New Bollywood Releases: Anurag Kashyap’s Bandar and Babita Singh Reporting Lead the Weekend Slate

A packed calendar across ZEE5, Prime Video, and Netflix offers one of the densest thematic spreads of the season, and a chance for viewers to settle into an unusually thoughtful weekend queue.

The Heavy Hitters

Anurag Kashyap's crime thriller Bandar - titled Monkey in a Cage in international markets - makes its digital bow on ZEE5 on August 28, after a June 5 theatrical run. Bobby Deol anchors the film as aging television star Samar Mehra, whose carefully built world collapses when an ex-partner accuses him of rape. Sanya Malhotra, Sapna Pabbi, and Saba Azad fill out the cast around him, and Kashyap's direction leans into perception and consequence rather than courtroom theatrics alone. Drawn from real-life events, the film reframes media scrutiny as part of the verdict - and earns a second viewing window now that streaming allows the pacing to breathe.

A different kind of reckoning arrives on Prime Video the same day. Ambiecka Pandit's Babita Singh Reporting stars Nimisha Sajayan as ASI Babita Singh, a young officer who returns to her hometown only to learn that her childhood friend Bansi is dead and the local authorities have closed the case. She opens her own investigation, unearthing family betrayals as the inquiry folds back onto her own sense of self.

A 123telugu review credits Sajayan's performance as the work's beating pulse. She reportedly put on weight for the role and avoids theatrical flourishes, letting vulnerability and resolve coexist in the same breath, with her climax turn landing especially hard. Barun Sobti is solid in limited screen time as Bansi; Anshuman Pushkar and Sunita Rajwar register as the unsupportive husband Sharad and the watchful mother-in-law, respectively. At roughly two and a half hours, the film runs long, and more seasoned OTT viewers will spot familiar procedural beats early. But the choice to keep Baby human - doubting, faltering, fighting her in-laws and the system simultaneously - lifts the character arc beyond the genre template it borrows from.

The Supporting Slate

The Last Salute: A Love Letter To MiG-21 premieres on Netflix on August 26. Directed by Kushal Srivastava and produced by Matchbox Shots in collaboration with the Indian Air Force, the documentary traces the 62-year arc of the MiG-21 in IAF service, with Air Chief Marshal A.P. Singh appearing. It serves as a companion piece to Netflix's earlier Operation Safed Sagar - and for viewers interested in the visual grammar of military aviation, an essential watch.

Family Kirana Store Season 2 returns to TVF's official YouTube channel on August 28, with Shrikant Verma reprising Gajanand (Gajju Bhaiya) alongside Garima Vikrant Singh and Hemant Mishra. The slice-of-life comedy is gentler than the week's heavier titles, and makes a natural counterweight.

Alongside these, the OTT bow of YRF's spy thriller Alpha arrives on August 28 - led by Alia Bhatt as Sita, Sharvari as Durga, with Bobby Deol and Anil Kapoor rounding out the ensemble, and Hrithik Roshan in a special cameo. The film had a July 3 theatrical release and is reported to premiere initially in Hindi.

Planning the Weekend

For viewers building a queue, a natural shape emerges. Dedicate a long evening to Bandar and Babita Singh Reporting, let The Last Salute handle a daytime slot for its visual grammar of flight and farewell, and let Family Kirana Store close the night with its gentler pacing. Across the slate, the through line is patience - with grief, with silence, with the slow unwinding of reputations built on fragile foundations.