-
Dabangg 3
...is an all too formulaic one-way street that holds no surprises at all. It goes nowhere we haven't been before.
Dec 2019
-
Mardaani 2
...thanks to the solidity that the lead actress lends the film and the support she receives from the antagonist, Mardaani 2 is never less than riveting.
Dec 2019
-
Panipat
It will take three hours of your life and a whole lot of patience to sit through this laboured film. Think twice.
Dec 2019
-
Pati Patni Aur Woh
This iteration of Pati Patni Aur Woh manages to convey two truths: one, Bollywood's fictional heroines have evolved much faster than their male counterparts and two, film comedies that Mumbai churns out these days are no patch on the ones that the industry produced in earlier decades.
Dec 2019
-
Pagalpanti
...does deliver something akin to the madhouse that it promises but its loony-bin approach to hilarity is too dated to be effective.
Nov 2019
-
Motichoor Chaknachoor
Give Motichoor Chaknachoor a miss if you value your time - and sanity.
Nov 2019
-
Marjaavaan
...which is anything but a film to die for, writer-director Milap Milan Zaveri whips up a stale masala concoction that transports the audience right back to a Bollywood era gone by.
Nov 2019
-
Bala
...benefits no end from the quality of the performances as well as from its empathy for the idiosyncrasies of small town folk, but it is the writing that is its Samson's hair: the film's power flows principally from it.
Nov 2019
-
Ujda Chaman
If the boorish behaviour of the young and restless is for the purpose of dramatization, it does not work one bit. It robs Ujda Chaman of any possibility of being realistic and relatable - and, of course, of every driblet of decency.
Nov 2019
-
Saand Ki Aankh
...is never less than credible while being true to the impulse to craft an entertaining real-life chronicle. More than your money's worth, it is a film that delivers food for thought and emotional stimulation in one go.
Oct 2019
-
Housefull 4
Only the very-easy-to-amuse moviegoers will find it funny enough to engage with its crazy, crass convolutions.
Oct 2019
-
Made In China
The film isn't happy being just a comedy. It arrogates to itself a serious, larger purpose and takes a shot at earnest drama centred on performance anxiety. When sex and guilt go hand in hand, the film tells us, quacks and charlatans have a field day. On paper, the notion is great. On the screen, the result isn't.
Oct 2019
-
Laal Kaptaan
...an overlong film that takes a circuitous route to its climax and spends an awfully long time to get there...
Oct 2019
-
The Sky Is Pink
...is of a hue that sets it apart from Bose's earlier films, but the director is acutely conscious of the colours she is working with here and uses the shades to deliver a pathos-filled but warm-hearted picture that does not lose sight of its primary purpose. Unmissable.
Oct 2019
-
War
...is all sound and fury, a glossy globe-trotting thriller that goes haywire at every turn.
Oct 2019
-
Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas
...lacks the freshness that one would expect from a film with a new romantic pair. The reason is obvious: the plot is as old, but not as sturdy, as the hills.
Sep 2019
-
The Zoya Factor
...could have been a thoroughly enjoyable comedy. It ends up being a scrappy, erratic knock where a few crisp strokes are hopelessly outnumbered by a host of ungainly heave-hos. The film does not hit the sweet spot often enough to translate into either a truly rousing cricket film or a memorably moving love story.
Sep 2019
-
Saaho
...may, like so many other shrill, gory actioners of the recent past, end up make pots of money. But that will not take away from the fact that it is egregiously turgid.
Aug 2019
-
Mission Mangal
...is watchable, if not always exhilarating, if you can get over its excesses.
Aug 2019
-
Batla House
...stray flashes apart, the dramatised true story drifts too far from the heart of the matter without delivering the expected drama.
Aug 2019
-
Jabariya Jodi
...a film that appears to have been made under duress by a group of people playing blind man's buff, is a big splotch of utter nonsense.
Aug 2019
-
Khandaani Shafakhana
Watch the film not just for the tricky theme it tackles, but also for the way it does so.
Aug 2019
-
Judgemental Hai Kya
What is commendable is that Judgementall Hai Kya delivers the message without turning preachy or self-conscious. The breezy flow of the narrative, which isn't broken until parts of the second half begin to seem a tad indulgent, ensures that we are invested in the plight of the characters all the way through.
Jul 2019
-
Super 30
...it tells a true story but it never rings true. Nothing in the film is less convincing than the lead performance. The idea to bronze up Hrithik Roshan so that he can impersonate Anand Kumar is anything but super: it is a formula that equals zero.
Jul 2019
-
Malaal
...would have left as with no regrets whatever if only it had the courage to go all out to stress upon the power of love to surmount divisive forces at play in Mumbai and elsewhere. It abandons that topical concern and settles for a construct that drifts towards a tame, sanitized finish.
Jul 2019
-
Article 15
...is an important addition to a very small number of Hindi films that have successfully tackled weighty social issues through the means of a more popular idiom.
Jun 2019
-
Kabir Singh
...is a hugely problematic film. The bloated, overlong love story seeks to lend a veneer of normality to acts of dreadful delinquency and sickening misogyny by painting an empathetic portrait of a wayward doctor who lets heartbreak get the better of him, in the process endangering the life of a patient every time he picks up a scalpel to perform a surgery.
Jun 2019
-
Game Over
Taapsee Pannu, as she has been in her recent outings, is never less than convincing. While she may be the primary reason why you must go out a watch this film, it certainly isn't devoid of other intrinsic merits in terms of substance and execution.
Jun 2019
-
Bharat
...is a full-on crowd-pleaser for the massive fan base out there seeking recompense for the Tubelight and Race 3 reverses. But for the rest, Bharat is a ponderous trudge.
Jun 2019