Debutante director Ivan Ayr's Soni, isn’t as much a film about gender equality as it is about the continued endurance of gender inequality in India – riding on the back of casual sexism, male entitlement, misogyny, and uncurbed sexual violence.

Who among us hasn’t given in to the temptation of looking up Tinder matches or a new boss online, before we meet them? It’s what this “harmless” looking up leads to – when Netflix’s You implies that our soulmates might just be our stalkers – that makes it a defining series of our times.

Uri is a slick outing, which, at first pass, restrains itself from heightening its jingoism. But it’s impossible to view the film, which endorses the 2016 surgical strike, in a vacuum – especially in the current political climate. How do you turn a blind eye to the timing of its release, just a few months ahead of the 2019 general elections?

The 76th Golden Globes undid all of its sensitivity with how it dealt with two of the biggest awards of the night. It’s never a good sign when an awards ceremony warrants discussion because of its snubs rather than its wins.

The last time Deepika Padukone took up a role that showcased her versatility was four years ago, in Piku. The film is an exception in her 12-year-old career. It’s difficult not to label Padukone as risk-averse. Let’s hope, this year, the birthday girl steps out of her comfort zone.

The 620-km Women’s Wall, protesting against the tradition that bans women from entering Sabarimala Temple despite the SC verdict, is a fitting companion piece to the #MeToo wave. Like #MeToo, the Wall is as much an expression of women that cut through barriers, as it is their means to protest inequality.

Kader Khan is no more. The veteran actor, who had a prolific career as a screenplay and dialogue writer, gave us the camp classic Khoon Bhari Maang with gems like “Tune Maryam ka daaman aur Sita ki gaud dekhi hai... Durga aur Kali roop nahi dekha.”

2018 marked the arrival of the “selfish woman” on screen, who dares to prioritise her own desires over social obligations: Think Tabu in Andhadhun and Radhika Madan in Pataakha. But has Bollywood really been more inclusive of women behind the scenes?

With Simmba, Rohit Shetty reduces rape to a buzzword in an exaggerated comedy to prove that his cinematic universe isn’t all nonsensical. Ranveer Singh almost elevates this testosterone-fuelled drivel into surprisingly entertaining fare, but only until a woman is violated for him to realise his true calling.

Ratna Pathak Shah is synonymous with layered, evocative performances that acquire a fandom of their own. In the last two years alone, with stellar roles in Love Per Square Foot and Lipstick Under My Burkha, Shah has had a more envious acting resume than any of her younger peers.

Growing up, I wanted to be nothing like my parents. I spent a significant part of my teenage years defining myself in opposition to my parents. Yet, over time, the very traits that I disliked about them slowly became my own – and that’s when I truly understood them.

SRK’s Bauua Singh is a carefully orchestrated and subtle attempt to insult the intellect of audiences – exactly what makes Anand L Rai’s Zero even more manipulative than Sanju. The film might be the worst reminder of SRK’s incompetence in completely inhabiting a character.

Small affections – knowing how much sugar your partner likes in their coffee, reaching out for their hand instinctively during a Netflix binge – mould companionship. The beauty of these intimacies are that they don’t announce themselves to the world but demand a keen familiarity.

Alfonso Cuarón’s autobiographical Roma doesn’t simply imitate or recreate life in an upscale neighbourhood in 1970 Mexico City. Instead the black-and-white spectacle captures the memory of childhood, in unflinching clarity.

In Peter Hedges’ Ben Is Back, maternal love comes without an expiry date – just like drug addiction. The film investigates the aftermath of addiction, both as a raging epidemic and as a crushing emotion.

At a political rally in Alwar, Sharad Yadav called Vasundhara Raje “moti”. Sadly, he isn’t the first politician to body shame a woman colleague, and he won’t be the last.

Like most Hindi films, Kedarnath presents a love story saddled with infuriating tropes about Muslims and modern courtship. In the film, Sara Ali Khan behaves like an outspoken guy but needs a knight in shining armour to save her. And its Muslim hero has to offer a character certificate.

The “joy of missing out” is cutting off deliberately and not regretting it. This joy comes with respecting your time and dedicating it to pursuits of pleasures meant not for display – but for yourself.

Despite Rajinikanth’s presence, 2.0 ensures it is an equal battleground for its hero and antagonist. It’s the villain Pakshirajan – a fabulous Akshay Kumar – who gets the indulgent backstory; he’s the first character we see in the film and the only one to merit a song.

Green Book takes a muddled viewpoint of racism. But together, Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen bring to screen an unforgettable chemistry that’s poignant, rousing, and which single-handedly enlivens the broad strokes of the film’s script.

