Gulabo Sitabo

Gulabo Sitabo (2020) is an Indian tragicomedy from director Shoojit Sircar, available to watch online on iFILM. In present-day Lucknow, two petty rivals are locked in a slow war: a miserly old landlord, Mirza, and Bankey, the tenant who never quite pays the rent.

Mirza — Amitabh Bachchan buried under prosthetics, hunched and croaking — dreams of clearing everyone out of his crumbling haveli, which technically belongs to his wife anyway. Bankey (Ayushmann Khurrana) pays next to nothing and refuses to budge. They squabble over a tap, a wall, every last rupee — until the century-old mansion draws in officials, lawyers and a heritage department, each with designs of their own on the ruin. Only then does it become clear who outsmarted whom.

The title nods to a pair of folk puppets forever whacking each other, which is exactly the joke. This is quiet, sly satire about greed where nobody gets to be the hero. A good pick when you're in the mood for unhurried, character-driven Indian cinema without song-and-dance numbers. Stream Gulabo Sitabo (2020) online on iFILM.