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Bollywood
Rashmika Mandanna, Tiger Shroff attend ‘Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Infinity Castle’ screening in Mumbai
Ajay Devgn’s ‘Dhamaal 4’ wraps shooting, film to release on Eid 2026
Delhi court sends actor Ashish Kapoor to 14-day judicial custody in alleged rape case
HC to pass order on Abhishek Bachchan’s plea to protect his persona rights
Prime Video sets premiere date for talk show ‘Two Much with Kajol and Twinkle’
Regional Cinema
Kamal Haasan confirms reuniting with Rajinikanth on screen after 46 years
Madras High Court restrains Ajith Kumar-starrer ‘Good Bad Ugly’ producer from using Ilaiyaraaja’s songs in movie
Malayalam actor Navya Nair claims she was fined over ₹1 lakh for carrying Jasmine flowers in Australia
For Malayalam cinema, Kochi’s chief advantage is its geographical positioning: producer Sandra Thomas
Vijay Antony reunites with director Sasi for ‘Nooru Saami’
World Cinema
Haru Urara, Japan’s beloved racehorse and ‘Umamusume: Pretty Derby’ icon dies at 29
‘One Piece’ Jolly Roger raised at Nepal protests against censorship and corruption
Venice Film Festival 2025: Jim Jarmusch’s ‘Father Mother Sister Brother’ takes home Golden Lion; ‘The Voice of Hind Rajab’ nabs Grand Jury Prize
Venice Film Festival 2025: Anuparna Roy makes history with Orizzonti Best Director win for ‘Songs of Forgotten Trees’
Over 1,200 film industry figures back boycott of Israeli institutions for complicity in genocide
Trailers
Daniel Craig returns as Benoit Blanc for Rian Johnson’s new gothic, puzzle-box in trailer for ‘Wake Up Dead Man’
Jennifer Lawrence, Robert Pattinson lose their minds in an intense psychological drama in trailer for ‘Die My Love’
Hugh Jackman, Kate Hudson lead Neil Diamond-inspired romance in trailer for ‘Song Sung Blue’
Around 300 samurai fight each other in Netflix’s dark and violent Japanese battle royale in trailer for ‘Last Samurai Standing’,
Aryan Khan’s directorial debut features Bollywood royalty ensemble in trailer for ‘The Ba***ds of Bollywood’
Essential Reading
1) Joe Wright interview: On resurrecting Il Duce for ‘Mussolini: Son of the Century’ and why fascism never really leaves us
>> With his new series out on MUBI, the British director reflects on transforming Luca Marinelli into both pig and prophet, and why history’s oldest playbook on seduction and hyper-violence still feels uncomfortably fresh
2) Orizzonti Best Director Anuparna Roy talks about her debut film and journey from West Bengal to Venice
>> The Venice Film Festival winner from Purulia talks about breaking new ground with ‘Songs of Forgotten Trees’
3) Dan Deacon interview: On HBO’s ‘Task’ and the dazzling melancholia of ‘When I Was Done Dying’
>> Ahead of HBO’s latest thriller ‘Task’, the American composer talks about reuniting with director Jeremiah Zagar to build intimate families of sound, and revisits the bewitching layers of ‘Gliss Riffer’ and the cult song ‘When I Was Done Dying’
4) Michael Cyril Creighton on ‘Only Murders in the Building’ Season Five: Howard is at peak loneliness
>> Michael Cyril Creighton, who plays the animal-loving Arconia resident, Howard, in ‘Only Murders in the Building’, talks about his character’s tech dalliance, and the joy of working with Steve Martin and Martin Short
5) Malavika Mohanan interview | On ‘Hridayapoorvam’, and the overwhelming experience of working with Mohanlal
>> Actor Malavika Mohanan opens up on the success of her first film with Mohanlal, directed by veteran Sathyan Anthikad
6) Atharvaa interview: ‘I have started to enjoy the process without worrying about the results’
>> Atharvaa speaks about his upcoming film ‘Thanal,’ being a director’s actor, whether he would play a villain, and if he feels nervous ahead of ‘Idhayam Murali’ and ‘Parasakthi’
7) ‘Green Girl’ is a glorious canvas for people in love: Sarthak Hegde on his interfaith Kannada romance
>> Director Sarthak Hegde and actors Mayur Gowda and Sucharitha Haritas talk about their upcoming Kannada movie ‘Green Girl’ and discuss the socio-political implications of forbidden love
8) Marisa Abela: ‘It felt like we were in Jane Austen’s world’
>> Marisa Abela, who plays Elizabeth Bennett in the Audible production of ‘Pride and Prejudice’, talks about the joys and challenges of playing one of English literature’s most iconic protagonists
9) Malayali filmmaker Kunjila Mascillamani on the entering TIFF Directors’ Lab for ‘Guptam’ and struggles of female indie filmmakers
>> ‘Guptam’ was among the 16 films selected for the TIFF Director’s Lab, and is backed by filmmakers Payal Kapadia, Jeo Baby and actor Kani Kusruti
10) Filmmaker Ajay Govind on his short film ‘Basanti Tailors’, set to be screened at the Chicago South Asian Film Festival 2025
>> ‘Basanti Tailors’, which premiered at the Bengaluru International Short Film Festival 2025 in August, explores the idea of recycling from rural and urban perspectives
11) A film the public will never see: Why Delhi High Court upheld ban on ‘Masoom Kaatil’
>> The film’s storyline depicts two teenagers who embark on a mission to “annihilate members of the butcher community”
12) Bhanumathi: a multi-faceted star of Tamil, Telugu cinema
>> Bhanumathi was not just about acting. She directed and produced 16 films and wrote screenplays, dialogues, and scripts. She composed music. She sang all the songs in her films and included one keerthana of Thyagaraja mostly in her Telugu movies
What to watch
1) ‘Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle’ is a stunning, sensorial fever dream in free fall
2) In ‘The Long Walk’, Cooper Hoffman and David Jonsson’s elegiac camaraderie goes the distance
3) ‘Downtown Abbey: The Grand Finale’ is a loving farewell to the Crawleys
4) In ‘Jugnuma: The Fable’, Manoj Bajpayee makes Raam Reddy’s meditative exploration of human hubris and guilt fly
5) Tejja Sajja-led ‘Mirai’, a superhero tale, is visually slick but emotionally distant in storytelling
6) ‘Bomb’, an anti-sectarian drama starring Arjun Das and Kaali Venkat, fails to build on its potential
7) ‘Kishkindhapuri’, Bellamkonda Sreenivas’ horror thriller, is watchable but plays it safe
8) ‘Blackmail’ is a heavily-contrived game of monkey-in-the-middle
9) All aboard the grave-y-train in ‘Only Murders in the Building’ Season 5
10) Domhnall Gleeson tell the truth and dare to laugh in ‘The Paper’
11) Tiger Shroff disappoints in ‘Baaghi 4’, a corny actioner
Published – January 03, 2026 12:21 am IST