Matthew Heineman’s A Private War, features an electrically charged Rosamund Pike, who undergoes a physical, emotional, and vocal transformation to play slain war correspondent Marie Colvin. The film doesn’t bother itself with details, instead investing in the civilians bearing the brunt of war.

Sara Ali Khan appeared on Koffee With Karan with her famous abba. It was assumed that she’d be docile like Alia Bhatt or evade questions like Sonam Kapoor. But by the end of Koffee With Karan’s most refreshing episode of the season, she had given the rest of her peers a crash course in individuality.

Chandraprakash Dwivedi’s Mohalla Assi, starring Sunny Deol, releases today after a three-year-long fight with the CBFC. But it hardly feels like a victory. Instead the film feels weakened by its dated release, punished for being critical of the government.

A celebrity wedding is as much an entertainment commodity as a big-banner film. Ranveer and Deepika have coordinated everything from their Instagram wedding announcement, to Koffee With Karan’s opening episode which was designed only to get us hyped about the shaadi.

Vijay Krishna Acharya's Thugs of Hindostan is one of Bollywood’s most unambitious and derivative films; it redefines the idea of an epic disaster. It’s a frightening love-child of Mohenjo Daro and Mangal Pandey — only a thousand times worse.

Baazaar doesn’t have characters – just caricatures. Every plot point of the film is an extended open-mic joke that refuses to land. And you can tell a lot about a film where the lead – Rohan Mehra in his debut role – exists just to prove that Arjun Kapoor isn’t the most one-dimensional actor in Bollywood.

The unprecedented success of Badhaai Ho has catapulted Gajraj Rao straight into the spotlight. Although, the actor is no stranger to the Hindi film industry, it’s only in the 25th year of his career that he has become a film’s driving force and is afforded as much screen time as the lead, Ayushmann Khurrana.

As any Bong will tell you, our Durga Puja wardrobe is sacred, as big a deal as gulping down telebhajas without being punished by indigestion. We deliberate on our outfits as seriously as world leaders discuss pressing issues at the G20 Summit.

Badhaai Ho is a delightful comedy that exposes society’s hypocrisy toward sex. It underlines our unwillingness to view our parents as sexual beings, effectively asking, “Can Indians acknowledge love and intimacy only when it is young?”

Damien Chazelle’s First Man, a film about Neil Armstrong and his journey, isn’t about the mission to the moon. Or even about the moon. It’s a sombre portrait of what going to the moon and back does to a man.

Barely three months after Race 3, Salman Khan has bankrolled another nightmare, by introducing his brother-in-law Aayush Sharma in the hope that he’ll pass off as an actor. If this is not Being Inhuman, we don’t know what is.

Sriram Raghavan’s Andhadhun is a brilliant urban noir thriller. The film is all about clever writing, top-notch execution, and hard-hitting social commentary – but it is also a triumph of casting, and an ode to actors.

No matter how hard you scream about sexual harassment within the industry, Bollywood does not want to know. This is a machinery oiled by collective denial, which makes A-listers like Amitabh Bachchan refuse to take a stand against a male oppressor. Denial explains the flourishing careers of Salman Khan and Sanjay Dutt.

There’s an unspoken understanding that men are entitled to their appetites. But any woman who eats more than her acceptable “womanly” quota is spoken about in hushed whispers. For all our liberal outlook, the food that women of my generation heap onto our plates is still coloured by the assumption that we’re meant to eat less.

Sharat Katariya’s Sui Dhaaga falters in several places, but it shines when the spotlight is on its women. In a film about dignity of labour, Katariya’s mastery is most evident in parts where the focus is on the immense emotional and domestic labour every married small-town woman inevitably shoulders.

Sisters are each other’s strength and weakness – you can’t live with them, can’t live without them. Vishal Bhardwaj’s Pataakha understands this language of sisterhood, where throwing abuses, insults, and jabs at each other is par for the course.

The National Award-winning Village Rockstars, India’s official entry to the Oscars, is a one-woman operation. While Rima Das intended the film to be a tribute to her village, her sensitivity and warmth guarantees that it also captures the innocence of childhood – and the doting bond between mothers and daughters.

Bill Hader’s Barry isn’t refreshing because of how casually it reverses all the crime-thriller tropes but because of how cleverly it employs them. The show’s best laughs arise from the fact that many of its protagonists view the business of killing as just another job.

Most Indian biopics are hagiographies, glossing over the imperfections of their protagonists. Nandita Das’s Manto is none of that. Her Manto is a dazzling writer, betrayed Indian, troubled alcoholic, and an absent family man in the backdrop of a divided nation.

