Universal Gatherings

Ever opened Netflix, scrolled for like… forever… and still didn’t pick a movie? Yeah. That was literally me and Varshith Goud last weekend. We were sitting on the floor, just kinda bored and staring at the ceiling, both of us too tired to go out, too restless to nap, and somehow not in the mood for any of the million things on our to-do lists. So he grabs the remote like a hero and goes, “Let’s find something good to watch.” Easier said than done. We scrolled. And scrolled. Categories, genres, suggestions. “Top movies on Netflix,” “Netflix 2025,” “best movies streaming now.” All sounded promising… until none of them did. It’s like standing in front of a packed fridge and still saying, “There’s nothing to eat.” At one point, we were reading titles out loud just to mess with each other — like KPop Demon Hunters (what even is that?) and Madea’s Destination Wedding (I kinda wanna watch that now?). But then we started figuring out what we actually wanted — action, but n...

You know how every year people are like, “ This is the year of cinema ” ? Yeah. I thought that too. Then suddenly it’s July, and I’ve barely seen anything except Instagram clips of movie trailers I never follow up on. But something changed this time. Maybe it’s the heat, maybe I just needed a break from doomscrolling, or maybe I was low-key hunting for that one film that makes you forget you’re holding your phone. I started watching again. Not just the big flashy stuff — though damn , some of those are wild — but also these weirdly good ones on OTT that hit different. And okay, I’ll say it — I’ve been kinda obsessed with what’s trending, not like trends-trending. I mean, trending movies in India this year, the ones your cousin’s cousin told you to watch, or that popped up in your friend’s status with no context. Bollywood’s back with sequels (like actual sequels — why is Housefull 5 even a thing?) and those regional films? Telugu and Tamil movies? They’re so ahead right now, it’s...