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Veere Di Wedding
...is impactful especially because the lead quartet are enjoying themselves even while their film remains an unapologetic commentary on the lives of women in this setting.
Jun 2018
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PK
...is not as brilliant as Hirani’s Munnabhai 1&2, but it’s still an excellent film that throws up surprises every step of the way. It had me laughing out loud then crying like a baby. It broke my heart then raised my spirits.
Dec 2014
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Stree
...is like a blind date that turns out well – a tryst with the unexpected filled with exciting surprises. It is a thought-provoking laughathon-cum-spookathon, and one of the most unusual Bollywood films of the year so far.
Sep 2018
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Thappad
...is designed to make us uncomfortable about our milieu and compel us to introspect about our own complicity in patriarchy. It also shines a light on patriarchy and gender-based violence across class divides.
Mar 2020
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NH10
...is never less than compelling. It is from start to finish a thoroughly absorbing film.
Mar 2015
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Gurgaon
The film is a slow burn but make no mistake about it: the explosion is coming.
Aug 2017
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Raid
This is not the kind of fare you might expect to set your pulses racing, but that is precisely what it achieves in its closing scenes. Raid is not regular Bollywood. What it is though is thoroughly entertaining.
Mar 2018
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Shanghai
...demands some patience … this is not one of those films that sucks you in right from the first scene. It takes its time to draw you in. When it does though, the sadness is inescapable.
Jun 2012
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Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster Returns
It’s such a joy to be able to say this in a Bollywood that rarely makes good sequels … Saheb Biwi aur Gangster was a fun political thriller; SBAG Returns is even better.
Mar 2013
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Pagglait
Sad, sweet and funny by turns, it is a special film about a woman redefining happily-ever-after and about a death breathing life into the one left behind.
Mar 2021
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Island City
Ruchika Oberoi’s understated style, on-point writing and sense of humour are significant new additions to the Indian cinemascape. Island City is a sorrowful yet amusing, acutely observant film.
Sep 2016
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Mar 2013
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Masaan
There can be no greater measure of the effectiveness of a film than that the dreams of its characters become ours, their heartbreaks become our heartbreaks, their joys our very own. That is the kind of film sweet little Masaan is.
Jul 2015
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Sep 2013
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Mardaani
...strikes that delicate and hard-to-achieve balance between realism and entertainment. Very very nice, Mr Sarkar.
Aug 2014
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Titli
...is one of the most gripping Hindi films to come to theatres this year. It is entertaining in a hard-to-explain sort of way because it is so heart-stoppingly matter of fact about the horrific, sad, almost bizarre reality check it delivers.
Oct 2015
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Dedh Ishqiya
Nothing in this film is what it seems. Not even the genre. It’s a thriller, yet it stubbornly refuses to be frenetic, revealing its cards one step at a time, at its very own pace, as if teasing the viewer or cajoling us to forget that there might be another twist coming up.
Jan 2014
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Piku
...is both moving and rip-roaringly funny. It is also an extremely intelligent film that is modest about its intelligence.
May 2015
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Omerta
Besides, Omerta’s pace is so unrelenting and Rao’s acting so immersive that it is impossible to turn away from the screen for a single moment of the film’s compact 97 minutes and 37 seconds. To call it gripping might be an understatement.
May 2018
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Lipstick Under My Burkha
It is unrelenting in its social commentary, unapologetic about the mirror it holds up to Indian patriarchy, and reminds men that women – even those old enough to be their mothers – have sexual desires.
Jul 2017
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Game Over
...is inventive, it is intelligent, it does not take the viewer lightly and above all else, it is terrifying.
Jun 2019
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English Vinglish
...is an excellent comeback vehicle for India’s most successful pan-India female superstar, but what makes the film work is that the director is not star struck.
Oct 2012
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Mary Kom
Despite some major grouses with the film, I’ve come away from the theatre admiring Mary Kom and being a little in love with Onler. Mission accomplished, Omung Kumar.
Sep 2014
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Apr 2012
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Madras Cafe
...pulsates with life, a realistic feel and a sense of danger at every turn.
Aug 2013
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Kadvi Hawa
...is a bitter pill to swallow, and one that is designed to compel us to look within.
Dec 2017
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Manto
...Das makes her Manto a stirring, sensitive portrait of a tortured genius from an era seemingly long past yet tragically mirroring our troubled present.
Sep 2018
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Tribhanga
...is an entertaining, thoughtful, well-acted female bonding flick, as unconventional as the three women whose stories it tells.
Jan 2021