We’ve long been accustomed to a bloated, overwrought kind of Hollywood film that exploits India’s poverty and suffering. Enter, Tabrez Noorani’s Love Sonia, that fetishises sex trafficking to eventually celebrate America’s saviour complex.

Anurag Kashyap’s Manmarziyaan is both a manifesto of modern love and a statement against Bollywood's unrealistic portrayal of love triangles. Aided by smart writing and affecting performances, the film subverts the nice guy trope and squashes the idea of the one true love.

For a lot of people, unwinding comes in the form of a Netflix binge, reclaiming a hobby, or yelling at random strangers on the internet for not wearing the right shade of woke. Me? I prefer listening to drunk girls inside a pub bathroom tell me how beautiful I am.

Men and women have reacted to Serena Williams’ outburst at the US Open final differently. Several men viewed it rather straightforwardly, siding with fairness in sport. The larger chunk of the support for Williams has come from women across the world – possibly because stuff like this happens to us every day.

The Supreme Court's historic judgement that repealed Section 377 was based on one universal message: The right to love. It’s an open discussion on love that benefits all of us, irrespective of our gender or sexual orientation.

Sajid Ali's Laila Majnu will easily end up as the most conflicting piece of cinema this year. It tests your patience with a frustrating first hour and then presents an affecting 30-minute sequence that offers a visceral portrait of the insanity of love.

A far cry from the standard alpha-male action hero, Jack Ryan is a mild-mannered protagonist who resembles an unassuming Everyman despite being entrusted with saving the world. In humanising its lead, the show conveys a pertinent idea: Not all spies are born with it.

Jack Ryan tracks an unassuming but troubled desk-bound analyst’s heroic turn into a duty agent heeding the call of duty. But its strength lies in its awareness that the war on terror is after all, a terror too.

In Amar Kaushik’s Stree, gender roles are reversed: Men are forced to comply with society’s impractical rules and police their behaviour for no fault of their own. The film uses its supernatural spirit to imagine a safer world for women, but fails to eventually carry it through.

Calcutta is full of quiet, wise fathers who have long adopted afternoon naps as a shared reaction to happiness, affection, anger, and exhaustion. Take my father for instance, over the years he has napped through celebrations, movies, and wailing babies on flights

Like Get Out and Pari, the Radhika Apte-starrer Ghoul underlines horror with context and uses it as a device to drive home a point about prejudice and gross injustice. In all three, humans are the hunters – not the hunted.

Mani Ratnam’s Dil Se.. shed a light on human rights violations and the government’s indifference to the state of affairs in India’s North East. It also remains one of the finest depictions of the all-consuming insanity of love, and leaves you with the idea that love is no less damaging than war.

For a film about sport, Gold treats hockey as a mere formality in service of an Akshay Kumar vanity project. It only exploits the star’s various talents: enthusiastic comic timing, the ability to arouse nationalistic pride, and romancing a much younger actress.

Anubhav Sinha’s pleasantly hard-hitting Mulk doesn’t stray far from what is unfolding in the country at the moment. Just like in the film, an entire community has been othered and demonised. Muslims are repeatedly asked to prove their loyalty — a test that is automatically beyond their reach in a country that’s already decided that their religion excludes patriotism.

Karwaan has its share of shortcomings but it is resolutely modern – by emphasising that a girl and a guy can just be friends. This road-trip film is also proof that you can find yourself without letting a manufactured love story derail it.

Anil Kapoor single-handedly stops Fanney Khan from being a train-wreck. The 61-year-old sings, dances, and emotes with the electrifying energy and sincerity of a newcomer hell-bent on creating an impression. And this isn’t even the first time he’s has played an age-appropriate role.

After successfully foraying into Telugu and Tamil cinema, Dulquer Salmaan, a bonafide Malayalam star, is making his Bollywood debut with Karwaan. His soaring fan-following that defies language and age barriers is because he feels like the realest actor we’ve witnessed in a long long time.

Even years after their marriage, my parents remained complete strangers to each other. Their only common connection was their children. And then my sister and I moved out.

Vicky Kaushal has mastered the art of blending in. As he awaits the release of Manmarziyaan, his fifth film this year, it's clear that he’s one of the few actors who is aware that his presence and talent is a contribution to any film, not its headline gift.

Like Harry Potter, my biggest dream is also to be the chosen one. I’m ardently waiting for the day when the waitstaff at an Indian restaurant decides that I – instead of my male companion – am qualified enough to be handed the bill after a meal.

Spoiler alert: Dhadak is as terrible as anyone who has watched Sairat expected it to be. If there’s anyone who can take the ignored issue of caste and ignore it even further, it’s a Karan Johar production. The result is a risible, candyfloss film that embodies everything Sairat mocked.

