What to Watch This Week: ‘Border 2’, ‘Chatha Pacha’, and ‘Cheekatilo’

This week is yet another power-packed one, with a wide array of high-energy titles hitting screens just in time for the Republic Day long weekend. Border 2 is expected to dominate the box-office, Malayalam wrestling comedy Chatha Pacha enters the ring, and crime thriller Cheetakilo promises to have you on the edge of your seat.

Theatrical Releases This Week

Hindi

Border 2

Nearly three decades after J.P. Dutta’s epic Border (1997), Sunny Deol returns to lead a new generation of soldiers, with the cast including Varun Dhawan, Diljit Dosanjh and Ahan Shetty. Ahead of Republic Day, the film is expected to be a high-scale tribute to the Indian armed forces, featuring sweeping battlefield choreography, and a rousing soundtrack, reminiscent of the 1997 classic.

Malayalam

Chatha Pacha: Ring of Rowdies

Set in Fort Kochi, Chatha Pacha is a unique action-comedy that follows a group of scrappy misfits who come together to form a wrestling league. The film has already created significant buzz well before its release date, poised for a global release in a hundred screens around the world, featuring the regional debut of renowned trio Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, as well as a cameo from the iconic Mammootty himself.

Baby Girl

Directed by Arun Varma and written by acclaimed duo Bobby and Sanjay, Baby Girl is expected to explore themes of conflict, morality and human frailty in a taut thriller format. Nivin Pauly plays a hospital attendant, opposite Lijomol, who plays the child's mother. The story follows the riveting case of the missing child, with Pauly on the run and Lijomol in pursuit.

English

Marty Supreme

Josh Safdie’s Marty Supreme is one of the most anticipated international releases of the month. Starring Timothée Chalamet as a fictionalized version of a table tennis champion, the film promises the signature gritty textures the Safdie brothers are known for. Chalamet's performance has earned him both a Golden Globe and a Critic's Choice Award as Best Actor. With an eclectic supporting cast that includes Gwyneth Paltrow and Tyler, the Creator, this A24 production should be on your radar.

Primate

The first horror release of the year, Primate is a thrilling, unsettling story about a beloved, domesticated chimpanzee who contracts rabies over the course of a family holiday. The film follows the family as they contend with this sudden shift in his behaviour, and devise various (unsuccessful) attempts at escape. This one’s a must-watch for the horror fans.

OTT Releases This Week

Hindi

Space Gen: Chandrayaan

This web series by The Viral Fever (TVF) takes place after the failure of the Chandrayaan-2 mission, which rocked the nation. We get a deeper look into the lives of the ISRO space engineers, as they face intense pressure and criticism in its aftermath. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the team displays incredible resilience by reviving the mission despite a series of obstacles. The series is led by actor Nakuul Mehta, and includes Shriya Saran, Gopal Datt, Prakash Belawadi and Danish Sait.

Telugu

Cheekatilo

This Telugu crime-thriller brought to you by Prime Video features Sobhita Dhulipala as a true-crime podcaster, who gets tangled in the web of a serial killer in Hyderabad. In addition to being an edge-of-your-seat suspense, Cheekatilo has been described as a layered, culturally relevant story that is as moving as it is gripping. The cast of the film also features Chaitanya Visalakshmi, Esha Chawla, Jhansi, Aamani, and Vadlamani Srinivas.

English

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms

A prequel to the record-breaking HBO series Game of Thrones (2011-2019), A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is the third instalment in creator George R. R. Martin's series, A Song of Ice and Fire, taking place a century before the events that unfolded in Westeros. The story follows the unlikely heroes, 'Dunk' (Ser Duncan the Tall) and his comical squire, Egg.