RD Recommends: Bugonia, Assi, The Finest Hotel in Kabul 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 list your quick, curated guide to what’s worth your time right now.

It Was Just an Accident

Now streaming on MUBI India

Written and Directed by: Jafar Panahi

Starring: Vahid Mobasseri, Mariam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi, Hadis Pakbaten, Majid Panahi

The creator of 21st century neo-realist classics such as The Circle (2000), Offside (2006) and Taxi (2015), 65-year-old Jafar Panahi is one of Iran’s greatest directors. Many of his films were banned by Iran’s religious government upon releases, and the restrictive living conditions of Iranian society is a recurring theme in his work. Across the last decade he has made several films illegally while placed under house arrest by the government. 

His latest film, It Was Just an Accident, won Best Film at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. The narrative is centred around Vahid (Vahid Mobasseri), an Azerbaijani mechanic who recognizes his latest customer. It’s Eghbal (Ebraham Azizi). the sadistic man with a prosthetic leg who was once his jailer in prison. Vahid must decide whether or not he fulfils his desire for revenge.

Assi

Now streaming on Zee5

 Starring: Taapsee Pannu, Kani Kusruti, Kumud Mishra, Revathi, Manoj Pahwa

Directed by: Anubhav Sinha

Written by: Anubhav Sinha, Gaurav Solanki

During the heyday of independent Hindi cinema in the 1970s and 80s, “art film” was a backhanded compliment frequently hurled at the likes of Govind Nihalani and Shyam Benegal. The insinuation being, their films were preachy and boring. Anubhav Sinha, Bollywood’s incumbent king of the social realist drama, has also faced criticism along these lines. And he has answered his critics in style with Assi, his strongest film yet, equal parts courtroom thriller and bleak procedural. 

The story follows Parima (Kani Kusruti), a Delhi schoolteacher gang-raped inside a moving SUV at night. When the police and the courtroom officials stack the odds against Parima and her husband, a fiery advocate named Raavi (Taapsee Pannu) decides to get justice for them, no matter what it takes. Packed to the brim with commanding performance, searing dialogues and well-chosen references to Hindi literature and cinema, Assi is a must-watch.

Bugonia

Now streaming on JioHotstar

 Starring: Emma Stone, Jesse Plemmons, Aidan Delbis, Stavros Halkias, Alicia Silverstone

Directed by: Yorgos Lanthimos

Written by: Will Tracy, based on the film Save the Green Planet! (2003)

The average high-flying corporate bigwig has roughly the same level of empathy as a killer alien bug—this is the clever, sardonic idea at the heart of Bugonia, the Oscar-winning director Yorgos Lanthimos’ latest film, a dark comedy to mirror the frenetic times we are living through. Emma Stone plays Michelle Fuller, the CEO of a pharma conglomerate and the kind of person who can explain her plans for world domination in the same matter-of-fact way you or I would discuss the weather or a new Chinese takeout place.

Fuller’s overachieving life is interrupted rudely when she is kidnapped by a conspiracy theorist named Teddy Gatz (Jesse Plemons), who is convinced that she is actually an alien in disguise. A high-stakes game of power and psychology ensues, as Fuller tries to exploit her captor’s paranoia to facilitate her escape.

'Taare Bindigeya' by Sanjith Hegde

Fans of Kannada and Tamil cinema in particular will be familiar with young Sanjith Hegde’s velvety voice. For the song ‘Taare Bindigeya’ Hegde has adapted ‘Tarakka Bindige’, written and composed by the 16th century bhakti singer-composer-philosopher Purandara Dasa, considered one of the foundational figures of Carnatic music. This song is mellifluous all on its own, but the music video (directed by Bijoy Shetty) elevates it further. 

The largely black-and-white video comprises of footage from a 1983 documentary called ‘A Silent Art’, on the life of Jogesh Datta, the architect of modern Indian mime who transformed the practice into what he called mukhabhinay, literally, ‘acting with the face’. The video shows Datta preparing various mime and theatre drills, until the closing moments shows him being recognized on a national stage, a trajectory that mirrors the song’s theme of relentless devotion.

The Finest Hotel in Kabul: A People’s History of Afghanistan by Lyse Doucet, Penguin Random House India

With America and Israel launching air strikes against Iran earlier this month, the coming weeks may well decide the trajectory of the coming decades for the Middle East. The region’s history is inextricably intertwined with the history of military interventions by superpowers like America and Russia.

Lyse Doucet, one of the most respected war correspondents in the world, first visited Kabul in 1988, while she was covering the withdrawal of Soviet troops. For nearly four decades since, Doucet has covered the most significant phases in Afghanistan history. And for The Finest Hotel in Kabul she combines that on-ground experience with a diverse array of interviews, archival research and sociological analysis.

Vigil by George Saunders, Bloomsbury

The Booker-winning American novelist (author of Lincoln in the Bardo) returns with a wise, funny parable about death, the afterlife and the legacy we leave behind us. The story has been told from the point of view of Jill Blaine, a supernatural being who has ushered hundreds of souls into the afterlife. Her latest assignment, however, proves to be stubbornly convinced of his own worth—oil tycoon KJ Boone, who insists that he has done plenty of good and has absolutely nothing to regret. 

Blaine has to decide whether to burst his delusional bubble. How do you tell a dead man that his life’s work hurt far more people than it helped? And could this realisation end up impeding his soul’s transition to a higher realm?

A Statesman and a Seeker: The Extraordinary Life and Legacy of Dr Karan Singh by Harbans Singh, Speaking Tiger

Thrust into the political limelight as a teenager shortly after Independence, Dr Karan Singh (son of Hari Singh, the last Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir) spent the next two decades shaping Kashmir’s transformation from a princely state to a modern democracy. As a part of the Indira Gandhi government he became the youngest Cabinet minister in the country. 

He also had stints as a Rajya Sabha member and as Ambassador to the United States. Now in his nineties, he is considered one of India’s most respected public personalities. A Statesman and a Seeker is Dr Singh’s authorised biography, by Harbans Singh, who has written several books of history about Jammu and Kashmir.

Simple Ken

Among English-language stand-up comedians in the country, Kenny Sebastian has carved out a unique space for himself—unlike most of his colleagues, he seldom swears, he doesn’t really raise his voice (even while doing impressions) and even his ‘roasts’ are genteel and affectionate. On the Simple Ken podcast, Sebastian interviews his fellow stand-up comedians. He leverages his inherent niceness and approachability to get the most out of his celebrity guests. 

A recent episode featuring the actor-director Kunal Khemu was three bagfuls of fun, because both interviewer and interviewee were so closely matched in terms of personality (funny, wholesome, with just a dash of eccentricity). If you have ever wished that stand-up comedy coming out of India were about three notches quieter and more introspective, you will enjoy Simple Ken.

A Niche Thing

Finding a sliver of the world that works only for you (and a few like-minded believers) can be very therapeutic, which is why finding the right subculture can feel like hitting the lottery. In the podcast A Niche Thing, entrepreneur Aneesh Bhasin takes audiences behind the scenes of some of the most visible and significant subcultures playing out in Indian cities.

Street-wear, coffee, sneakers, wristwatches, board games—through this podcast you will get a clear understanding of how people create communities around special interests, and how these communities expand over time. Bhasin, the co-founder of Svami Drinks, is clearly a man of diversified interests who thinks deeply about things, and he does an excellent job of breaking down these subcultures.

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