MOJO PULSE ENTERTAINMENT DESK | REGIONAL FILM FEATURE
Describing regional Indian cinema as a single market misses how different its new releases can be. Three films from the 2026 calendar—Mandaadi, Ranabaali and Haiku—offer a useful illustration of three distinct storytelling directions.
Mandaadi: a competition shaped by place
Mandaadi builds its central rivalry around a traditional sailboat race. A sporting contest can become cinema through landscape, physical labour and local pride as much as through the outcome of a match. The film’s publicly described setting makes water an essential part of the premise rather than a backdrop.
Ranabaali: history and rebellion at blockbuster scale
Ranabaali, starring Vijay Deverakonda and Rashmika Mandanna, draws on the historical setting of colonial India and the memory of famine. Such subject matter deserves scrutiny beyond spectacle: films based on difficult histories need to distinguish dramatic licence from the record of actual events. The title’s place in the Telugu film market also demonstrates how period action is being positioned for multiple language audiences.
Haiku: a different scale of film
Haiku, written and directed by Yuvaraj Chinnasamy, highlights a different part of Tamil cinema’s current slate. Its promotional material foregrounds relationships and a contemporary dramatic tone rather than a historical battlefield or sporting contest.
The contrast between these three titles is a useful reason to browse by genre as well as language. Each film has a Mojo Pulse database profile containing its currently verified details. This is a film-industry feature, not a collection of first-hand screening reviews.
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