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Radhe
...is dreary and listless, with no attempt to do anything innovative within the purview of star-led masala entertainers.
May 2021
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Pagglait
...has a unique way of tackling social issues that have always been a matter of concern in a social setting increasingly plagued by crippling orthodoxy. Only now, its depiction has become more genuine, and make its viewers contemplate the hard realities of the Indian experience.
Mar 2021
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Saina
To be fair to Amole Gupte, the problem partly lies in how reductive the blueprint for a sports drama has been made by filmmakers, who seem to succumb to the temptations of the trappings that come with the genre.
Mar 2021
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Coolie No.1
There’s no harm in remaking an old blockbuster for a newer audience but it may have benefited from a more contemporary absurd comedy.
Jan 2021
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AK vs AK
...is structured as a “serious” film and a black comedy. It is the film’s supposed serious moments — with real actors — that are the weakest. But its comedic portions are, for the most part, a riot
Dec 2020
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Baaghi 3
There is a phrase in Hindi: dimaag ka dahi, the curdling of brain. That’s what the film does to your mind, leaves you all woolly-headed.
Mar 2020
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Mar 2020
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Thappad
...writers Anubhav Sinha and Mrunmayee Lagoo Waikul do well in turning a solitary slap into larger exploration of male entitlement. They weave a dexterous but concise and economical narrative that, even while focusing on one woman’s life, turns it into the story about every woman. And every man.
Feb 2020
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Bhoot – Part One
Vicky Kaushal and jump scares manage to hold things together well till the Dharma vessel derails in the second half.
Feb 2020
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Love Aaj Kal
In the faux intensity and pointless philosophising of his newer lot of films the soul goes entirely missing and a turgidity underlines the telling.
Feb 2020
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Malang
The film is unintentionally funny at points, mildly clever in its second-half and there is a hint of pertinent discussion about encounters and justice within the system but all that is eclipsed by the multitude inane reasoning in the film, that gives you neither sukoon nor mazaa.
Feb 2020
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Shikara
Containing the narrative to a ‘human and personal’ experience, the filmmaker buries politics under the garb of ‘love and hope’
Feb 2020
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Jawaani Jaaneman
...is fun but complaisant, reinforces the age old cliches associated with singledom.
Jan 2020
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Street Dancer 3D
The dance here looks like action set-pieces, bodily contortions and jumps and leaps in the air. Similar and repetitive at that, and stretching way too long over 150 minutes.
Jan 2020
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Panga
Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari directorial is about how love, marriage and children need not come in the way of a sportswoman’s success, but what sets it refreshingly apart is a wonderful sense of humour.
Jan 2020
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Jai Mummy Di
We just keep going round and round in a tiring, boring, humourless circle than things leaping forward with a sense of fun and urgency.
Jan 2020
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Tanhaji
Little then to get excited about yet another Hindi film that aims to make Indians proud of who we are by taking us back to the past, right to the end of the 17th century, when we used to be the “sone ki chidiya”, till “baahari taaqat” (the foreign invaders) came and split us apart.
Jan 2020
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Chhapaak
It’s this sparseness, minimalism and austerity in the telling and an essential quietude that lend Chhapaak an emotional force of its own though some may end up finding it measured to a fault.
Jan 2020
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Shimla Mirchi
...with its over-the-top narrative clichés, would still be counted among the most avoidable films, even if it were to release in the 90s.
Jan 2020
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Good Newwz
A damper of morality and manipulation after an uninhibited and irrepressibly refreshing start.
Dec 2019
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Dabangg 3
...has a wisp of a story told in a tawdry, slipshod way. It depends entirely on the goodwill and popularity of the original and the star power of Salman Khan to sail through.
Dec 2019
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Mardaani 2
The film engages with the gender issue in the all too familiar and stereotypical way, barely rising above being a cat-and-mouse thriller.
Dec 2019
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Panipat
Gowariker may have taken liberties with history, but doesn’t play around with the form. He sticks to the tried and tested, the long and langourous and old-fashioned. However, he is unable to achieve the epic sweep despite the declamatory dialogue, opulent costumes and the big song-n-dance set-pieces.
Dec 2019
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Pati Patni Aur Woh
The film starts off quick and fast, drops pace in the middle to again pick up speed later.
Dec 2019
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Commando 3
Here’s yet another shamefully opportunistic film that plays on the bad Muslim-good Muslim divide.
Nov 2019
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Pagalpanti
...this could have become a fairly decent satire. But that’s like asking for the moon and wishing Anees Bazmee was Kundan Shah.
Nov 2019
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Motichoor Chaknachoor
The rough humour, even the political incorrectness, of a few lines works given the context of the place and its denizens but the film doesn’t know when to stop and how to stay sharp and pointed.
Nov 2019
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Bala
While nailing the finer and linguistic details, Ayushmann Khurrana’s latest falls into the old traps of predictable character arcs, shallow ‘woke’ arguments and didactic climax
Nov 2019
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Ujda Chaman
The film is also unable to get its tone right. It can’t decide whether it wants to be funny, emotional or romantic or a mix of all. As a result it leaves the audience disconnected and confused as well. Should it laugh, cry or simply tear its hair out?
Nov 2019