Following the decline in openings, films have gradually started to release in theatres, as states have lifted restrictions and reopened cinema halls. Much-awaited premieres of big-budget films like Gangubai Kathiawadi, RRR, and Radhe Shyam are to hit the screens, soon.
Silverscreen India brings to you a compilation of reviews of films, which have had both theatrical and online releases:
This B Unnikrishnan directorial features actors Mohanlal, Rachana Narayanankutty, Shraddha Srinath, and Siddique, among others.
Aaraattu is the story of Neyyattinkara Gopan played by Mohanlal, who purchases a large piece of land in Chittur for construction purposes. On his arrival, he learns that residents there are forcefully being evicted from their homes by real-estate mafia.
According to Aswathy Gopalakrishnan of Silverscreen India, the film is shot without any grace, in the likes of a low-budget ad film.
“The film, which has the tone of a TikTok video, functions like an inside joke shared among the superstar’s most loyal fans who would gladly take any bitter pill that he hands out,” she writes.
She further calls the film “a museum that exhibits the relics of the 90s”, in which the supporting actors are primarily present to respond to Mohanlal’s actions.
Vishal Menon of Film Companion, reflected similar sentiments as of Gopalakrishnan’s. He noted on the film’s efforts to live in the glories of Mohanlal’s past works like Sagar Alias Jacky, Manichitrathazhu and Chitram.
“So, the first half plays out like a game of spot-the-reference, with a barrage of clues testing your devotion for Mohanlal,” he writes about the film.
SR Praveen of The Hindu, calls the film “almost three hours of all-round star worship.”
“The thin plot line appears to be an excuse for a celebration of the star from every angle possible,” he adds, and mentions that the actors in supporting roles come off as lacking depth.
Aaraattu has an IMDb rating of 6.4.
The Behzad Khambata directorial features actors Yami Gautam Dhar, Atul Kulkarni, Neha Dhupia, Dimple Kapadia, Karanvir Sharma, and others.
The story revolves around a play school teacher (Yami Gautam), who takes her students hostage and makes a proposition for her demands to be fulfilled, in exchange for the children’s release.
Although Anupama Chopra of Film Companion, calls Gautam’s casting as a gun-pointing play school teacher “clever and counter-intuitive”, the film fails in a way that it only becomes partly effective and “offers dangerous and simplistic solutions to our failed polity”, she writes.
“A Thursday is too afraid to make Naina actually dangerous or even unlikeable. Until she goes rogue, she is overwhelmingly loved by both, parents and kids,” Chopra adds.
Recommended
For Pradeep Menon of Firstpost, the film is “guiltily compelling” that comes with so few hiccups, minor in nature, they might as well not have been there.
Although he appreciated Gautam’s performance, he added that her character could have been a little less self-aware instead of being “the film’s non-stop emphasis on shock-value.”
A Thursday has an IMDb rating of 8.3.
Apart from the aforementioned films, Uncharted featuring Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg, also released in theatres on Friday.