India Archives – CULTURE MIX

Review: Diés Iraé (2025), starring Pranav Mohanlal, Gibin Gopinath, Sushmita Bhat, Jaya Kurup and Arun Ajikumar

November 2, 2025

by Carla Hay

Pranav Mohanlal in “Diés Iraé” (Photo courtesy of Home Screen Entertainment)

“Diés Iraé” (2025)

Directed by Rahul Sadasivan

Malayalam with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed city in India, the horror film “Diés Iraé” features an all-Asian cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A wealthy heir to an architecture fortune believes he is being haunted by a vengeful spirit because of the suicide of a woman whom he briefly dated and callously dumped.

Culture Audience: “Diés Iraé” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and supernatural horror movies that have some unexpected twists and turns.

Gibin Gopinath in “Diés Iraé” (Photo courtesy of Home Screen Entertainment)

“Diés Iraé” is a horror movie that is more hit than miss in this story about a man who’s being haunted by a mysterious ghost. This suspenseful film has excellent sound design, good acting and a few plot twists that overcome the occasional dull pacing. The ending of the movie might get mixed reactions from viewers, but it’s an example of how the movie refuses to be too predictable.

Written and directed by Rahul Sadasivan, “Diés Iraé” (“Day of Wrath” in Latin) begins not by showing the protagonist but by showing someone who ends up helping the protagonist in the paranormal investigation that is in most of the movie, which takes place in an unnamed city in India. Madhusudanan “Madhu” Potti (played by Gibin Gopinath) is construction contractor who also happens to be a Brahmin whose specialty is in the occult and paranormal activities. Madhusudanan, who is in his 40s, is also a descendant of Kodumon Potti, a character in Sadasivan’s 2024 movie “Bramayugam.”

Madhusudanan, who lives with his unnamed mother (played by Manohari Joy) is at a construction site of a high-rise building when he gets a phone call to come back to his home because something is going on at a house near where he lives. When Madhusudanan arrives, he sees a small crowd has gathered to watch a dead woman’s body being lifted out of a well. It’s a gruesome sight because her body is already starting to decompose.

It’s soon revealed that the woman was named Kani (played by Sushmita Bhat), was a bachelorette in her early 30s. The cause of death is quickly determined to be suicide. Kani’s immediate family—her brother Kiran (played by Arun Ajikumar), her unnamed father (played by Madan Babu K.), her unnamed mother (played by Sreedhanya) and Kani’s grandmother (played by Sudha Sukumari)—are all devastated by this tragic death. Why did Kani commit suicide?

Rohan Shankar (played by Pranav Mohanlal), a wealthy bachelor in his early-to-mid-30s, thinks he knows why. As he confesses later to Madhusudanan, Rohan and Kani briefly and casually dated soon after seeing each other at a college reunion. Kani had stronger feelings for Rohan than he had for her. She wanted the relationship to become more serious. However, Rohan “ghosted” (cut of communication with no explanation) Kani. She reportedly took this breakup very hard.

Out of guilt over her death, Rohan goes to Kani’s house when no one is there and walks around to see if there are any clues over why she committed suicide. When he gets to her bedroom, he takes a hair clip (as a memento) from her bedroom. Rohan, who divides his time between living in India and in the United States, lives alone in an upscale house built by his architect mogul father.

Rohan has been living the life of a carefree, hard-partying, spoiled heir, but things change almost immediately after Kani’s death. He begins to have nightmares where he sees her dead body. And then, when he’s awake, he’s certain that he’s being haunted by a ghost. Strange things start happening, such as Rohan getting dragged on a floor by an unseen entity, or Rohan losing control of his limbs in a way that indicate something else has taken over his body.

Rohan has four employees who are at his house on a regular basis: a maid named Elsamma (played by Jaya Krupp), an unnamed maid (played by Priya Sreejith) and an unnamed cook (played by Nidhinya Pattavil) and an unnamed security guard (played by Manoj Moorthy), who only works at night at the house. None of these employees has seen or heard anything unusual. Desperate to get answers, Rohan hears about Madhusudanan and Madhusudanan’s psychic abilities, so he asks Madhusudanan for help and tells him

Rohan tells Madhusudanan about why he thinks Kani is the ghost who’s haunting him. Madhusudanan agrees to help Rohan. And so begins their paranormal investigation. One of the first people they interview is Elsamma, who lives next door to where Kani used to live.

Before they interview Elsamma, something very disturbing happens in Rohan’s home. Kani’s brother Kiran, who is a good friend of Rohan’s is visiting, when a mysterious, unseen force picks up Kiran and throws him off of the balcony. Kiran nearly dies and end up in critical condition in a hospital.

If this vengeful ghost is Kani, then why would she want to harm her own brother? More clues are uncovered until the truth is eventually revealed. “Diés Iraé” keeps this ghost mystery fairly simple and doesn’t overstuff the movie with too many characters or too many subplots. The attack on Kiran is probably the most gruesome part of the film, which has more terror in what is unseen rather than any gore that’s seen.

Mohanlal and Gopinath really carry the movie with their performances, because so much of the story is about Rohan and Madhusudanan teaming up for this investigation. The acting is solid, while the movie’s sound, Shehnad Jalal’s effective cinematography and Christo Xavier’s haunting music score are all assets to “Diés Iraé.” The movie’s visual effects are convincing but not spectacular.

The movie’s biggest flaw is a showdown scene where certain people stay in a burning building for too long when they could have and should have exited the burning building a lot sooner. However, this scene doesn’t ruin the movie. “Diés Iraé” is not a groundbreaking film, but it is a worthwhile option for anyone looking for a horror movie that isn’t too gory and is a gripping supernatural thriller.

Home Screen Entertainment released “Diés Iraé” on October 31, 2025.

Review: ‘Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat,’ starring Harshvardhan Rane and Sonam Bajwa

October 26, 2025

by Carla Hay

“Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat”

Directed by Milap Zaveri

Hindi with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in India, the dramatic film “Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat” features an all-Asian cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: An egotistical politician becomes obsessed with getting a movie star to marry him, even though she wants nothing to do with him.

Culture Audience: “Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and idiotic dramas about violent stalking.

Sonam Bajwa and Harshvardhan Rane in “Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat” (Photo courtesy of Prathyangira Cinemas)

“Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat” is a repulsive and repetitive drama about a narcissistic politician who abuses his power to obsessively harass a woman who doesn’t love him. There is nothing romantic about this misogynistic garbage movie, which makes an abuser into a martyr. There is also no meaningful purpose to this film, which dresses up violent stalking and other disgusting actions with glamorous costumes and elaborate song-and-dance numbers that are shallow and very tone-deaf.

