RD Recommends: Hamnet, Blossoms Shanghai 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.

Hamnet

Released in theatres on 20 February

Director Chloé Zhao, one of only three women to win the Best Director Oscar, is back with a romantic period drama, Hamnet, based on Maggie O'Farrell's acclaimed novel of the same name (O'Farrell and Zhao co-wrote the film's screenplay). The story is a fictionalisation of the circumstances under which William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal) wrote his magnum opus, Hamlet. The character’s name was derived from Shakespeare’s young son, Hamnet, who contracted the plague and died at a very young age. The film follows the celebrated playwright and his wife Agnes (Jessie Buckley) as their relationship suffers due to grief and heartbreak over this tragic loss. The film was nominated for eight awards at the 2026 Oscars, including Best Picture, and won Best Actress for Buckley.

Blossoms Shanghai

Now streaming on MUBI India

Hong Kong auteur Wong Kar-wai is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest filmmakers alive, known for classics like Chungking Express (1994), Happy Together (1997) and In the Mood for Love (2000) which feature his stylistic signatures like saturated colours, atmospheric dialogue and distinctive use of musical sequences. For his first-ever web series, Wong returns to 1990s China, in the middle of an economic revolution—following Mao’s death in 1976, China embarked on a phase of economic reforms over the next couple of decades. Blossoms Shanghai follows the rags-to-riches life of a young man called Ah Bao (played by prominent Chinese actor Hu Ge), who overcomes his humble beginnings to become a prominent

Cat’s Cradle: Fresh Expressions in Vintage Ragas by Arnab Chakraborty

Arnab Chakraborty is a Toronto-based Indian sarod player of rare skill, technique and vision. He trained in his youth under Hindustani classical maestros like Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and Pandit Brij Narayan, before studying ethnomusicology at Hampshire College in Massachusetts, USA. His playing style is deeply conventional and old-school, but his expressions and penchant for innovation are wholly contemporary. His 2022 album Cat’s Cradle is an hour-long affair, consisting of ‘fresh expressions’ across five well-known Hindustani classical ragas—Kamod, Bhimpalasi, Bihag, Shuddh Kalyan and Darbari Kanada. The famously complex evening raga Kamod in particular sounds absolutely divine in Chakraborty’s unmissable rendition. If you're a fan of Hindustani classical music, you cannot afford to ignore this album. 

The Bengal Reader, edited by Arunava Sinha, Aleph

For the last three decades or so, Arunava Sinha has brought the most important Bengali writers of all time to an English readership. From yesteryear titans like Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Rabindranath Tagore and Sunil Gangopadhyay to modern luminaries like Anita Agnihotri, Mashrur Arefin and Nabarun Bhattacharya, Sinha has translated them all. And now, in his 100th published work of translation, Sinha brings the best of Bengali fiction, non-fiction and poetry together in one volume—alongside essays and articles by Bengali scientists like Meghnad Saha and Jagadish Chandra Bose. This is a comprehensive anthology, a collector’s item that is sure to be on reading lists and university curricula for a long, long time.

The Land and the Shadows by Perumal Murugan, Penguin

Tamil writer Perumal Murugan is known for his controversial, award-winning novels like One Part Woman and Poonachi. His fiction tackles some of the most divisive issues in the country, like internal migration, language politics, religious orthodoxy and caste-based discrimination. His new book The Land and the Shadows is a collection of essays about Tamil cinema that functions as both memoir and ethnographic document. He covers the Tamil film industry from the 1950s to the 1970s, as it found its voice and became a very important part of Tamil society—its dreams and aspirations were reflected in what was unfolding on screen. Murugan returns to the cinema halls and film magazines of his youth to give the readers a clear picture of how the likes of Sivaji Ganesan and M.G. Ramachandran exercised huge influences on both ordinary people and industry insiders.

Departure(s) by Julian Barnes, Penguin

Booker-winning novelist Julian Barnes, known for acclaimed and commercially successful books like Arthur & George and Flaubert’s Parrot, recently turned 80 and announced his literary retirement, marking the end of an era with his latest novel, Departure(s). Here we meet Stephen and Jean, who fall in and out of love for most of their lives, their fates resolutely intertwined (even when it's against their wishes). There’s also Jimmy, the elderly Jack Russell Terrier, who is blissfully unaware of his own mortality—what human beings do to access his priceless ignorance, one wonders. Like most of Barnes' work over the last decade or so, Departure(s) returns to Barnes’ big themes: Why is happiness a tough nut to crack? Why do we sabotage our own well-being? And how do we know when it's time to say our farewells?

Love, Sex and India: An Agents of Ishq Anthology, Edited by Paromita Vohra, Westland India

The popular website Agents of Ishq began life in 2015 as a way of initiating sex-positive conversations in India, where these matters are usually brushed under the carpet. Soon, folks from across the country were sharing their stories on the portal—accounts of first love, sexual awakenings, dating stories, survivors’ accounts of sexual assault and so on. The candour in these accounts was matched only by their empathy, and soon Agents of Ishq became a respected, dependable venue for these conversations. The founder of the website, popular columnist and filmmaker Paromita Vohra, has compiled and edited an anthology of some of Agents of Ishq’s most memorable pieces—read this book to get a truly honest cross-section of India’s needs, desires, expectations and kinks.

That’s Just How We Talk

Now streaming on Spotify

Comedian and AIB co-founder Gursimran Khamba married actor Ismeet Kohli in 2018, and last year they started That’s Just How We Talk, a podcast and YouTube show. Their easy chemistry and comedic banter make this a feel-good show for a wide cross-section of young people. Nearly every episode is a mix of personal stories—love, marriage, co-parenting a dog with a distinctive personality, seeking that elusive work–life balance—and anecdotes from their professional lives. What exactly made Shah Rukh Khan agree to sit-down a interview with Khamba and the rest of AIB? What did Ismeet make of her experience shooting a Google ad? How do two comedians make each other laugh on a daily basis even after seven years of marriage?

How To Fail with Elizabeth Day

Now streaming on Spotify

It could be argued that We learn more about ourselves from our failures than we do from our triumphs. This is the starting point of the How to Fail podcast, hosted by journalist Elizabeth Day. Celebrities like actor Martin Freeman, singer Shania Twain and writer Yuval Noah Harari discuss the three biggest failures of their lives. The emphasis is on how these mistakes turned out to be learning opportunities that taught them to become the best versions of themselves. For example, comedian Margaret Cho recalls a mistake she made early in her career—to let studio executive convince her that unless she lost weight, her career would never progress further. This led to a decade of shady diet pills, mental health problems and general self-loathing, before Cho turned around and learned not to let others define her self-esteem.

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