First Day First Show | Reviews of ‘Guns & Gulaabs’ and ‘Blue Beetle’

(This article forms a part of the First Day First Show newsletter that brings you the latest and best from the world of movies and entertainment. Subscribe now)

Around Tinsel Town

>> ‘Jailer’, ‘Gadar 2’, ‘Bhola Shankar’ and ‘OMG 2’ create box office history

Last weekend (August 11 to 12), multiplexes and cinema halls witnessed a record number of admissions driven by movies such as Gadar 2, Jailer, OMG 2 and Bhola Shankar, boosting their combined gross box office collection to over Rs 390 crore. The weekend set a “new all-time theatrical gross box office record” in its 100 years of history, said a joint statement from the Multiplex Association of India (MAI) and Producers Guild of India (PGI).

>> Hollywood Strike | Writers to evaluate counterproposal from studios

The union representing the Hollywood writers strike said on Friday it had received a counterproposal from the studios that it would consider, an apparent sign of progress in the more than 100-day-old strike. The Writers Guild of America (WGA) said it would respond next week “after deliberation” on the offer from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which negotiates on behalf of companies including Walt Disney and Netflix.

Bollywood

‘Jawan’ clips leaked online, Shah Rukh Khan’s company files FIR

Akshay Kumar’s ‘Welcome 3’ to release on Christmas 2024

Varun Tej, Manushi Chhillar’s Hindi-Telugu bilingual titled ‘Operation Valentine’

Lara Dutta, Patralekhaa to star in revenge-drama ‘Suryast’

Vicky Kaushal-led ‘The Great Indian Family’ gets release date

Manoj Bajpayee to star in and produce action film ‘Bhaiyaaji’

Author Yashica Dutt demands due credit in ‘Made in Heaven’ Season 2

Akshay Kumar becomes Indian citizen on Independence Day

Diljit Dosanjh’s ‘Punjab 95’ pulled from Toronto Film Festival lineup

Hollywood

‘Barbie’ box office run makes Greta Gerwig the highest-grossing female director in the U.S.

Oprah Winfrey, Meryl Streep, Michael B. Jordan to be honoured at Academy Museum Gala

First look of Jenna Ortega, Tommy Lee Jones from ‘Finestkind’ out

Apple TV+ lands new documentary with Lionel Messi

Dev Patel, Mindy Kaling team up for ‘To Kill a Tiger’

Cancelled Netflix series ‘Warrior Nun’ to return as trilogy of films

Millie Bobby Brown says she is ready for ‘Stranger Things’ to end

First look at Peter Dinklage’s ‘The Toxic Avenger’ out

Bradley Cooper criticised for prosthetic nose in ‘Maestro’ while Leonard Bernstein’s children defend him

Godzilla and Titans live-action original series is titled ‘Monarch: Legacy of Monsters’

Regional Cinema

Mohanlal’s next with Jeethu Joseph titled ‘Neru’; film goes on floors

Rashmika Mandanna to star in Dhanush’s film with Sekhar Kammula

Mammootty’s next film is titled ‘Bramayugam’

Nidhhi Agerwal joins the cast of Prabhas’ ‘Raja Deluxe’

First look of Saif Ali Khan from Jr. NTR-Koratala Siva’s ‘Devara’ out

The official first week collection details of Rajinikanth’s ‘Jailer’ has been revealed

Kamal Haasan releases ‘Hey Ram’ on YouTube on India’s 77th Independence Day

Samyuktha roped in for Nikhil Siddhartha’s ‘Swayambhu’; film goes on floors

Vijay Antony’s next film titled ‘Romeo’

‘Miss Shetty and Mr Polishetty’ gets a new release date

World Cinema

TIFF 2023 lineup to include films of Wang Bing, Chantal Akerman, Jean-Luc Godard

Hayao Miyazaki’s final film ‘The Boy and the Heron’ to open San Sebastian festival

Iranian filmmaker and producer face prison for showing film at Cannes without state permission

Lisa becomes first K-pop star to be inducted into Asian Hall of Fame

Series lineup of TIFF 2023 includes ‘All the Light We Cannot See’, ‘Bad Boy’ and ‘Expats’

Trailers

Ravi Teja aims for pan India reach with ‘Tiger Nageswara Rao’ teaser

Rakshit Shetty’s ‘Sapta Sagaradaache Ello (Side A)‘ trailer hints at a tragic romance