Directed by Milap Zaveri (who co-wrote the movie’s horrendous screenplay with Mushtaq Shiekh), “Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat” means “The Obsession of a Lover” in Hindi. This 140-minute abomination of a movie consists of tedious scene and after tedious scene of a suitor from hell, as he goes to extreme lengths to possess a woman who becomes the target of his obsession. “Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat” is only interested in tawdry exploitation, not having an empowering message for abuse survivors. The movie’s acting performances, screenwriting and directing are all completely awful.

In “Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat” (which takes place in India) the atrocious abuser is Vikramaditya “Vikram” Bhonsle (played by Harshvardhan Rane), the heir to a political dynasty. Vikram’s widower father Ganpatro Bhonsle (played by Sachin Khedekar) is a chief minister (an elected position) and wants Vikram to follow in his footsteps, by declaring Vikram’s candidacy for the position that Ganpatro will eventually vacate when Ganpatro retires. Ganpatro, who is very corrupt, gets involved with and often instigates the criminal activity shown in the movie. Ganpatro has a flunky named Sawant (played by Shaad Randhawa) who does a lot of the dirty work.

Vikram is a never-married bachelor who uses his good looks and his power to get what he wants. It’s repeated several times in the movie that “no one says no” to Vikram. The movie tries to make viewers feel sorry for Vikram by revealing that Vikram grew up being shamed by Ganpatro because Ganpatro told Vikram that Vikram’s mother died in childbirth because of Vikram. The story that Vikram has been told is that when Virkam’s mother was giving birth to him, there were unexpected health complications.

Medical professionals told Ganpatro that only the mother or the child could be kept alive. Ganpatro had to choose between letting Vikram or Vikram’s mother to be the one kept alive. Ganpatro wanted his wife/Vikram’s mother to live. But instead, Vikram was the one who survived. “I chose myself,” Vikram says when he tells someone this horrible birth story. Even so, Vikram has been made to believe his entire life that he “killed” his mother just by being born.

Vikram has grown up to be both insecure (desperate for his father’s approval) and relentessly arrogant. His warped sense of entitlement spirals out of control into cruelty and violence when he becomes obsessed with famous movie actress Adaa Randhawa (played by Sonam Bajwa), who briefly dates him but then tries to distance herself from Vikram when she finds out how mentally unstable and dangerous he is. There were “red flags” early on in the relationship, but Adaa chose to ignore these warning signs because she was caught up in the lavish way that Vikram was courting her. Adaa is a kind and friendly person, but she’s not the brightest bulb in the drawer.

The not-so-cute “meet cute” moment for Vikram and Adaa is an example of how tacky and stupid this movie is. Vikram and Adaa meet by chance at an airport, where Adaa’s numerous fans and other admirers know that Adaa is at the airport. Adaa, who is much more famous than Vikram, is always considerate and appreciative of her fans. Vikram tells her, “I don’t like competition”—as in, he doesn’t like it when anyone takes attention away from him.

Vikram also tells Adaa that people who adore him call him Aditya. Vikram expects Adaa to immediatley adore him and call him Aditya. When she hesitates to do so, he insults Adaa the first time that they meet, by saying politicians and movie stars are similar because they both sell unattainable fantasies to the public. (What does that say about politician Vikram?)

The next time Adaa hears from Vikram, he asks her to host an entertainment event for soldiers in the Indian Army. Adaa rejects this invitation at first because she says she doesn’t want to be exploited for superficial photo ops. Vikram meets with Adaa in person and gets her to change her mind by saying that there will be no photos at this event.

Shortly after agreeing to host this event, Adaa agrees to date Vikram. They go out on a few dates, but she sees his dark side at the entertainment performance for the Army soldiers. The event takes place outdoors. Vikram sees a soldier seemingly getting into a flirtatious tussle with Adaa. Vikram angrily assaults the soldier and only stops when he is told that the soldier was trying to save Adaa from a nearby snake.

At this point, Vikram has decided that he’s “in love” with Adaa. But now that Adaa has seen Vikram’s nasty temper, she breaks up with him and tries to cut off contact with him. But Vikram won’t accept this rejection. He shows up uninvited and unannounced at the house where Adaa’s unnamed parents (played by Anand Narayan Mahadevan and Sakshi Sharma) and Adaa’s unnamed adolescent younger sister (played by Sarah Killedar) live and tells them that he and Adaa are getting married.

Adaa happens to be at the house at this time and is understandably angry at Vikram for telling this lie. Adaa orders Vikram to leave, but he continues to harass her and tries to persuade her to marry him. Adaa repeatedly tells Vikram that she doesn’t love him and tells him to leave her alone, but he ignores her pleas because he thinks she will change her mind.

It gets worse. Vikram orchestrates an online smear campaign that gets Adaa fired from a movie two weeks after she’s begun filming the movie. Vikram also orders low-level supporters in his political party to stalk and physically assault Adaa’s family members. Ganpatro and his loyal goon Sawant also get involved in criminally abusing Adaa and her family.

None of this thrilling to watch. And it gets even worse. Adaa sinks to Vikram’s deplorable level by making a public announcement that she’s having a contest where she wants men to go out and kill Vikram, and she will have sex with the man who succeeds in murdering Vikram. It’s at this point, there’s no redeeming this bottom-of-the-barrel cinematic toxic waste. “Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat” makes a putrid attempt to be a “battle of the sexes” statement film, but there are no winners in this utterly trashy movie.

Prathyangira Cinemas released “Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat” in select U.S. cinemas on October 21, 2025, the same day that the movie was released in India.

Review: ‘Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari,’ starring Varun Dhawan, Janhvi Kapoor, Sanya Malhotra and Rohit Saraf

October 12, 2025

by Carla Hay

“Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari”

Directed by Shashank Khaitan

Hindi with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in India, the comedy film “Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari” features a predominantly Asian cast of characters (with a few white people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A man and a woman join forces to stop the wedding of their ex-lovers who dumped them, so that the schemers can possibly reunite with these ex-lovers.

Culture Audience: “Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and silly romantic comedies.

Janhvi Kapoor and Varun Dhawan in “Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari” (Photo courtesy of Dharma Productions)

“Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari” has a lot of flash but hardly any originality. It’s a romantic comedy misfire that is too outdated and dull to justify its 135-minute runtime. This badly acted story (about a man and a woman who pathetically conspire to stop the wedding of their respective ex-lovers) is one irritation after another. If that plot sounds familiar, it’s because it’s almost identical to the 1997 romantic comedy “Addicted to Love,” directed by Griffin Dunne and starring Meg Ryan, Matthew Broderick, Kelly Preston and Tchéky Karyo.

