Maa Inti Bangaram

A woman moving between fear and bravery sits at the centre of this one, and the film's real interest lies in refusing to separate the two. The tagline swaggers about gold that is bloody bold, but the synopsis points somewhere more inward, toward a character learning that admitting what frightens her is not the opposite of strength but a working part of it. That combination, pulp promise and private reckoning, is the most intriguing tension on offer here.

It suits viewers who like their heroines written with interiority rather than armour, and who do not mind a story that takes its time getting where it is going. At over two and a half hours, expect an unhurried build with room for emotion between the sharper turns. Anyone drawn to character-driven regional drama with a hard edge should find it rewarding. Give it a proper evening and let the quieter stretches do their work, because that is where the film seems to live.