted her fascination with the character, a "small-town misfit who became an accidental outlaw." Uma enters an arranged marriage and undergoes a bizarre, supernatural transformation. When asked if it was fun to break out of the "demure homemaker mould" often seen in roles like her character in Pad Man, Apte clarified her artistic approach. "There's nothing wrong with playing a demure homemaker. It was never my intention to play a badass. It's about the character, the arc, and the story you're trying to tell," she stated. She emphasized the relatability of Uma's journey: "The emotional transformation is the acceptance of who she is. She discovers herself after becoming an outlaw. That self-discovery is very relatable. It's not about womanhood. It's applicable to any individual who finds discomfort in adjusting to a structure or a society.' Check out our list of the latest Hindi , English , Tamil , Telugu , Malayalam , and Kannada movies . Don't miss our picks for the best Hindi movies , best Tamil movies, and best Telugu films .