Directed by Shashank Khaitan, “Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari” takes place in an unnamed city in India. Khaitan co-wrote the movie’s awful screenplay with Ishita Moitra. In the beginning of the movie, “regular guy” Sunny Sanskari (played by Varun Dhawan) proposes marriage to his high-maintenance girlfriend Ananya Bhatia (played by Sanya Malhotra), but she says no. That’s because she’s gotten engaged to arrogant Vikram Singh (played by Rohit Saraf), who comes from a billionaire family. Ananya’s father Pulkit Bhatia (played by Gaurav Sikri) and Ananya’s mother Kriti Bhatia (played by Nazneen Madan) are thrilled about this arranged marriage because Ananya will be marrying into a very wealthy family.

Meanwhile, “nice girl” Tulsi Kumari (played by Janhvi Kapoor) was Vikram’s girlfriend of 12 years, but Vikram abruptly dumps Tulsi and tells her that he’s marrying someone else. Vikram’s mother (played by Manini Chadha) never really accepted Tulsi because Tulsi is from a lower caste and because Tulsi’s parents are divorced. Tulsi’s mother abandoned the family when Tulsi was 13. Tulsi still has emotional scars from this abandonment.

Sunny and Tulsi end up meeting, they find out they their ex-lovers are marrying each other, and Sunny convinces Tulsi that they should team up to stop the wedding. As part of the plan, Sunny and Tulsi pretend that they are in a hot and heavy romance to try to make Vikram and Ananya jealous. Sunny and Tulsi foolishly think that this jealousy will make Ananya want to reunite with Sunny, and Vikram to get back together with Tulsi.

Tulsi and Sunny show up unannounced as a “couple” at the wedding rehearsals and pretend that they are happy that Vikram and Ananya are getting married. Somehow, Tulsi and Sunny convince Vikram and Ananya to let them be at the wedding too. It’s all so unbelievable and cringeworthy to watch.

Also along for this farce is Sunny’s best friend Kuku (played by Maniesh Paul), who is slightly less annoying than Sunny. Tulsi’s best friend Dharna (played by Dharna Durga) is skeptical about this scam, but she gets involved in these stupid shenanigans anyway. Sunny’s father Suresh Sanskari (played by Rohitashv Gour) and Sunny’s mother Geeta Sanskari (played by Kavita Pais) also make appearances.

There’s also a boring and unnecessary subplot about Vikram’s older brother Param Singh (played by Akshay Oberoi) having marital problems because Param is very controlling and forbids his wife Rakhi Singh (played by Manini Chadha), who’s an aspiring fashion designer, from going to Paris to do an internship with a famous fashion designer. Rakhi was chosen for this internship, but Param doesn’t seem to want her to have any career. Param and his mother also insult and degrade Tulsi to try to make her feel unworthy of Vikram.

This is the type of movie that has a scene where Tulsi and Ananya end up in the same bathroom during the wedding rehearsals, and they compete in front of a mirror to see who looks thinner by sucking in their stomachs. This scene is followed by a scene of Sunny and Vikram ending up in the same bathroom during rehearsals. Sunny and Vikram are both standing side by side at urinals, and they sideways glance at each other’s penises to see which one is bigger. (There’s no nudity in the movie.)

It should come as no surprise that Sunny and Tulsi become emotionally closer and become attracted to each other during their moronic scheme to stop the wedding. In other words, before the movie is even halfway over, you know how it’s going to end. The movie’s elaborate song-and-dance numbers have forgettable songs and are just style over substance. “Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari” has a lot of people running around acting ridiculous, people getting into shouting matches, and a continous barrage of idiocy. By the end of the movie, it’s not heartwarming but headache-inducing.

Dharma Productions released “Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari” in select U.S. cinemas and in India on October 2, 2025.

Review: ‘Kantara — A Legend: Chapter 1,’ starring Rishab Shetty, Rukmini Vasanth, Jayaram and Gulshan Devaiah

October 2, 2025

by Carla Hay

“Kantara — A Legend: Chapter 1”

Directed by Rishab Shetty

Kannada with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in India in the 3rd or 4th century, the action film “Kantara — A Legend: Chapter 1” (a prequel to the 2022 movie “Kantara”) features an all-Asian cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: An underdog hero battles and a king and a prince who are evil.

Culture Audience: “Kantara — A Legend: Chapter 1” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, the 2022 “Kantara” movie and bombastic action films that are more style than substance.

Gulshan Devaiah in “Kantara — A Legend: Chapter 1” (Photo courtesy of Prathyangira Cinemas)

Although “Kantara — A Legend: Chapter 1” has plenty of visual spectacles (some dazzling and some tacky), this action prequel has a messy narrative and hollow characters. The bombastic scenes are pretentious distractions in a long-winded slog of a movie. It’s never a good sign when a movie spends its first 10 minutes on a voiceover narration and montages that are basically an exposition dump.

Written and directed, by Rishab Shetty, “Kantara — A Legend: Chapter 1” is a prequel to 2022’s “Kantara,” also written and directed by Shetty. He also stars in both movies, which incorporate elements of folklore about Bhuta Kola, a traditional form of worship mainly found in India’s Karnataka region. Shetty stared in “Kantara,” where he had two roles as an actor: the main hero Shiva (a Kambala athlete from Kaadubettu, India) and Shiva’s father.

In “Kantara — A Legend: Chapter 1” (which takes place during the 3rd or 4th century), Shetty stars as the hero Berme, who battles against an evil King Rajashekara (played by Jayaram) and King Rajashekara’s wicked son Prince Kulashekara (played by Gulshan Devaiah) over control of the city of Bangra. Berme also falls in love with King Rajashekara’s daughter Princess Kanakavathi (played by Rukmini Vasanth), who is Bangra’s only hope for good royalty.

The battle scenes are epic and the group dance scenes are elaborate, but the dialogue is substandard, and the acting performances are mediocre-to-terrible. This bloated movie (which has sloppy editing) doesn’t give enough reasons to be emotionally invested in the shallow characters. Some of the visual effects are impressive, while other visual effects look too fake, especially those pertaining to animals. “Kantara — A Legend: Chapter 1” is entirely too long (168 minutes) for a movie that has such a weak screenplay and not much to offer but repetitive action scenes and a predictable and underwhelming ending.

Prathyangira Cinemas released “Kantara — A Legend: Chapter 1” in select U.S. cinemas on October 2, 2025, the same day that the movie was released in India.

Review: ‘Homebound’ (2025), Ishaan Khatter, Vishal Jethwa and Janhvi Kapoor

September 27, 2025

by Carla Hay

Ishaan Khatter and Vishal Jethwa in “Homebound” (Photo courtesy of Moviegoers Entertainment)

“Homebound” (2025)

Directed by Neeraj Ghaywan

Hindi with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in India in 2020, the dramatic film “Homebound” (inspired by a true story) features a predominantly Asian cast of characters (with a few white people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: Two underprivileged best friends—one who’s a Dalit Hindu, and one who’s a Muslim—have goals to raise their status in society by becoming police constables, but they encounter various obstacles and prejudices along the way.

