A comedy drama revolving around a film star. A slice-of-life story set in Kolkata. A detective thriller. A teenager searching for her missing mother. Films releasing in theatres on Friday promise an entertaining weekend at the cinemas. Here’s a look.
Selfiee (Hindi)
Directed by: Raj Mehta
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Emraan Hashmi, Diana Penty and Nushrratt Bharuccha
A remake of 2019 Malayalam hit Driving License, Selfiee features Akshay Kumar as superstar Vijay Kumar who needs to get a new driver's license. However, a war of words with RTO officer Om Prakash Aggarwal (Emraan Hashmi), who also happens to be his fan, leads to a misunderstanding, which eventually escalates into a feud between the two. Diana Penty plays Akshay’s wife in this comedy drama, while Nushrratt Bharuccha plays Emraan’s spouse.
Marlowe (English)
Directed by: Neil Jordan
Cast: Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, Jessica Lange and François Arnaud
Marlowe is a neo-noir crime thriller film based on the 2014 novel The Black-Eyed Blonde by John Banville. Liam Neeson plays private detective Marlowe in this period film, set in 1939 Los Angeles. Marlowe is hired by the glamorous daughter (Diane Kruger) of a famous actress (Jessica Lange) to find her missing former lover (François Arnaud). As Marlowe begins investigating the disappearance, he unearths a web of lies.
Missing (English)
Directed by: Nicholas D. Johnson, Will Merrick
Cast: Storm Reid, Nia Long, Ken Leung and Daniel Henney
A sequel to Searching (2018), the story of Missing follows a teenager June Allen (Storm Reid), who is searching for her mother Grace (Nia Long) after she disappears during a vacation in Colombia with her new boyfriend Kevin (Ken Leung). However, June’s search for her missing mother hits international red tapes. Sitting in San Francisco, June uses her technical expertise to track her mom. She receives help from FBI agent Elijah Park (Daniel Henney) in her quest. However, the deeper she digs, the murkier it gets and June is left with more questions than answers.
Mayar Jonjal (Bengali)
Directed by: Indranil Roychowdhury
Cast: Ritwick Chakraborty, Aupee Karim, Chandreyee Ghosh and Sohel Mondol
Based on two short stories — Bishakto Prem and Shubala — written by Manik Bandyopadhyay, Mayar Jonjal explores the dark underbelly of Kolkata. This Indo-Bangladesh joint production marks the return of Aupee Karim to the big screen after 19 years. The story follows a petty thief Satya (Sohel Mondol) in love with a sex-worker (Chandreyee Ghosh). He meets an out-of-work factory worker Chandan (Ritwick Chakraborty), who is desperate to stop his wife from working as a housemaid. Satya convinces Chandan to join him in his plan to make easy money through illegal means. The film’s world premiere was held at the Shanghai International Film Festival in 2020 and has been winning accolades in the festival circuits ever since.