In Soorma, Sandeep Singh’s wife – Harpreet Kaur in the film – abandons her husband soon after he is paralysed. She is also painted as a distraction for Singh’s goal-scoring abilities. I’ll let you guess what happened in real life. Hint: None of it.

As Killing Eve and GLOW have proved, there’s nothing more fun than watching women being absolute jerks – and absolutely human – on screen. If these shows, frontrunners for the Emmys, are any indication, we’re thankfully past the age of niceness.

Isle of Dogs is a testament to the urgent need for animated movies to address socio-political context. Just like last year’s Paddington 2, Wes Anderson also emphasises the power of kindness and the importance of embracing outsiders instead of expelling them.

In Netflix’s Sacred Games, Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane deliver a thriller that doesn’t shy away from being an indictment on religion. The show argues that religion has always been used to shape politics, commit murder, and amass wealth.

If you’ve ever wondered whether it was possible to pull off a millennial iteration of When Harry Met Sally, Set It Up comes very, very close. It exists as a canny tribute to the rom-coms of yesteryear, hitting a sweet, nostalgic feel-good spot.

In Sanju, Ranbir Kapoor hits the peak of his physical acting. It’s a trait that has elevated most of his roles. For, Kapoor doesn’t just act or deliver lines or play fictional characters. He recreates them down to the very last detail.

In Rajkumar Hirani’s biopic on Sanjay Dutt’s life, the greatest villain is the media – not Dutt’s self-destructive behaviour. Sanju does exactly what it proudly announces that it doesn’t do: glorify Sanjay Dutt.

The FIFA World Cup 2018 has been full of surprises just like Germany's loss tonight and these annoying football fans who turn up at every house party. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, the world is incomplete without these un-fans around you.

The most inventive stroke of Ari Aster’s Hereditary is that it has the greatest horror villain of all time: family inheritance. The film takes the saying “skeletons in the closet” literally, giving us a genuinely terrifying portrait of a family’s breakdown.

Race 3 swaps Nawab Khan for Blackbuck Khan and makes the grave mistake of thinking it can pass off as a film. It is so excruciatingly brainless that it makes Baaghi 2 look like a cinematic accomplishment.

In the Netflix anthology Lust Stories, Zoya Akhtar, Dibakar Banerjee, Anurag Kashyap, and Karan Johar do the delicate dance between emphasising how “lust” is a forbidden emotion for Indian women and how despite this conditioning, women seem to know exactly how to recognise it.

In admitting that the Quantico episode showing a fictional Hindu being a terrorist was inaccurate and implying that she prioritised nationalism over everything else, Priyanka Chopra did the opposite of what we’ve come to expect out of her: taking a stand.

After doing a surgical strike on Mani Ratnam’s OK Kanmani, Karan Johar is all set to ruin Nagraj Manjule’s Sairat by remaking it as Dhadak with Janhvi Kapoor and Ishaan Khattar.

Last night, Sunil Chhetri and his men who won 3-0, forced Mumbai to keep aside its cynicism and invest in the other boys in blue. It taught Mumbaikars that any sport is a two-way game: It thrives on its determined players as much as on its spirited supporters.

Dear Indian Grandmother offended by the masturbation scene in Veere Di Wedding, it's understandable why you were flabbergasted after watching it. After all, the last time you watched a film featuring four women was the Nirma commercial.

Let down by Harshvardhan Kapoor, Bhavesh Joshi Superhero gets close, but never quite addresses the elephant in the room: the futility of vigilantism. All it succeeds at becoming is a cross between Malad’s Rang De Basanti and Dahanu’s The Shape Of Water.

Veere Di Wedding stars four talented actresses, is produced by two women, and co-written by one. That makes the film a worthy candidate for The Bechdel Test. But does it fulfill the three conditions: Does it have two or more female characters, do they talk to each other, and do they discuss something other than men?

We are so used to seeing martyr moms and haanikarak bapus on screen, that Farooq Shaikh’s portrayal as Bunny’s endearing dad in Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani provides a much-needed respite. The film, which completes five years today, rejects stereotyping the older generation as dream killers.

When I was growing up, litchis were on an equal footing with mangoes during the summer. But now, you have Katrina Kaif seductively endorsing the shiny yellow fruit. As a result, the humble litchi remains as ignored as Abhishek Bachchan.

Before the age of socially conscious filmmaking dawned on us, Shaad Ali's Bunty Aur Babli, that completes 13 years this week, reminded Bollywood that it’s possible to make an entire film on just one word: fun.