Culture Audience: “Homebound” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and emotionally impactful dramas about friendships and social mobility.

Janhvi Kapoor in “Homebound” (Photo courtesy of Moviegoers Entertainment)

“Homebound” strikes the right balance between showing how prejudices can affect everyday lives and making social commentary that isn’t a lecture. The acting performances are exemplary in this meaningful drama about friendship that defies bigotry. The movie’s tearjerking moments look emotionally authentic, not melodramatic.

Written and directed by Neeraj Ghaywan, “Homebound” is based on journalist Basharat Peer’s 2020 New York Times essay “Taking Amrit Home,” which was retitled “A Friendship, a Pandemic and a Death Beside the Highway.” “Homebound” had its world premiere at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival and its North American premiere at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival. “Homebound” (which has Martin Scorsese as an executive producer) is India’s official entry for Best International Feature Film for the 2026 Academy Awards.

“Homebound” begins by showing the close relationship of best friends Chandan Kumar (played by Vishal Jethwa) and Mohammed Shoaib Ali (played by Ishaan Khatter), who are in their late teens and have been friends since childhood. Chandan and Shoaib (as he prefers to be called) come from financially struggling families in a small town in northern India. Chandan is more of a romantic dreamer, while Shoaib is a practical realist who has great sales skills.

By a bigoted society’s standards, Chandan and Shoaib shouldn’t be friends. Chandan is a Hindu from the lower-level Dalit caste. Shoaib is a Muslim in an area where Muslims are a minority. However, the “outsider” status of Chandan and Shoaib is part of the reason why they’ve bonded. The two friends also have a passion for playing cricket.

Chandan and Shoaib both have the same goals to become police constables, in order to elevate their social standings and to financially help their families, who are loving and supportive of each other. Chandan lives with his mother Phool Jumar (played by Shalini Vatsa), his father Avdesh Kumar (played by Dadhi R. Pandey) and Chandan’s sister Vaishali Kumar (played by Harshika Parmar), who works as a nanny and housekeeper. Avdesh finds work when he can, usually doing menial jobs such as working in fabric mills.

Shoaib lives with his mother Shanoz Ali (played by Sudipta Saxena) and his father Hassan Ali (played by Pankaj Dubey), who uses a wheelchair. Instead of going to college, Shoaib has been working in low-paying jobs to help support his family. His sales skills get noticed by business managers, even though Shoaib has his heart set on becoming a police constable.

Shoaib gets an offer to go to Dubai to become a salesperson fora major company, as well as an offer to work as an administrative assistant in the sales department for an appliance company that’s closer to his home in India. Later in the movie, Hassan needs a knee operation that will cost ₹200,000. It’s an expense that the Ali family can’t afford and is the reason why Shoaib makes a certain decision about what type of job he will do to get the money for the operation.

The beginning of “Homebound” takes place in the first two months of 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns. Chandan is a student at Central Institute of Arts and Culture, but he still wants to become a police inspector. Chandan and an intelligent schoolmate named Sudha Bharti (played by Janhvi Kapoor) begin dating and fall in love with each other, but this romance part of the movie isn’t as substantial as the friendship between Chandan and Shoaib. Sudha also comes from a working-class background and wants to improve her social standing by getting a job that requires a college degree. She has made it clear to Chandan that she only wants to marry a man who’s also a college graduate.

Being a police constable in India does not require having a college degree. Chandan and Shoaib both take a test for police academy admission at the same time. They also find out the results of the test at the same time. Without giving away too many details in this review, it’s enough to say that one of the friends gets accepted into the police academy, while the other does not. It puts a strain on their friendship.

“Homebound” has some unpredictable twists and turns to the story. By mid-March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic caused the deaths of millions of people around the world and drastically changed the jobs and fortunes for ultod numbers of people. Chandan and Shoaib are two of the people who are directly affected by the pandemic in ways that are heart-wrenching and which altered their lives forever.

“Homebound” isn’t a completely depressing film. There are many moments of joy and camaraderie that show why Chandan and Shoaib have such a deep and sincere friendship. The heart and soul of the movie are the performances by Jethwa and Khatter in how they depict this real-life friendship, which goes through its share of ups and downs. Their acting makes this movie special instead of being “just okay” if “Homebound” had mediocre talent in the leading roles.

The movie’s cinematography and editing are also impressive, while the screenplay and direction are absorbing from beginning to end. “Homebound” has unflinching depictions of the various degrees of bigotry, from hateful violence, to cold dismissals, to casual insults that people want to pass off as jokes. The movie also shows thoughtful portrayals of the dilemmas many people have to leave their hometowns in order to find work to support a family, or stay closer to home and risk more financial instability. “Homebound” gives a very candid and unforgettable look at the toll that bigotry can take on humanity but also the strength that people can find in those whom they love.

Moviegoers Entertainment released “Homebound” in select U.S. cinemas on September 26, 2025, the same day that the movie was released in India.

Review: ‘They Call Him OG,’ starring Pawan Kalyan, Emraan Hashmi, Priyanka Mohan, Arjun Das, Sriya Reddy and Prakash Raj

September 26, 2025

by Carla Hay

“They Call Him OG”

Directed by Sujeeth

Telugu and Marathi with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in India and briefly in Japan, in 1993 (with flashbacks to 1970), the action film “They Call Him OG” features an all-Asian cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A vigilante, who trained as a samurai fighter when he was a boy, get caught up in a rivalry between his mentor/father figure and a gang leader.

Culture Audience: “They Call Him OG” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and action movies that are loud and flashy but ultimately have dull storytelling.

Emraan Hashmi in “They Call Him OG” (Photo courtesy of Prathyangira Cinemas)

“They Call Him OG” is just another mindless action flick with a derivative plot about crime, revenge and family turmoil. This tedious movie clumsily mishandles its cross-cultural storyline about an Indian vigilante who trained at a Japanese samurai dojo. There are absolutely no surprises in “They Call Him OG,” which has hammy acting, cringeworthy dialogue and hollow characters.

Written and directed by Sujeeth, “They Call Him OG” has a “vigilante versus criminals” story that’s been done so many times before in action films. “They Call Him OG” has rushed and jumbled introductory scenes that take place in 1970, in Japan’s capital city of Tokyo. A samurai dojo is invaded by yakuza gangsters, who kill all the students, except for one, who manages to escape on a ship to Bombay.

This student is an orphaned Indian boy who’s about 6 to 7 years old. His name is Ojas Gambheera (also known as OG), who is later given the samurai name Master Orochi Genshin. On the ship with OG are two businessmen from Bombay: Satyanarayana Roy Nandan also known as Satya Dada (played by Prakash Raj) and Vardhaman Mirajkar (played by Tej Sapru), who each goes down very different paths in life.

