‘Oru Durooha Saahacharyathil': First look of Kunchacko Boban's next, directed by Ratheesh Balakrishnan Poduval, out
The first look features the cast in Army green costumes, with Kunchacko, Sajin and Chidambaram using a spaced-out Dileesh's hands to control guns.
Oru Durooha Saahacharyathil also features Sharanya Ramachandran, Rajesh Madhavan, Divya Vishwanath, and Sudheesh, among others. With music scored by Dawn Vincent, the film has cinematography by Arjun Sethu and editing by Manoj Kannoth. Kunchacko and Listin Stephen produce the film under their Udaya Pictures and Magic Frames banners.
Notably, the film marks a reunion between Ratheesh and Kunchacko after their hit 2022 film Nna Thaan Case Kodu, and its 2024 spin-off Sureshanteyum Sumalathayudeyum Hrudayahariyaya Pranayakadha, headlined by Rajesh and Chithra.
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Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
'Thammudu' OTT release: When and where to watch Nithiin's action drama; read more
(Picture Courtesy: Facebook) After its theatrical release on July 4, 2025, 'Thammudu' is all set for its digital debut. The Nithiin-starrer, which struggled at the box office amid mixed-to-negative reviews, will begin streaming on Netflix from August 1. The platform confirmed the release date through an official post that read, 'Thana lakshyanni, akkani thirigi thevadaniki ee thammudu is on a mission!' The film will be available in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, and Kannada, opening it up to a broader South Indian audience. A story of siblings, survival, and skill 'Thammudu' follows Jai, played by Nithiin , a gifted archer separated from his sister Jhansi in childhood. Years later, Jhansi, now a principled government officer, refuses to sign a falsified report about a chemical factory explosion in Vizag. Her moral stand turns her into a target of powerful and corrupt forces. As her world begins to crumble, Jai reenters her life. The hero is determined to protect her and her family using not just courage, but also the precision of his bow. Even with an intriguing plot, the movie had received mostly mixed reviews from the audiences. Thammudu - Official Trailer A packed cast and a new turn for familiar faces Directed and written by Venu Sriram, 'Thammudu' marks his first collaboration with Nithiin. The film also brings actress Laya back to Telugu screens, years after her brief appearance in Amar Akbar Anthony. The supporting cast includes Sapthami Gowda, Varsha Bollamma, Saurabh Sachdeva, Swasika, and Hari Teja, among others. B. Ajaneesh Loknath's music received decent responses from the viewers. ETimes gave the movie a rating of only 2 stars out of 5 and an excerpt from our official review read, "On the technical front, the film is visually appealing, with cinematographer KV Guhan capturing the tribal locales with flair. Ajaneesh Loknath's background score is atmospheric but rarely elevates the emotional beats. The action choreography is stylised, though several sequences stretch believability, further distancing the viewer from the story's emotional core. Thammudu had all the ingredients for a stirring emotional-action drama, but in trying too hard to be everything, it ends up being less than the sum of its parts. A film that had the potential to hit the bullseye sadly misses the mark."
Indian Express
2 hours ago
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Is Dulquer Salmaan doing something astonishingly right in Telugu that he can't seem to replicate in Malayalam?
