There’s no sign of the new Hotstar Indian Original shows Good Wife or Mistryon Hulu, which is par for the course these days. But, hey, they just added the 1987 film Imaandaar, so that’s something.
Since we’re at the mid-point of the year — and there’s not much new to watch on a holiday weekend — here are my Top 5 films of 2025 so far (with the caveat that I haven’t seen any of the Hindi theatrical releases from May or June yet):
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I updated my list of Bollywood movies on Netflix with yesterday’s streaming debut of the Ajay Devgn action sequel Raid 2. (2018’s Raid isn’t currently streaming legally anywhere in the United States, as far as I can tell.) The Mani Ratnam-Kamal Haasan Tamil action flick Thug Life could come to Netflix as early as next week after a disappointing theatrical release earlier this month.
One last reminder that all these Hindi films expire from Netflix on July 1:
I noticed that four Telugu movies that released in May 2024 — Aa… Okkati Adakku, Gam Gam Ganesha, Krishnamma, and Star — are no longer available on Prime in the United States. Sharmajee Ki Beti released directly on Prime on June 28, 2024, so it lasted exactly a year as well. Not sure if these new one-year Amazon licensing agreements apply across the board and around the globe, but it’s a reminder that movies don’t stay on streaming services forever.
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I updated my list of Bollywood movies on Amazon Prime with the streaming premiere of Emraan Hashmi’s terrorism flick Ground Zero. Amazon also released a trailer for its first Original Telugu film Uppu Kappurambu, which debuts July 4:
Yesterday, ZEE5 premiered the Diljit Dosanjh mystery film Detective Sherdil.
Finally, I updated my list of Bollywood movies on Netflix with release dates for a couple of Original projects. The R. Madhavan-Fatima Sana Shaikh romance film Aap Jaisa Koi debuts on July 11, followed by the Vir Das comedy special Fool Volume on July 18. The celebrity chat show The Great Indian Kapil Show returns on Saturday, June 21 with a big first guest — Salman Khan:
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Finally, I updated my list of Bollywood movies on Netflix with the streaming debut of Sunny Deol’s action flick Jaat. I also updated the list with a massive collection of Hindi films from Viacom 18 studios that are set to expire from Netflix on July 1. They’ve expired and returned before, but there’s no guarantee that they’ll be back on Netflix any time soon (or at all). Here are all the films on the way out, along with links to my reviews of the films I’ve seen:
I’m taking next week off for vacation. Have a good one! — Kathy
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There are no new Indian movies on Amazon Prime this week, but I am excited to watch the kidnapping thriller Stolen when it premieres June 4 (the afternoon of June 3 in the US):
I updated my list of Bollywood movies on Netflix with today’s streaming debut of John Abraham’s political thriller The Diplomat. Yesterday, the streamer added the Tamil film Good Bad Ugly and the Telugu comedy Jack. All eyes are on tomorrow’s premiere of the new Hindi Original romance series The Royals, starring Ishaan Khatter and Bhumi Pednekar.
I also updated my list of Bollywood movies on Amazon Prime with today’s premiere of the Hindi series Gram Chikitsalay and yesterday’s addition of Tamannaah Bhatia’s Telugu supernatural thriller Odela 2. News broke today that the romantic comedy Bhool Chuk Maaf — starring Rajkummar Rao and Wamiqa Gabbi — is forgoing its planned May 9 theatrical release and instead premiering directly on Amazon Prime on May 16 (or the afternoon of May 15 if you’re in the United States). [Update: The movie’s release on Prime probably won’t happen as scheduled due to a lawsuit. Update 2:Bhool Chuk Maafwill get a theatrical release, but with a shorter exclusivity window. It could come to Prime as soon as June 6.]
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Netflix kicks off an entertaining new (potential) franchise with Jewel Thief: The Heist Begins, a fun, vibrant caper with a charming leading man.
Saif Ali Khan stars as Rehan Roy, a master thief who’s eluded Indian police for years. The cops follow him all the way to Budapest, Hungary, where he delights in giving them the slip.
Cheeky Rehan isn’t the first character we’re introduced to. That honor goes to Rajan Aulakh (Jaideep Ahlawat), a gangster-turned-art-collector who isn’t as far removed from his former profession as he purports to be. His accountant learns that the hard way when an error costs Rajan money, and the accountant meets a brutal end at his boss’s hands. It’s one of the rare instances of violence in an otherwise mostly bloodless film, but it establishes high stakes for anyone who gets involved with Rajan.
The gangster learns of an upcoming Mumbai exhibition of a rare African diamond called the Red Sun. One of the only people in the underworld who could fence something so expensive is the crime boss Moosa (Loitongbam Dorendra Singh), whom Rajan double-crossed a decade ago. Handing over the Red Sun would finally get Rajan off Moosa’s hit list, but he needs the help of an expert thief to get it.
Rehan doesn’t join forces willingly. He learns he’s been pressed into service when his estranged brother Avi (Gagan Arora, who brings intense emotion to his small role) arrives in Budapest to tell him that Rajan donated dirty money to their father’s charity hospital. Unless Rehan returns to Mumbai to steal the jewel, Rajan will report Baba (Kulbushan Kharbanda) to the authorities, destroying him and his hospital.