OG saves the lives of Satya Dada and Vardhaman when OG kills a group of invading pirates who wanted to steal the gold that was on the ship. Satya Dada is so grateful to OG for saving his life, Satya Dada becomes a father figure to OG and raises OG alongside Satya Dada’s two biological sons.

The movie then fast-forwards to 1993 in Bombay. OG (played by Pawan Kalyan) is a vigilante protector for Bombay Port, where Satya Dada get many of the shipments needed for Satya Dada’s business. OG’s sidekicks include Satya Dada’s biological sons. Venkat has the role of Satya Dada’s elder biological son. Shaam has the role of Satya Dada’s younger biological son.

Vardhaman also has two sons, but they have become gangsters who want to take over Satya Dada’s business and cause terror among the locals. Vardhaman’s elder son Omkar Vardhaman Mirajkar, also known as Omi Bhau (played by Emraan Hashmi). Vardhaman’s younger son is Jimmy Vardhaman (played by Sudev Nair).

Somewhere along the way, OG met and fell in love with a medical doctor named Kanmani (played by Priyanka Mohan), and they have a daughter named Taara, who’s about 5 or 6 years old in most of her scenes. When someone in Satya Dada’s family dies, a man named Arjun (played by Arjun Das) attends the funeral, and a family secret is revealed, which leads to Arjun also being involved in taking over the family business.

“They Call Him OG” then proceeds with the predictable slew of gun shootouts, fist fights and explosions. There’s some samurai swordplay, but it’s awkwardly dropped into the movie. Taara gets kidnapped and is held hostage. OG is a stereotypical scowling “hero” who has a soft spot for his family. The end of the movie announces a sequel, but because so much of “They Call Him OG” is forgettable and senseless, a sequel is likely to be more of the same junk.

Prathyangira Cinemas released “They Call Him OG” in U.S. cinemas on September 25, 2025, the same day the movie was released in India.

Review: ‘Jolly LLB 3,’ starring Akshay Kumar, Arshad Warsi, Saurabh Shukla, Amrita Rao and Huma Qureshi

September 19, 2025

by Carla Hay

“Jolly LLB 3”

Directed by Subhash Kapoor

Hindi with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in India, the comedy/drama film “Jolly LLB 3” (the third movie in the “Jolly LLB” series) features a predominantly Asian cast of characters (with a few white people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: Two rival attorneys, who have the same nickname, get involved in a case where a greedy and wealthy business mogul is being sued by a poor farmer’s widow and other farm villagers, who accuse the mogul of stealing the villagers’ land.

Culture Audience: “Jolly LLB3” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, the “Jolly LLB” series, and unrealistic movies about courtroom cases and attorneys that make simplistic mockeries of a corrupt system.

Gajraj Rao in “Jolly LLB 3” (Photo courtesy of Star Studio18)

“Jolly LLB 3” gets lost in a clumsy mix of comedy and drama. This long-winded sequel inflates its thin plot to a bloated 157 minutes, stumbling between silly jokes and sanctimonious melodrama about a feud between farm villagers and a greedy business mogul. The third time is not the charm for this third movie in the “Jolly LLB” series. (“LLB” refers to someone who has a bachelor of law degree.)

Written and directed by Subhash Kapoor, “Jolly LLB 3” features a rivalry between the main characters from 2013’s “Jolly LLB” (the first movie in the series ) and 2016’s “Jolly LLB 2,” which have rule-bending attorneys as the protagonists. It’s a gimmick that would’ve been clever if handled correctly. Instead, “Jolly LLB 3” lumbers along and gets distracted like a movie that doesn’t know where to go, and then tries to wrap things up quickly with an ending that has a vastly different tone from when the movie started.

“Jolly LLB 3” (which takes place in India) shows that Jagdish “Jolly” Tyagi (played by Arshad Warsi) from the “Jolly LLB” movie and Jagdishwar “Jolly” Mishra (played by Akshay Kumar) from “Jolly LLB 2” are both practicing law in close proximity to each other in Delhi. The first 20 minutes of the movie shows the conflicts and identity mixups (intentional and unintentional) that the two Jollys have when trying to steal each other’s clients or try to pass off an undesirable client on the other.

Jolly Tyagi and Jolly Mishra both have long-term marriages, but their respective marriages are very different. Jolly Tyangi’s wife Sandhya Tyagi (played by Amrita Rao) is altruistic and often gets annoyed with him because of some of the shady things he does to get money. Jolly Mishra’s wife Pushpa Pandey Mishra (played by Huma Qureshi) is vain, spoiled, and drinks too much alcohol. Jolly Mishra is more likely to be annoyed with his wife than she is annoyed with him.

One day, Jolly Tyagi’s wife Sandhya tells him to expect to be contacted by a widow who wants him to represent her in a possible lawsuit over land ownership. The widow is a senior citizen named Janki Rajaram Solanki (played by Seema Biswas), who lives in the rural village of Parsaul, Rajasthan. Janki claims that the land that she inherited from her deceased farmer husband was stolen in an an unscrupulous deal masterminded by billionaire Haribhai Khaitan (played by Gajraj Rao), the owner and leader of an industrialist company called the Imperial Group. Other people in this farming village have the same problem as Janki does. Haribhai wants to use the farm land for property development.

At first, Jolly Tyagi doesn’t want to take the case because he knows that Janki is poor and won’t be able to afford his usual legal fees. Jolly Tyagi lies to Janki and says she’s got the wrong Jolly attorney, and he tells her to go to Jolly Mishra. However, Sandhya finds out about this ruse and scolds her husband for being an elitist snob and shames him into taking the Janki’s case. Jolly Tyagi ends up taking Janki as a client and files a lawsuit. Through a series of circumstances, Haribhai hires Jolly Mishra to represent Haribhai in the lawsuit.

Haribhai tries unsuccessfully to settle the lawsuit out of court. He does so in the most self-serving way possible: He has the news media outlets and reporters go with him to Janki’s home so they can show him personally deliver a payment check to Janki. Haribhai tells Janki if she accepts the payment, she’ll drop the legal complaint and let him keep the land that she says he stole.

Janki didn’t ask for this payment and is insulted by Haribhai using the lawsuit as a selfish publicity stunt. In front of the news media, she rips up the check. An embarrassed Haribhai storms out and vows to declare war on Janki and the disgruntled farmers by evicting them from their land. The case goes to trial. “Jolly LLB 3” has courtroom scenes that look like ridiculous shouting matches.

The judge deciding the case is Sunder Lal Tripathi (played by Saurabh Shukla), who is prone to being corrupt. Predictably, Haribhai tries to bribe the judge. Much of “Jolly LLB 3” involves a convoluted investigation and wacky antics from the two Jollys. An attorney who gets involved in the case is Vikram Ray Chaudhary (played by Ram Kapoor), who prides himself on his successful track record of winning.

