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Super 30
...is on track as long as it steadily plugs away at the real life story of a teacher in Bihar who coaches underprivileged children for the IIT-JEE examination. But when the film starts to doubt whether this is enough, it comes undone.
Jul 2019
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Article 15
...might not comfort the afflicted, but there’s every chance it will afflict the comfortable.
Jun 2019
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Kabir Singh
...it takes nearly three hours for Kabir to admit that he has a problem, whereupon he’s immediately rewarded. “Go to the depth of anything and you get zero," we’re warned early on. In this case, it’s absolutely true.
Jun 2019
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Bharat
For 130-odd minutes, Bharat trundles along, sometimes diverting, often annoying, deeply inessential.
Jun 2019
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Student Of The Year 2
...provides the answer to the question no one was asking: what if Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar was a Johar film?
May 2019
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Blank
...the title of this film could be referring to the expressions of its lead actors or the feeling one has after watching this thriller.
May 2019
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Kalank
In a Bollywood that’s trying to look more self-aware, emotion can be a lead weight. I'd be curious to see what audiences make of the film over the next week or two; the one I saw it with seemed to tire by the end of all the eloquence.
Apr 2019
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Kesari
...dull and monochromatic. There’s a worthy tribute due to those 21 men, but this reductive, gratuitous film isn’t it.
Mar 2019
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Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota
...Vasan Bala manages something rare: a delirious pastiche with a heartbeat.
Mar 2019
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Mere Pyare Prime Minister
Appearing to be overly focused on delivering a message, the director has compromised on delivering a well-crafted cinematic experience.
Mar 2019
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Hamid
Screenwriter Ravinder Randhawa has adapted Amin Bhat’s play Phone No. 786 and Khan has crafted it into a compassionate tale that sensitively touches on a number of issues. Chief among them is the idea that in conflict-afflicted areas, childhood is a luxury only a few can afford.
Mar 2019
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Mar 2019
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Sonchiriya
There’s a question that recurs through Sonchiriya: what is a dacoit’s dharma? At one point an answer is given: to protect one’s people and caste, to live and pass away in the ravines, to die from a bullet. A fatalistic response, and a bracingly nihilistic film.
Mar 2019
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Total Dhamaal
Not for the first time, Kumar aims for It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and ends up with It’s a Bad, Bad, Bad, Bad Film.
Feb 2019
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Gully Boy
If Gully Boy earns its props by the time it’s done, this is testament to its immersion in, and respect for, the world it springs from.
Feb 2019
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Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga
Dhar’s mild-mannered film does something similar, setting off a bomb under a hetero cinema tradition, but turning it into something soft and pretty so as not to alarm the viewer.
Feb 2019
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Thackeray
A critical biopic was never on the cards; the only question, really, is how vitriolic it was going to be. Thackeray is 2 hours and 19 minutes, so the hate is spread out. The problem is, the scenes which exist only to praise Thackeray’s altruism and courage are bland. The nasty moments kept me engaged and enraged.
Jan 2019
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Manikarnika
...is a slow-building, sustained surge of patriotic fervour, as messy and inflammable as a geyser on an oil rig.
Jan 2019
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Why Cheat India
Hashmi seems to enjoy himself; if the writing was brighter and the other characters had more agency, the film might have played differently.
Jan 2019
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Uri
...has incredibly persuasive action sequences, but its military reserve can be stifling.
Jan 2019
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Simmba
Even for Hindi cinema, where rape-revenge is a thriving subgenre (there were four films on the subject last year), this is pretty dire.
Dec 2018
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Zero
The flaws of Zero lie not in the physicality of the characters, but in the story. Too ambitious in its vision and indiscriminately illogical, Rai falters in exploring both inner spaces and outer space.
Dec 2018
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Kedarnath
Fortunately for Kapoor, the performances manage to keep things afloat, taking the emotions to a crescendo matching nature’s wrath.
Dec 2018
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2.0
A film that pivots around technology and artificial intelligence should have laid as much emphasis on artificial (special effects, computer graphics, robots) as intelligence. But writer-director Shankar’s focus is largely on visually wow-ing the audience.
Dec 2018
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2.0
A film that pivots around technology and artificial intelligence should have laid as much emphasis on artificial (special effects, computer graphics, robots) as intelligence. But writer-director Shankar’s focus is largely on visually wow-ing the audience.
Nov 2018
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Thugs Of Hindostan
Like previous works, which include Tashan and Dhoom 3, Acharya’s Thugs of Hindostan is big but hollow.
Nov 2018
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Oct 2018
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Sui Dhaaga
...is a well-meaning, simply woven, feel-good entertainer that delivers as much as it promises.
Sep 2018