Book Club – starring Acting Avengers Jane Fonda, Diane Keaton, Candice Bergen, and, Mary Steenburgen — puts the limelight on the sex lives of older women, normalising their desires and insecurities.

The four-year age gap between me and my sister never seemed to matter. That is, until my 21-year-old sister decided to visit me during her college break, and I found myself morphing into a reluctant parent.

Dear Harry Puttar and Meghan Bahu, to make sure that no commoner’s derrière gets more attention that the two of you, keep only one rule in mind, which, in the words of visionary Kim Kardashian, is “Break the internet”. All you need is a hashtag – I suggest #HarryDiWedding – and the Queen dancing to “London Thumakda”.

Like Jim and Pam from The Office, our deadline-laden stressful work environments demand that we have a work spouse of our own. It's like having a safety net even when you’re comfortably sheltered; sort of like being gifted a colleague with endless benefits.

The lives of the big-eyed, gentle-faced, and maach-guzzling Bengalis are marred by a potent shadow of the world’s most deadly dose of ABC – ambol (acidity), bodhojom (indigestion), and constipation. It’s no wonder then, that the easiest way to a Bengali’s appetite is through a strip of Digene.

For a film that has clouds of nationalism overpowering every frame, the implication that patriotism is a choice – one that the protagonists are not even offered – is a brave one to make. Yet it seamlessly fits in. For Meghna Gulzar has ensured Raazi isn’t a patriotic film. Instead, it’s a film about the aftermath of patriotism.

The Handmaid’s Tale has returned with a searing second season that dwells on how the spirit of Gilead, where women have no control over their bodies, has always been alive in the real world. It’s a horrifying watch, particularly in the wake of what we’ve witnessed in Kathua and Unnao.

In a culture that still relies on the problematic viewing of children as their parents' property, 102 Not Out encourages pressurising the younger generation into fulfilling dual obligations of being both a caregiver and caretaker at the peak of their youth.

Hansal Mehta’s biopics are marked by a deep-dive into the minds of his central characters. And that is the greatest weakness of Omertà, a film on the terrorist Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh. It is about as effective as a dramatised Wikipedia entry – there is nothing in its 96-minute runtime that we don’t already know.

Bengalis love Satyajit Ray and his work nearly as much as we love boasting about our impeccable knowledge about the multi-hyphenate filmmaker and universal Bengali inspiration’s incredible existence. Even if we've seen a sum total of one Ray film.

Overpacking for a vacation is a lot like being in a cult. Not only do you have to be in denial about being an overpacker, but also indulge in massive amounts of delusion and commit to making life miserable for yourself.

Veere Di Wedding comes with a baffling condition: Its insistence at not being labelled a “chick flick”. It's a film that’s for women, by women and of women. And there’s no better time to offer the world a polished definition of chick flicks, celebrating women and their stories, than now.

Three-time National Award-winner and arguably Bollywood’s most respected choreographer, Saroj Khan defended the casting couch today. In doing so, she singlehandedly put the film industry light years behind in ensuring that it can also be a safe workplace for actresses.

An indispensable asset of every Bengali, whether they are probashi, bheto, nyaka, or ghoti is their absolute dependency on the wide-ranging powers of the handy Boroline. For us, it’s not just an ointment, but a way of life; just like aloor chop on a Sunday evening or a KKR match at Eden Gardens.

Shoojit Sircar and Juhi Chaturvedi’s October paints a very affecting portrait of bereavement that acknowledges a stage of the grieving process that is rarely discussed on screen: survivor’s guilt.

In John Krasinski’s A Quiet Place, silence holds the key to survival. Unlike assembly-line Hollywood horror, the film’s greatest strength lies in its ability to create a visual atmosphere of horror from its quietude.

Irrfan Khan's Blackmail taps something very accurate about the monsters that reside in all of us – a part that we’re happy to deny. All that the film needed, was to be a bit more brutal in the assessment of its evil lead.

A break up is followed by a round of post-break-up confessions. What could be wrong with straightforward honesty from the person who deeply cared about us? But in this seemingly friendly break-up match, no one wins – and most importantly, you lose the hardest.

Tiger Shroff's Baaghi 2 comes very close to convincing you that there can be no action hero unless he has an “I love my India” tattoo on his forehead, and no action film if it doesn’t act as a PSA for the army. It makes you miss the times when Bollywood action heroes had dhai kilo ka haath instead of dhai kilo ke abs.

Being a runner-up in a world that places an unbending prestige on being the absolute best at everything is like being a dusty cassette in the time of Apple Music; an expiry-date-laden book shop in the age of the immortal Kindle; wholly redundant.