Shane Nigam, Antony Varghese, Neeraj Madhav pack a punch in ‘RDX’ trailer

Sasikumar and Sarath Kumar fight it out in ‘Naa Naa’ trailer

Bharathiraja, Gautam Vasudev Menon’s ‘Karumegangal Kalaigindrana’ trailer portrays a delicate relationship

Arjun looks menacing in ‘Glimpse of Harold Das’ from Vijay’s ‘Leo’

Nivin Pauly is a man with a plan in the teaser of ‘Ramachandra Boss & Co’

New in streaming

New on Netflix in August: Manga series adaptation One Piece, the coming-of-age comedy You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah, Season 3 of Ragnarok, and more

New on Disney+ Hotstar in August: Season 1 of Ahsoka, Season 4 of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, Cuando Frank Conocio a Carlitos, and more

Coming to Apple TV+: Season 2 of Invasion, Joseph Gordon-Levitt-starrer Flora and Son, documentary Wanted: The Escape of Carlos Ghosn, and more

New on Amazon Prime Video this week: Docuseries AP Dhillon: First Of A Kind, Brazilian crime drama Cangaço Novo, Season 1 of Harlan Coben’s Shelter, and more

Essential reading

1) JD Chakravarthy: I knew from day one that we were on to something big with ‘Dayaa’

>> The actor shares how he and director Pavan Sadineni would have almost not worked with each other for the series

2) Raj & DK go to Gulaabgunj in ‘Guns & Gulaabs’, their new series on Netflix

>> The director duo talk about the self-aware storytelling and cross-industry casting for their new Netflix series

3) Raj B Shetty on his Kannada film ‘Toby’, the importance of collaborating with writers, and making his first big-scale film

>> The actor-director opens up on the comparisons with his previous film ‘Garuda Gamana Vrishabha Vahana’

4) Why can’t Sarath Kumar stop playing cops? The veteran actor answers

>> Team ‘Paramporul’ speak about what intrigued them about the world of idol smuggling that is explored in the film

5) Atharvaa: The definition of love has changed since the days of ‘Idhayam’

>> The actor talks about his web-series debut ‘Mathagam’, steering away from the kind of roles his father did and more

6) Here’s how ‘Made in Heaven’ disturbs conventional ideas about marriages

>> The series merits appreciation for trying to reflect upon marriage institutions through a subaltern perspective

7) Ricky Kej talks about his latest Independence Day music video, how AI will impact music and more

>> He shares how he performed the National Anthem with a 100-member orchestra at the iconic Abbey Road studios in London

8) Malayalam director Sreejith N talks about his upcoming web series ‘Master Peace’

>> The filmmaker finds bridging the generation gap and maintaining peace to be the essence of ‘Master Peace’

9) Sumana Kittur: Short films create a bridge between the maker and cinema

>> One of the jury members at the recently concluded BISFF, Sumana feels there is a lacuna in marketing and promoting short films

10) Madhusudhan Havaldar on the success of ‘Sri Prasanna Venkata Dasaru’

>> The filmmaker talks about his 10-year project to cover ‘Dasa Sahitya’ and ‘Vachana Sahitya’

What to watch

1) Netflix’s ‘Guns & Gulaabs’ series is charmingly dazed and confused

Read the full review here

2) ‘Blue Beetle’ is a hearty caper that flies above formulaic narrative and superhero fatigue

Read the full review here

3) Abhishek Bachchan and Saiyami Kher pitch it right in ‘Ghoomer’, an uplifting sports drama

Read the full review here

4) Sushmita Sen portrays transgender activist Shreegauri Sawant in a respectful but conventional series in ‘Taali’

Read the full review here

5) Dhyan Sreenivasan’s bleak Malayalam film ‘Jailer’ hardly gets anything right

Read the full review here

6) ‘Ustaad’ is an imperfect yet warm coming-of-age story of a boy and his bike 

Read the full review here

7) ‘Painkiller’ is a hollow take on America’s opioid crisis that offers nothing new

Read the full review here

8) ‘1001 Nunakal’ is a decently-staged film in a familiar setting

Read the full review here

9) The Naveen Shankar-starrer ‘Kshetrapathi’ is a loud and melodramatic look at farmers’ issues

Read the full review here