“Jolly LLB 3” goes off on time-wasting tangents, such as bachelor Sunder’s attempts to find love through a dating app called Tender, which is an obvious satire of Tinder. This is the type of movie where the two Jollys and their wives get involved in a dinner date that Sunder has with a female police officer named Chanchal Chautala (played by Shilpa Shukla), who has some connection to the case that Sunder will be judging. Conflicts of interest in this case don’t seem to matter to these characters.

One of the worst parts of “Jolly LLB 3” is a nonsensical detour that the movie takes by showing a racing car competition called Bikaner to Boston, as part of the IG Racing Circuit. This very jumbled subplot is very awkwardly dropped into the movie. The racing competition is supposed to reveal a major clue in the investigation. It’s really just an excuse to show product placement in the movie.

The performances in “Jolly LLB 3” are nothing special. Kumar doing his usual over-exaggerated mugging for the cameras. Warsi does his best to ground his own performance with some humanity. However, all of the characters in “Jolly LLB 3” are basically two-dimensional. Many of the characters are frequently irritating.

“Jolly LLB 3″starts off as light-hearted and slapstick comedy. But by the end of the movie, it turns into a weepy public service announcement for the plight of farmers in crisis. This jarring shift in tone underscores how “Jolly LLB 3” is a movie that falters because of its flimsy plot and obvious identity crisis.

Star Studio18 released “Jolly LLB 3” in U.S. cinemas and in India on September 19, 2025.

Review: ‘Love in Vietnam,’ starring Shantanu Maheshwari, Avneet Kaur and Khả Ngân

September 15, 2025

by Carla Hay

“Love in Vietnam”

Directed by Rahat Shah Kazmi

Hindi and Vietnamese with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place over an eight-year period in the early 21st century, in Vietnam and in India, the dramatic film “Love in Vietnam” (inspired by the 1943 novel “Madonna in a Fur Coat”) features an all-Asian cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: An Indian man and a Vietnamese woman have an on-again, off-again romance over an eight-year period.

Culture Audience: “Love in Vietnam” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, the book “Madonna in a Fur Coat,” and overly sappy romance stories that lack genuine passion.

Avneet Kaur in “Love in Vietnam” (Photo courtesy of Reliance Entertainment)

Corny and overstuffed with cringeworthy clichés, “Love in Vietnam” is an overly long drama made worse by the horrible acting. The movie has attractive visuals but fails to make the central romance look believable. Everything in the screenplay and direction is like a movie version of a cheap and mawkish romance novel.

Directed by Rahat Shah Kazmi (who co-wrote the abysmal screenplay with Kritika Rampal), “Love in Vietnam” is inspired by Sabahattin Ali’s 1943 novel “Madonna in a Fur Coat.” The movie takes place in Vietnam and India, over an eight-year period in the early 21st century.

It’s a basic story that is stretched too thin in a 132-minute movie with annoying breakups and reunions between the central couple. In the beginning of the movie, Manav (played by Shantanu Maheshwari) is an orphaned guy in his late teens who lives in Punjab, India, with his affluent uncle Soorma Singh (played by Raj Babbar), who sends to Manav to Vietnam for Manav’s university education. Simmi (played by Avneet Kaur), who is Manav’s best friend from childhood and has hopes to marry him, goes to the same university and is one of Manav’s roommates in Vietnam.

While in Vietnam, Manav immediately becomes infatuated with a painter artist named Linh (played by Khả Ngân) when he sees a self-portrait of Linh in a museum gallery. Manav is with several students on a class field trip when he see this portrait hanging on a wall. This is what he says out loud when he stares at the portrait in lustful awe: “She reminds me of my mother.” Is that supposed to be romantic? No, it’s creepy.

The students laugh at Manav for his bizarre comment. He becomes obsessed with finding the woman in the portrait. Manav tracks down Linh and stalks her. She plays “hard to get,” but he relentlessly pursues her until she agrees to date him. Manav and Linh have an on-again/off-again romance, where Linh is the one who always breaks up with Manav.

Simmi gets jealous about this romance because Simmi’s family and Manav’s family had expected Simmi and Manav to have an arranged marriage. Simmi seems to be in love with Manav, but she’s really a possessive control freak who verbally lashes out if she doesn’t get her way. Expect at least two scenes in the movie where someone shouts to someone else: “We were meant to be together!”

It’s the same old over-used formula in movies about romances: Two people who are a couple break up because of conflicts or a big misunderstanding. And then, they get back together. And then, the same relationship problems resurface. There’s probably a love triangle in the story. The couple might or might not break up again, but it all leads to a happy ending.

A sure sign of a bad romantic movie is when the romance looks fake and forced, due to terrible performances and a lack of chemistry between the cast members portraying the lovers. Ngân’s stiff acting is the worst thing about “Love in Vietnam” and drags down every scene that she’s in, while Maheshwari gives a one-note performance of someone who acts more like an obsessed fan than a true love partner. Kaur doesn’t do much that’s impressive with her portrayal of Simmi, who is whiny and petulant for most of the movie.

The movie tries hard to convince that someone who acts like Manav is “in love,” even though many of his unhinged actions look like he’s mentally ill. Linh isn’t much better, because she doesn’t seem emotionally stable enough to be in a committed relationship, as her erratic feelings about Manav run hot and cold within minutes of each other. And even though “Love in Vietnam” takes place over eight years, the characters do not look convincingly older as time progresses during those eight years.

About the only good thing about “Love in Vietnam” is the cinematography, which makes the photogenic locations look very appealing. The movie’s song-and-dance numbers are extremely generic. The ending is absolutely atrocious. By the time this movie ends, you won’t care about any of the story’s flaky people and their neurotic problems that they brought on themselves.

Reliance Entertainment released “Love in Vietnam” in select U.S. cinemas on September 12, 2025, the same day that the movie was released in India.

Review: ‘War 2,’ starring Hrithik Roshan, N.T. Rama Rao Jr. and Kiara Advani

August 18, 2025

by Carla Hay

“War 2”

Directed by Ayan Mukerji

Hindi with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in 2024, in India and various other countries, the action film “War 2” (a sequel to the 2019 film “War”) features a predominantly Asian cast of characters (with some white people and black people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A mercenary, who has a background as an undercover government agent, gets involved with an international crime cartel and encounters an influential person from his past.

Culture Audience: “War 2” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, the first “War” movie, and action films that are long on mindless spectacles and short on interesting stories.

