An animated film about an adventurous cat, a medical thriller, an action adventure involving two long-lost twins, a murder mystery set in north Bengal and a romantic drama involving AI — there’s a lot on offer at the cinemas this weekend. Here’s a look at films releasing in theatres this Friday.

Akhanda (Hindi dubbed)

Directed by: Boyapati Srinu

Cast:Nandamuri Balakrishna, Pragya Jaiswal, Shamna Kasim, Srikanth Meka, Nithin Mehta and Viji Chandrasekhar

Akhanda (Nandamuri Balakrishna), a devout follower of Lord Shiva, was separated at birth from his twin brother Murali Krishna, who grew up to become a philanthropist farmer. When Varadarajulu (Srikanth) and Gajendra (Niitin Mehta) —two criminals involved in illegal uranium extraction— try to harm Murali, Akhanda moves heaven and earth to save him. How the two brothers meet and fight against evil forms the crux of the story.

Kaberi Antardhan (Bengali)

Directed by: Kaushik Ganguly

Cast: Prosenjit Chatterjee, Srabanti Chatterjee, Ambarish Bhattacharya, Kaushik Sen and Churni Ganguly

Kaberi Antardhan is a murder mystery set against the backdrop of Naxal movement and The Emergency. Shot in the beautiful locales of north Bengal, this story begins with the sudden death of Mrinmoy Ghosh (Kaushik Sen), a senior police officer famous for nabbing and neutralising Naxalites in his area. When Arghya Sen (Prosenjit Chatterjee) — the art teacher of Mrinmoy’s son — pays a visit to the Ghosh residence, the mystery behind Mrinmoy's sudden demise comes to light. Arghya also discovers that Mrinmoy's sister, Kaberi Bhattacharya (Srabanti Chatterjee), is missing. With the help of the new officer-in-charge Pritam Singh, (Indraneil Sengupta), Arghya starts to unravel the mystery of Kaberi’s disappearance.

Dilkhush (Bengali)

Directed by: Rahool Mukherjee

Cast: Madhumita Sarcar, Soham Majumdar, Aparajita Adhya, Paran Bandopadhyay, Anashua Majumdar, Kharaj Mukherjee, Anuradha Mukherjee, Ananya Sen, Ujan Chatterjee and Anjana Basu

Rahool Mukherjee, who won accolades for his directorial debut Kishmish in 2022, is back with his sophomore venture Dilkhush. The film is a romantic drama that tells the story of eight people searching for love. They seek the help of Artificial Intelligence to find their soulmate. Madhumita and Soham are pairing up for the first time in Dilkhush. Filmmaker Srijit Mukherji also has a guest appearance in the movie, along with Anirban Bhattacharya, who is seen as an AI avatar in the film’s trailer.

Doctor Bakshi (Bengali)

Directed by: Saptaswa Basu

Cast: Parambrata Chattopadhyay, Shubhashree Ganguly, Bonny Sengupta and Devtanu

A spin-off to Saptaswa Basu’s 2020 psychological thriller Pratidwandi, Doctor Bakshi is an eponymous tale of a vigilante doctor (Parambrata Chattopadhyay) on a mission to put an end to a series of medical scams. In Pratidwandi, Saswata Chatterjee had essayed the role of Dr Bakshi whose son’s kidnapping leads to a series of murders in the city. Shubhashree Ganguly plays a writer with secrets of her own while Bonny Sengupta slips into the shoes of a criminal fresh out of jail in this medical thriller.

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (English)

Directed by: Joel Crawford

Cast (Voices): Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Chris Miller, Guillermo del Toro, Jessica Schulte and Bob Persichetti

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is a sequel to the 2011 animated film Puss In Boots, which revolved around Puss, an adventurous and brave cat. In the second instalment of the franchise, Puss realises he only has one life left out of nine. Undaunted by the prospect of death, he sets out on a journey of a lifetime in order to make his ninth life memorable. Along with his friends, Puss tries to make the world a better place.