There was a time when Dulquer Salmaan soared higher than any of his contemporaries in Malayalam. Almost anything and everything he touched turned into gold. Even when he stumbled once in a while, Dulquer bounced back with stellar force, repositioning himself at one of the top spots pretty soon. However, that hasn't been the case for the past few years. I am not insinuating that he has completely lost his fan base, clout or even suggesting that he has lost his touch. But a series of poor decisions and misjudgments have indeed taken a toll on his base in Malayalam, which, once lost, is not easy to regain, considering that the audiences are quite fastidious and pernickety. As he's the son of Mammootty, one of the biggest stars in Malayalam cinema history, there's nothing wrong with describing Dulquer Salmaan as 'one of the biggest nepo kids in the industry'. While outsiders with no godfathers or any prior connection to the show business have to toil endlessly to even land roles that get their faces registered in the minds of audiences, Dulquer undoubtedly benefited from his father's legacy to receive a debut film. And much like most other nepo babies, he received the lead role in his first film. However, what set him apart was the kind of movie and role he chose to commence his journey with. Director Srinath Rajendran's Second Show (2012) was not just a unique noir gangster film, but it leaned significantly towards the emerging aesthetics and narrative style of that era, characterised by the unfiltered portrayal of grey in both people and society at large. Revolving around a group of young perpetual-troublemakers who eventually get involved in organised crimes, Dulquer played a character, Lalu, who wasn't noble and pure-hearted, nor instantly likeable in the movie. In a way, Lalu can be called the anti-hero of Second Show. But since the film did not feature any virtuous characters and it was a story of raw, unpolished people, among them, Lalu was the lesser evil. Although the movie became a hit and Dulquer's performance opened to widespread acclaim, the risk he took here cannot be overlooked. Take the case of Bollywood nepo kids like Agastya Nanda, Khushi Kapoor, Suhana Khan, Ibrahim Ali Khan, Aaman Devgan, Rasha Thadani or even the latest sensation Ahaan Panday of Saiyaara, who made their debut in recent years. Not just that they were projected as stars or sure-shot stars even before their debuts, through massive PR stunts, they all played in their respective first outings characters that were carefully sutured to make people instantly develop an affinity towards them. Whether these efforts yielded positive results for all of them or if these actors' performances matched the monstrous levels of hype they received is a different topic altogether. But a closer look at the characters they all played would lay bare the master plan. The same can be said about the major nepo kids of Dulquer's generation in Malayalam as well. From Fahadh Faasil and Prithviraj Sukumaran to Pranav Mohanlal, Kalidas Jayaram, Kalyani Priyadarshan and Vineeth Sreenivisan, most of them made their acting debuts playing good-natured characters, with the only exceptions being Indrajith Sukumaran and, to some extent, Keerthy Suresh. But Dulquer took on a character, if not executed properly, could make people loathe him completely. And considering that Second Show was Srinath Rajendran's directorial debut as well, the risk was even greater. Nonetheless, all of them emerged with flying colours. Subsequently, Dulquer kept delivering bangers after bangers, mostly playing characters that were tailor-made for him in movies like Ustad Hotel, ABCD: American-Born Confused Desi, 5 Sundarikal and Neelakasham Pachakadal Chuvanna Bhoomi. When he attempted to break out of his comfort zone and try his hand at something new in Theevram, it didn't get much reception from people, although his efforts didn't go unnoticed. Despite facing setbacks with movies like Pattam Pole, Salalah Mobiles, Samsaaram Arogyathinu Haanikaram/Vaayai Moodi Pesavum and Njaan, he took no time in making a comeback with Bangalore Days, Vikramadithyan, 100 Days of Love, Charlie and Kammatipaadam. Meanwhile, he also won over the hearts of Tamil audiences with his striking performance in Mani Ratnam's OK Kanmani, where his breathtaking chemistry with Nithya Menen received the most appreciation. With Jomonte Suvisheshangal, Comrade in America, Parava (where he played an extended cameo) turning out to be massive box-office successes, Dulquer cemented his position in the industry. But that was 2017. Since then, Dulquer's Malayalam career has been a rollercoaster ride. While most of his films failed to impress audiences, their frequency also declined significantly due to various factors, including more lucrative offers from other industries. After the underperformance of Solo, he returned to Malayalam cinema only a year and a half later with Oru Yamandan Premakadha, which became a critical and commercial disaster. Soon, he began working on the biographical period crime thriller Kurup, helmed by Second Show's Srinath Rajendran. Made on a massive scale, it was unlike anything DQ had done till then, and he tried to give it his all. In between, he also worked on the small-scale project, Varane Avashyamund (2020). Although the movie was a success, it didn't offer him quite enough to regain what he had lost. Barring a cameo in the disappointing Maniyarayile Ashokan, which he bankrolled too, Dulquer had no other movie that year. Thus, all began waiting for Kurup, and it arrived in November 2021 with a bang. Not just that the movie was a critical and commercial success, DQ also showcased his untapped