Hrithik Roshan and Kiara Advani in “War 2” (Photo courtesy of Yash Raj Films)

“War 2” aims to impress with an overload of globetrotting and bombastic stunts from the movie’s main characters. But this awful sequel is really just another over-priced, idiotic and soulless action flick about double-crossing mercenaries. All of the fight scenes are so over-the-top unrealistic and the dialogue is so vapid, “War 2” is just like being force-fed junk food for 173 minutes, which is the total running time for this horrendous and bloated cinematic trash.

Directed by Ayan Mukerji and written by Shridhar Raghavan, “War 2” is a direct sequel to 2019’s “War.” Hrithik Roshan returns in the starring role as Kabir Dhaliwal, a rogue agent for the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) of the Indian government. “War” was directed by Siddharth Anand, who co-wrote the movie’s screenplay with Shridhar Raghavan. The cast members of “War 2” are almost entirely different from “War.”

“War 2” (one of India’s highest-budgeted films of the year) also cost a lot more to make than “War.” The production budget for “War 2” reportedly ballooned to a range of ₹300 crore to ₹400 crore (about $34 million to $46 million in U.S. dollars), compared to the reported ₹170 crore (about $19.5 million) for the production budget of “War.” Despite this increase in the production budget, the visual effects in “War 2” still look tacky.

In “War 2” (which takes place in India and several other countries), it’s 2024, and Kabir has established himself as a mercenary for hire. In the beginning of the movie, he kills a crime boss (played by Kwon Soon Young) in Japan, and then Kabir goes to Berlin to collect his payment for this assassination job. Instead of getting paid, Kabir is unknowingly drugged and brought back to India.

In India, Kabir wakes up to find himself in the secret lair of an international crime syndicate named Kali. Seven countries are represented in this crime syndicate: India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Russia, China, and Myanmar. The Kali leader for each country is shown speaking to Kabir on giant video screens where their faces are obscured.

The Kali leaders tell Kabir that he must now work for Kali. Kabir is immediately told to murder Kabir’s former RAW boss Colonel Sunil Luthra (played by Ashutosh Rana, reprising his role from “War”), in order to prove that Kabir really is the type of criminal mercenary that Kabir really seems to be. Kabir tracks down Colonel Luthra, who is the leader of RAW. And that’s how it’s revealed that Kabir really isn’t a mercenary but is actually still working for RAW as an undercover agent sent to infiltrate Kali.

Kabir tells Colonel Luthra about this assassination assignment and says he doesn’t want to do it. However (and this is one of many stupid things that happen in the movie), Colonel Luthra tells Kabir to murder him because Colonel Luthra says it’s the only way that Kabir can gain the trust of Kali. “Death before dishonor,” Colonel Luthra tells Kabir before Kabir shoots him to death. Kabir also makes a video of himself committing this murder to prove to Kali that he did it. After this death, Vikrant Kaul (played by Anil Kapoor) is appointed as the new leader of RAW.

Colonel Luthra’s willingness to be murdered by Kabir looks even more foolish, considering it’s possible for government officials to fake their own deaths in elaborate sting operations. And then, it really makes no sense when it’s revealed before the murder that Colonel Luthra has a daughter. Colonel Luthra apparently wasn’t thinking much of her when he approved his own execution.

Colonel Luthra’s daughter, who is in her 30s, is Kavya Luthra (played by Kiara Advani), a wing commander in the Indian Air Force. She sees the video of Kabir murdering Colonel Luthra. And she predictably wants revenge. But in a horrendous movie like “War 2,” Kavya also was Kabir’s love interest in the past (as seen in the movie’s many flashbacks), and then she falls in love with him again. This isn’t spoiler information because the “War 2” trailer already reveals this part of the plot.

While undercover as a Kali assassin, Kabir continues to go to various countries to murder enemies of Kali. There’s a subplot about Kabir trying to protect his adopted daughter Ruhi Sahni (played by Arista Mehta), who is about 16 or 17 years old and is a student in Spain. While in Spain, Kabir encounters Major Vikram Chelapathi (played by N.T. Rama Rao Jr.), a special unit officer for RAW.

Kabir and Vikram have a ridiculous and long fight on the top of a moving train. This fight would kill anyone in real life, but Kabir and Vikram keep going without any serious injuries. “War 2” makes all the stunts look like superhero stunts. But the problem is “War 2” isn’t a science fiction or fantasy movie. The characters in “War 2” in this movie aren’t supposed to have superhuman powers, so the movie’s unnatural fight scenes just look stupid.

About halfway through the movie, Kabir and Vikram end up fighting on an airplane that’s in flight. Bikram kicks Kabir out of the moving plane while Kabir isn’t wearing a parachute or any safety goggles. It’s another moronic stunt scene that insults viewers’ intelligence. Kabir survives, of course, because there would be no “War 2” if Kabir died halfway through the movie.

Before it’s shown how Kabir survived, there’s a series of flashback scenes to 1999, when Kabir (played by Manthan Darji) was a 15-year-old orphan runaway living on the streets. He meets another teenage street urchin named Raghu (played by Hearty Singh), who teaches Kabir how to survive on the streets. The two teens become best friends and thieves. And at one point, they get arrested together.

“War 2” is such a sloppily made film, it flubs noticeable details. The adult Kabir has distinctive hazel green eyes. But in the flashback scenes to Kabir as a teenager, he has brown eyes. It wouldn’t have been hard for the actor portraying teenage Kabir to wear hazel green contact lenses that look like adult Kabir’s eyes. But apparently, that’s too much common sense for “War 2.”

The movie drags on with yet another assassination scheme: killing India’s defense minister Vilasrao Sarang (played by Varun Badola) and his family. “War 2” clumsily throws in some song-and-dance numbers where the only thing memorable about them is that they look out of place. And the love story in the movie is flat and hard to believe.

Needless to say, the cast members performances are unimpressive because they’re generic or just plain cringeworthy. The movie’s screenplay and direction are atrocious. “War 2” tries to have sentiments about loyalty and friendship, but these sentiments don’t fully ring true when this long-winded and unimaginative film makes all the characters look like video game figures instead of relatable human beings.

Yash Raj Films released “War 2” in U.S. cinemas and in India on August 14, 2025.

Review: ‘Son of Sardaar 2,’ starring Ajay Devgn, Mrunal Thakur, Ravi Kishan and Sanjay Mishra

August 3, 2025

by Carla Hay

“Son of Sardaar 2”

Directed by Vijay Kumar Arora

Hindi with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in India, in London, and in Edinburgh, Scotland, the comedy film “Son of Sardaar 2” (a sequel to the 2012 film “Son of Sardaar”) features an Indian and Pakistani cast of characters (with some white people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: After their respective spouses leave them, a chicken farmer and female entertainer pretend to be married and hide her family’s Pakistani heritage so that the entertainer’s stepdaughter can be accepted by the wealthy Indian family of the stepdaughter’s boyfriend.

