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Jai Mummy Di
The spineless and unimaginative leads are matched by the one-note matriarchs, who are never allowed to be anything more than face-pulling shrews.
Jan 2020
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Chhapaak
...is needlessly uneven and sluggish at times, but it’s most powerful when it keeps things simple and stays on course.
Jan 2020
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Tanhaji
People will write powadas, or ballads, about you, Tanjahi is told. They did, and the movie often has the quality of a ballad – it’s heavily embellished, romantic and simplistic. Tanhaji loudly sings its hero’s praises, creating a spectacle that is thrilling when in battle mode and troubling when considering the dynamic between the Marathas and the Mughals.
Jan 2020
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Jan 2020
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Shimla Mirchi
The plot fits snugly in romcom territory, providing an update to the hill-station romances that were the staple of Hindi cinema in the 1960s and ’70s.
Jan 2020
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Good Newwz
It’s a clever premise for a comedy of errors, and it also helps that Good Newwz is grown-up and matter-of-fact about adult bodily functions and needs.
Dec 2019
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Dabangg 3
...isn’t funny or even campy enough to be anything more than an aging hero’s throw of dice, hoping that third time will be as lucky as the first two.
Dec 2019
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Mardaani 2
While the briskness lends some urgency to what turns out to be routine serial killer fare, it barely allows for character sketching.
Dec 2019
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Pati Patni Aur Woh
The movie is refreshingly unsentimental and bereft of breast-beating, but fails to capitalise on its independent-spirited women...
Dec 2019
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Panipat
Gowariker finds the emotional connect in the scenes between Kapoor and Sanon, but there’s a been-there-seen-that feel to the battle scenes and the drama of the royal court.
Dec 2019
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Nov 2019
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Pagalpanti
...pedestrian writing and severe shortage of engaging characters and imaginative gags.
Nov 2019
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Satellite Shankar
...the movie isn’t interested in teasing out the shades and complexities of Shankar’s cross-country adventure. Ballad of a Soldier celebrates the Russian spirit while allowing for doubt and sadness. Satellite Shankar is all grins and salutes...
Nov 2019
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Bypass Road
Had the 137-minute movie been as ruthless about its running length as some of its characters, Bypass Road might actually have worked.
Nov 2019
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Marjaavaan
Writer-director Milap Zaveri pulls in every 1980s Bollywood movie trope to present a film designed to elicit whistles from the frontbenchers.
Nov 2019
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Bala
...extends its leading man’s predicament in more interesting ways, and is an altogether more humorous and layered examination of a widespread problem than Ujda Chaman. And yet, every time Latika appears on the screen, a shred of legitimacy falls to the floor, just like one of the many strands leaving Bala’s scalp at an alarming rate.
Nov 2019
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Ujda Chaman
A movie that sets itself up as an anti-romcom, one in which outward appearances don’t matter, makes little effort to explore the inner lives of its characters, particularly its self-centred hero.
Nov 2019
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Made In China
The movie tries to marry the world of the inept trader with nothing to sell and the enlightened doctor with something important to say, but no amount of magic potion can make this union work.
Oct 2019
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Saand Ki Aankh
The movie aims high, and wants to say many important things about the lack of opportunities for women, in sports or elsewhere. But its uneven tone and the easy-peasy manner in which the lead pair accumulate awards rarely allows for an nuanced understanding of just how the Tomar women did it.
Oct 2019
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Laal Kaptaan
Threats are delivered but never carried out, and ambition is spelt out but not realised. Yet, Laal Kaptaan scores on other fronts. The lack of sentimentality suits the material, and Navdeep Singh effectively conveys the sense of a battle without honour or humanity.
Oct 2019
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P Se Pyaar F Se Faraar
The adults in the room, rather than the under-age lovers on the run, save the movie from predictability and inevitability.
Oct 2019
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The Sky Is Pink
The sincerity of the 149-minute film is never in doubt, but to have been effective, it needed stronger actors and less clutter and over-plotting.
Oct 2019
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War
The male leads, separated by a couple of generations and united by their ability to land punches and execute pirouettes without breaking a sweat, set the screen on fire. Fortunately for War, there is barely a scene without either of them.
Oct 2019
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The Zoya Factor
...a movie that both suffers from miscasting and benefits from perfect casting. Abhishek Sharma’s shambolic romantic comedy, based on the bestselling 2008 novel by Anuja Chauhan, gives top billing to Sonam Kapoor, but all the attention is hogged by the name that follows hers in the credits. Malayalam star Dulquer Salmaan...
Sep 2019
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Dream Girl
The movie’s aims include supplying a joke every minute, which it often does, and delivering a comic take on urban loneliness, which it doesn’t quite do.
Sep 2019
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Section 375
In the interests of free expression, then, it is necessary to hear the support for patriarchy laid out by Section 375 – just as it is possible, in a democracy, to decide for yourself whether the movie is an effective legal drama or a bilious defence of deeply entrenched sexism in Bollywood.
Sep 2019
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Chhichhore
The movie begins as a rambunctious college campus comedy, quickly moves into the sentimental family drama zone, returns for the fun and games, shifts back into tear-jerking territory, and finally runs out of breath with only some of its ambitions realised.
Sep 2019
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Batla House
...claims to explore the role played by doubt in a police investigation, but it is loaded with biases.
Aug 2019