From this point on, we see Rehan doing what he does best: executing complicated plans that keep him one step ahead of everyone else. It starts with getting into India before top cop Vikram Patel (Kunal Kapoor) can nab him at the airport. Then Rehan, Rajan, and Rajan’s goons devise a scheme to nab the Red Sun before the museum exhibition opens. These sequences are a ton of fun, giving fans of heist movies everything they want from the genre.
Another necessary genre convention is a beautiful woman to complicate the thief’s plans. That would be Rajan’s wife, Farrah (Nikita Dutta), a painter trapped in an abusive marriage. When she lends a sympathetic ear to Rehan about his family problems, he resolves to steal her away from Rajan along with the diamond.
Having multiple subplots — not always a given in Hindi films — enriches the story and adds depth to Rehan’s character. It gives him more to explore in subsequent movies (which haven’t been officially greenlit by Netflix but are clearly planned by the film’s creator and producer Siddharth Anand).
The good news is that, should Netflix opt out of future films, this franchise could easily transition to a theatrical model because it feels like a big-budget release. International filming locations like Budapest and “Istanbul” (which at one point is represented by a shot of the Griffith Museum overlooking Los Angeles) contribute to the vibe, as do the glamorous sets and vivid color palette. It’s a very pleasing movie to look at.
Best of all is its perfect cast. Khan knows how to blend humor with sincerity, making Rehan a crook you love to root for. Kapoor and Dutta are a bit underutilized, but they do exactly what their roles need to impact the story.
Fans of Ahlawat are in for a treat. He’s menacing in a quiet, controlled way, making him all the scarier. When he unleashes upon someone, it’s quick and devastating. Ahlawat’s dancing in the disco-inspired credits song “Jaadu” grabbed attention because it’s not something he’s done much on screen, but he shows in the film’s few, highly entertaining fight scenes that he’s a skilled physical performer.
Also, kudos to Mohd. Faiz Abrar for really well-executed English subtitles. Jewel Thief: The Heist Begins has real crossover hit potential, and quality subtitles will play a big part if it takes off internationally.
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The BIG Netflix news is that 3 dozen movies from UTV Motion Pictures are set to expire on April 30. A mass UTV exodus happened before in 2022, and while most of the films that expired returned after a month or two, some didn’t come back — and a lot of those movies aren’t streaming anywhere in the United States. If there’s something on this list that you really want to watch (or re-watch), best to prioritize it, just in case. Here’s what’s leaving Netflix at the end of this month:
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Director Rosshan Andrrews makes his Hindi-language debut with Deva, a remake of his 2013 Malayalam movie Mumbai Police. Screenwriting duo Bobby-Sanjay return to update their original script with a different climax, which feels hastily added and unsupported by the rest of the story.
Shahid Kapoor stars as Dev, Mumbai’s most notorious cop. I’m not sure how closely the new lead character hews to the one Prithviraj Sukumaran played in Mumbai Police, but Dev feels like he was pulled out of cold storage. He’s aggressively macho, breaks all the rules, yet is best friends with two upright fellow officers: Rohan (Pavail Gulati) and Farhan (Pravesh Rana), who’s also Dev’s brother-in-law.
The film opens with Dev getting in a motorcycle accident as he’s leaving a voicemail message for Farhan saying that he’s solved a notable murder case. The accident leaves Dev with amnesia, but Farhan chooses to keep that a secret. Dev’s the best cop there is, and Farhan trusts that Dev’s instincts will help him solve the case again, even if he’s starting from scratch.
The action flashes back to before the accident, as chain-smoking Dev roams about Mumbai smashing the heads of informants and drawing his gun on whomever he pleases. As long as Dev wears civilian attire when doing so, none of his superiors seem to care. It’s useful to have someone who doesn’t care about the rule of law to enforce the rules on others.
While the film gives a few nods to police brutality being undemocratic, it still celebrates its use. Dev always looks cool while beating the crap out of people, and the film’s action scenes are quite entertaining. But there’s something grim about Dev telling a crime boss, “Mumbai isn’t anyone’s kingdom. Mumbai belongs to the Mumbai police.” Not the citizens — the police.
Before Dev is able to confront the boss face to face, the police are repeatedly thwarted in the efforts to find him by a mole in their midst. Journalist Diya (Pooja Hegde) is eager to expose the mole’s identity. She takes his subterfuge personally, as her police constable father is injured in the effort to nab the boss. Her dad’s injury brings Diya and Dev closer together, and soon they are in love.
The intensity that Kapoor brings to his portrayal of Dev is one of the main reasons this movie works at all. He’s the right actor for the job, but there’s not much to Dev that we haven’t seen in other maverick cop characters before. Andrrews doesn’t provide us with any real critique of violent policing or aggressive masculinity, so the whole film feels a bit stale.
If there’s any revelation to be found in Deva, it’s the evocative, nuanced score from composer Jakes Bejoy. His only Hindi credit prior to this was 2020’s Durgamati. Here’s hoping that other Hindi filmmakers realize this composer’s potential to elevate even tired material.