Culture Audience: “Son of Sardaar 2” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, the first “Son of Sardaar” movie, and overly long silly comedies.

Pictured clockwise, from left: Ajay Devgn, Roshni Walia, Mrunal Thakur, Ashwini Kalsekar, Ravi Kishan, Sahil Mehta, Mukul Dev, Vindu Dara Singh, Deepak Dobriyal and Kubbra Sait in “Son of Sardaar 2” (Photo courtesy of Panorama Studios)

“Son of Sardaar 2” collapses under the weight of its stupidity and bloated runtime of 147 minutes. This comedy sequel stretches its main concept (parodying tense India–Pakistan relations) to the breaking point with stale and unfunny ethnic jokes. “Son of Sardaar 2” also has a questionable depiction of a gender-non-conforming person, whose gender identity is mocked in an insensitive way.

Directed by Vijay Kumar Arora, “Son of Sardaar 2” was written by Jagdeep Singh Sidhu
and Mohit Jain. The movie is a stand-alone sequel to 2012’s “Son of Sardaar,” which was a remake of the 2010 Telugu film “Maryada Ramanna.” The first “Son of Sardaar” movie was terrible, and this sequel is not an improvement.

In “Son of Sardaar 2,” Ajay Devgn reprises his staring role as Jaswinder “Jassi” Singh Randhawa. In the first “Son of Sardaar” movie, he was set to marry Sukhmeet “Sukh” Kaur Sandhu (played by Sonakshi Sinha), but that relationship is not mentioned in “Son of Sardaar 2.” Instead, Jassi is married to a woman named Dimple (played by Neeru Bajwa), who is in their native India, while chicken farmer Jassi is in Scotland and trying to get a permanent resident visa for Dimple to live with him in Scotland. Jassi has been trying for 11 years to get this visa.

Jassi and Dimple do not have any children together. Jassi lives with his overprotective and religious Hindu mother Bebe (played by Dolly Ahluwalia), who calls him frequently when she’s not with him. And then, one day, Jassi’s wish comes true: Dimple’s visa gets approved.

When Jassi meets Dimple at the airport, Dimple is accompanied by two people: a man named Robin (played by Mohan Singh Randhawa) and a woman named Disha, whom Dimple introduces as a couple who are her friends. Jassi gets the shock of his life when Dimple tells Jassi that Robin is actually Dimple’s lover, and she doesn’t want to be married to Jassi anymore. Jassi takes the breakup very hard and is reluctant to get divorced.

Meanwhile, a Pakistani Muslim family of musical entertainers in Scotland also experience a bad breakup. Danish (played by Chunky Panday), the family patriarch, is a probable alcoholic who suddenly abandons the family: Danish’s wife Rabia (played by Mrunal Thakur); Rabia’s siblings Gul (played by Deepak Dobriyal) and Mehwish (played by Kubbra Sait); and Danish’s young-adult daughter Saba (played by Roshni Walia), who was born from Danish’s previous marriage. Saba’s biological mother is deceased.

The “meet cute” moment for Jassi and Rabia happens when Jassi is scheduled to have a lunch meeting at a restaurant with a female divorce lawyer who was recommended to him. Jassi doesn’t know what this attorney looks like, so when Rabia walks by, he wrongly assumes that Rabia is the attorney. Rabia is at the restaurant for a blind date, and she thinks that Jassi is her blind date.

When Jassi begins talking to Rabia about how much she charges for her services, Rabia slaps him in anger because she thinks that Jassi mistakenly believes that she’s a sex worker. The matter is resolved when the real divorce lawyer (played by Nav Ghotra) shows up. Jassi and Rabia develop a predictable attraction to each other. Jassi eventually meets the rest of Rabia’s boisterous family.

Saba and her boyfriend Goggi (played by Sahil Mehta) are madly in love with each other. However, Goggi’s wealthy Indian family—especially his father Raja (played by Ravi Kishan)—is very conservative and prejudiced against Pakistani people. Goggi’s family always has armed security guards nearby. Through a series of circumstances, Jassi and Rabia hatch a plan to pretend to be a married Indian couple, in order for Saba to be accepted into Goggi’s family. Many ridiculous hijinks then pollute the movie.

The other members of Goggi’s family are Raja’s meddling and judgmental brothers Tony (played by Mukul Dev, in his last film role before he died in May 2025) and Tittu (played by Vindu Dara Singh), who had the same roles in the first “Son of Sardaar” movie; Raja’s wife/Goggi’s mother Premlata (played by Ashwini Kalsekar); Raja’s father Ranjit Singh (played by Sharat Saxena); and Ranjit’s wife Kim (played by Emma Kate Vansittart), who barely says anything in the movie.

Goggi’s elderly grandmother Kim used to be a pole dancer when she was young. As already revealed in the “Son of Sadaar” trailer, Kim does a pole-dancing performance that goes horribly wrong because she falls and dies. (Mia Lacey Redmond is the pole-dancing body double in this scene.) Jassi is the only witness to this accident. And he’s terrified of being blamed for Kim’s death, so there are more lies and cover-ups.

The Singh family has a buffoonish longtime neighbor named Bantu Pandey (played by Sanjay Mishra), a milk delivery person, who shows up fairly late in the movie, when wedding preparations have been made for Goggi and Saba. Bantu is part of a plot twist in the movie. This plot twist is a desperate attempt to salvage a misguided story.

“Son of Sardaar 2” has fairly good cinematography, but the movie’s production design is garish. A few of the not-funny-at-all gags involve a certain tea that has intoxicating/hallucinatory effects on anyone who drinks it. (You can easily guess that Jassi will be one of the people who drinks this tea.) The movie has some cartoonish animation to portray little aliens taking over brain cells when this tea is consumed. It all looks so tacky.

The rest of “Son of Sardaar 2” is a repeat loop of mind-numbing slapstick and scenarios where Jassi has to pretend that he was a jingoistic military colonel who fought against Pakistanis because it’s one of many lies that he nervously tells hard-to-please Raja. Meanwhile, Rabia and her family pretend to be Indians who are xenophobic against Pakistanis. Gul is either a transgender woman or gender-fluid (the movie never says which), but is not a drag queen. The movie makes Gul’s gender identity a joke when Gul says things such as Gul is a woman on the outside but a man on the inside.

The exaggerated performances in “Son of Sardaar 2” can best be described as “trying too hard to be funny in an embarrassingly horrible movie.” “Son of Sardaar 2” is an endurance test of bad comedy and bombastic song-and-dance numbers with unimpressive songs, including a horrendous scene where several ghosts come out of a graveyard to sing and dance with the main characters. Avoid this irritating film, unless you enjoy having a movie insult your intelligence for nearly two-and-a-half hours.

Panorama Studios released “Son of Sardaar 2” in select U.S. cinemas and in India on August 1, 2025.