RD Recommends: Ohh My Dog, Last Man In Tower, and More

From long-awaited returns to buzzy new releases, the entertainment world is overflowing—in the best way. Your watchlist is growing, your TBR pile is teetering, and there's more to choose from than ever. Consider this quick, curated guide to what's worth your time right now.

Ohh My Dog

Written and Directed by: Amit Rai

Starring: Pankaj Tripathi, Rajesh Kumar, Geeta Agarwal Sharma, Maahi Rai, Bruno 

Now streaming on Netflix

With the sharp increase in the number of pet dogs in Indian urban centres, there have been a number of Indian films and TV shows in recent times that tell us feel-good stories about man’s best friend—Pet Puraan, 777 Charlie, Mughizh et al. Director Amit Rai’s Ohh My Dog (the extra ‘h’ is to legally distinguish it from the 2022 Tamil film Oh My Dog) is the latest such effort, comprising two stories that complement each other. In the first story, set in Patna, indie dog Oscar is determined (dogged, even) in the pursuit of his kidnapped human, a boy named Prince. And in the second story, set in Assam, little Apu embarks on a heart-rending search for his beloved missing dog Momo. The film shamelessly manipulates your emotions throughout its runtime, but there is still plenty to enjoy in this story of little boys and their dogs looking out for each other.

The Uprising

Written and Directed by: Paul Greengrass

Starring: Andrew Garfield, Jamie Bell, Jonny Lee Miller, Thomasin McKenzie, Woody Norman

In 1381, England—then ruled by Richard II—saw its biggest working-class rebellion yet, dubbed ‘The Great Uprising’ by historians. The proximal reasons included high taxes imposed due to the war with France, plus the socio-economic upheavals caused by the ‘Black Death’ (a plague epidemic) in the 1340s. The tumultuous events of this phase in English history are the basis for the upcoming film The Uprising, directed by Paul Greengrass, best known as the maker of the first three Jason Bourne films. Andrew Garfield leads the star-studded cast as ‘the Ploughman’, a central figure in the rebellion while Jamie Bell and Jonny Lee Miller (Sherlock Holmes in the popular TV show Elementary) play supporting roles. 

Last Man in Tower

Directed by: Ben Rekhi

Written by: Sooni Taraporevala, Juhi Chaturvedi (dialogues), based on the novel Last Man in Tower by Aravind Adiga

Starring: Manoj Bajpayee, Divya Dutta, Boman Irani

Based on the 2011 novel of the same name by the Booker-winning novelist Aravind Adiga, Last Man in Tower is a story set amidst Mumbai’s controversial redevelopment projects. When a greedy developer (Boman Irani) offers the residents of a once-respectable building a massive payout, most of them are ready to sell. After all, the building is crumbling, dysfunctional and with the money being offered they can all get their own slices of premium Mumbai real estate. However, a lone resident, a retired teacher affectionately called Masterji (Manoj Bajpayee) turns the developer down for sentimental reasons, leading to an escalating conflict between all parties concerned. Last Man in Tower has been directed by Ben Rekhi (The Ashram) and written by veteran screenwriter Sooni Taraporevala (Salaam Bombay!, The Namesake).

The Web Beneath the Waves (and Other Reports from Our Tangled World) by Samanth Subramanian, Westland

Samanth Subramanian, author of the classic travelogue Following Fish, returns with a new collection of essays, the longest of which follows the intriguing world of undersea internet cables, “the internet’s unseen circulatory system.” Subramanian has plenty of experience with longform journalism and it shows in the three-dimensional way he approaches the titular essay here. In the book’s other segments, Subramanian tackles a wide range of topics and interview subjects, ranging from the Nigerian Jewish community to the quizzing subculture in India, to how the island-nation of Singapore has increased its area by nearly a quarter, thanks to meticulous land reclamation.

In Sickness and in Death: How Faith, Medicine and Race Shaped British India by Ipshita Nath, HarperCollins India

Disease and pathogens shaping the course of the British Empire has been a recurring theme in some of the most memorable works of postcolonial Indian fiction—Amitav Ghosh’s The Calcutta Chromosome and Kalpish Ratna’s Room 000 spring to mind immediately. And now, in a new work of non-fiction, Ipshita Nath unpacks the whys and the wherefores of British governance as it struggled to contain several health crises unfolding in India across the 17th and 18th centuries, especially. Sickly sahibs and soldiers-in-recovery rub shoulders with some of the best medical minds of the era in this book, as we discover how India’s colonial overlords were brought to heel not just by revolutionaries and freedom fighters, but also by the smallest and deadliest of God’s creations: the microbe.

The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State by Jill Lepore, Allen Lane

Journalist and Harvard professor Jill Lepore has written some of the most valuable and thought-provoking works of American non-fiction across the last decade or so, including Book of Ages and The Secret History of Wonder Woman. In her latest book, Lepore documents our ongoing 'age of data', specifically how the world’s biggest tech firms have corroded democratic values across the planet, including and especially America. From getting water-guzzling, electricity-swallowing data centres approved against the will of local communities, all the way up to campaign donations and direct lobbying in front of heads of state, it’s clear that these companies will stop at nothing to boost their bottom line, including subverting democracy itself. The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State chronicles the most important ways in which this process plays out today.

Tower by Bae Myung-hoon, Pan Macmillan India

The great J. G. Ballard’s 1975 novel High-Rise (the basis for the 2015 Tom Hiddleston movie of the same name) imagined the residents of a luxury high-rise building devolving into violence and primordial tribalism. Even Ballard would have allowed himself to flinch at Bae Myung-hoon’s novel Tower, which escalates his premise for the AI era. This sequence of six interconnected stories is set in a gargantuan, cutting-edge 674-storey building that’s so advanced and self-sufficient that it has been recognised as a sovereign state. Accordingly, the stories themselves read like bizarre fairy tales involving technology—a woman rescues an abandoned fighter pilot using the Internet, a group of researchers discover that a power-broker they have been tailing is actually a dog, a man ‘brainwashes’ a genteel elephant into breaking up public protests.

Divine Feminine by Prashasti Singh

Now streaming on YouTube

Thirty-nine-year-old Prashasti Singh is one of the most promising young comedians on the circuit today and Divine Feminine is her latest stand-up special, with which she has already toured around the world successfully, drawing rave reviews. The kernel of this lively hour of stand-up comedy lies in the lived experience of being an unmarried Indian woman in her thirties. If the constant parental pressure and snide remarks from colleagues won’t hit you in the feels, something as innocuous as a guilt-tripping baby-product advertisement might. For the unmarried 30-something, trouble lurks around every corner and the corners themselves aren’t particularly safe either. Like most Indian stand-up specials, Divine Feminine has been delivered in a mixture of English and Hindi and to Singh’s credit, she knows exactly how to adjust the register to suit the tonality of the specific joke she’s telling. A commendable achievement, and one that marks Singh as a voice to reckon with in the future.

Sisters of Defiance Podcast, hosted by Anita Rani

Now streaming on Spotify

Journalist and radio presenter Anita Rani hosts the Sisters of Defiance podcast, where she sits down with trailblazing women who have changed something fundamental in their respective fields. For example, a recent episode featured the writer–comedian Meera Syal, co-creator and star of classic comedies like Goodness Gracious Me. Syal was the first woman of South Asian heritage to have her own comedy show on British TV. Also featured is the novelist Esther Freud, who became a literary sensation in her 20s with her semi-autobiographical novel Hideous Kinky.

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