potential by masterfully playing fugitive Sukumara Kurup without diluting any of the real-life person's vileness. Despite his next, Salute (2022), also earning favourable responses, since it had a direct-to-OTT release owing to the Covid situation, DQ's box office base here was affected once again. Although his non-Malayalam films like Hey Sinamika, Sita Ramam and Chup: Revenge of the Artist were released in Kerala too, the desire for fans to watch a Dulquer movie in theatres kept getting delayed. The biggest blow of all came when his much-anticipated and massively hyped gangster drama King of Kotha (2023) tanked at the box office and became a meme goldmine eventually. It's been almost two years since King of Kotha now, which means he hasn't had a single success in his home ground in about four years. However, amid all these, he found success in Telugu. There too, he received an enviable debut, playing Gemini Ganesan in Nag Ashwin's biographical drama Mahanati. Delivering an extraordinary performance and that too as a yesteryear star, he quickly won over the audience's hearts. Hanu Raghavapudi's period romantic drama Sita Ramam was just what he needed after that to take him to lofty heights. With the movie capitalising fully on both his charm and cuteness, and his mesmerising on-screen chemistry with co-actors, particularly women, it gave him the sort of push that his Malayalam movies weren't offering him. Considering that Dulquer had more arrows in his quiver than most of his Telugu peers — many of whom were also more fixated on larger-than-life mass entertainers — DQ was quickly crowned their heartthrob by Telugu audiences, who had been desperately searching for one. Unlike in Malayalam, where he struggled amid actors who were arguably far more talented, and burdened by his own ambitions fueled by the excessive expectations of his fans, DQ cherry-picked the best of the guy-next-door roles in Telugu and experimented with them whenever possible. In Venky Atluri's Lucky Baskhar (2024), he found the best mix of both, and Dulquer managed to bring out his A-game effortlessly, contributing to the period crime film's massive success. The reception that his cameo appearance in Kalki 2898 AD received in the Telugu market, and the disappointment of the audience over his role being too small, further underscored the space DQ has managed to carve in the hearts of Telugus. A post shared by Dulquer Salmaan (@dqsalmaan) Interestingly, his performance in Lucky Baskhar also earned him the Special Jury Award at the Gaddar Telangana State Film Awards, presented by the state government to recognise excellence in Telugu cinema. Later, he met with Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy in Hyderabad to express his gratitude for the honour. As a result of all these, despite his next outing, Aakasam Lo Oka Tara, being only in its pre-production stage at the moment, expectations are high among the audience already. For an actor with a massive fan base in his home turf, staying away from it for so long — especially after delivering a major disappointment — is no small move. It remains to be seen whether this has affected his box office pull. For that, we will have to wait for Dulquer's next, RDX director Nahas Hidhayath's I'm Game, to find out. Nonetheless, if he manages to replicate in Malayalam what he's been doing right in Telugu, DQ's journey back to the top may not take long.
Scroll.in
2 hours ago
- Scroll.in
Start the week with a film: In ‘Moonwalk', Michael Jackson comes to Kerala
Moonwalk is the latest Malayalam film to invite you on a stroll with its characters. Vinod AK's movie has its share of energetic scenes (the theme is dancing, after all), but what lingers are the moments of camaraderie, the small touches, the observational humour. In a small town in Kerala in the 1980s, a group of teenagers falls in love – with Michael Jackson and his breakdancing. When they watch the dance troupe Zoom Boys perform at a local event, they are smitten with the fluid moves, the manner in which limbs bend at will and most of all, the moonwalking. The young men set out to become moonwalkers themselves. They grow out their hair and practise hard. Their studies suffer. Some of them have disapproving parents. At least two members of the group are older, and from a lower class and caste, which invites scorn. There is time for love too, this time of the human kind. Adoring looks and big smiles are exchanged between boys and girls who find ways to be free from social restrictions. Moonwalk was released in Kerala earlier this year and is now being streamed on JioHotstar. Written by Vinod AK, Mathew Varghese and Sunil Gopalakrishnan, the film isn't as well put together as, say, Manjummel Boys or Alappuzha Gymkhana. There's a randomness to the sequences, and an irksome habit of cutting away from the dance routines, especially in the extended climax. But Moonwalk has its modest pleasures too. The acting is as beautiful as the dancing. The film evokes nostalgia for analogue technology (cassette tapes, video cassettes, Walkmans) and 1980s fashion (mullets abound). Composer Prashant Pillai cleverly finds ways to compensate for the inability to use any of Michael Jackson's music by coming up with his own synth-heavy songs. There are cute moments at the tailor and the hairdresser, who effortlessly adapt to the new craze. The 116-minute movie doesn't try to be ground-breaking. Rather, Moonwalk is a sweet slice-of-life story about an American phenomenon entering the consciousness of a faraway place and transforming it. In paying tribute to Michael Jackson, the movie's dancers find themselves too – a point Moonwalk makes in its own minor way. Play
