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Padmaavat
I’m an admirer of Sanjay’s passion and rigour, of his operatic sensibility and his commitment to creating epics. He isn’t subtle but he always plays for broke. To steal a line from the poet Robert Browning – Sanjay’s reach always exceeds his grasp. That’s what a heaven’s for. This time he doesn’t quite get there.
Jan 2018
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Pad Man
...a superman without the cape, is a memorable character. Like the real Pad Man, Lakshmi is self-deprecating and very funny – especially in the climactic speech at the United Nations. I wish the film matched his sparkle.
Feb 2018
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Paathshaala
...is staggeringly inept. The script by Hanif Sheikh has no discernable arc.
Apr 2010
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Mar 2012
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One Night Stand
...I can’t really recommend One Night Stand. But I think we need to acknowledge another marker in the evolution of the Hindi film heroine.
May 2016
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One By Two
The story by writer-director Devika Bhagat isn’t half-bad but these characters whine too much to be interesting company.
Feb 2014
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Sep 2012
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Ok Jaanu
Shaad doesn’t add anything to the narrative and the leads aren’t dazzling enough to distract us from the inherent flaws — like the repetition and predictable ending.
Jan 2017
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Mar 2014
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No One Killed Jessica
...is in places, powerful and moving. But it's also loud, simplistic and somewhat schizophrenic in tone
Jan 2011
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Mar 2015
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Neerja
...a truly inspiring story that will grip you from the first frame till the last. Take a few hankies with you. This one is a genuine weeper.
Feb 2016
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My Name is Khan
...never becomes the empowering, inspiring Forest Gump-like epic. Mainly because the connective tissue tying it together is deeply flawed and in places, embarrassingly naive.
Feb 2010
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Munna Michael
But director Sabbir Khan and writer Vimmi Datta pin his talents on a brain dead narrative. Despite ample support from Nawaz, Tiger's granite biceps can’t lift the load.
Jul 2017
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Mumbai Saga
...slick editing, green-toned filters and the painfully loud sound design (there isn’t a car in this film that doesn’t screech to a halt) are too limited to fill the hole that is the story.
Mar 2021
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Mukkabaaz
...is also a scathing critique of corruption in Indian sport, of the caste system, which keeps worthy men in chains and of extremists who spread mayhem under the cloak of religion. It’s a love story and a sports underdog story, which in the second half transforms into a suspenseful revenge drama. It’s a lot to weave together and ultimately Mukkabaaz becomes as exhausting as it is energizing.
Jan 2018
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Mubarakan
Director Anees Bazmee specializes in a genre that I call ‘cinema as lobotomy’.
Jul 2017
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Motichoor Chaknachoor
...the film doesn’t become memorable in the way that other small-town tales like Dum Laga Ke Haisha or Bareilly ki Barfi or Stree were. But it’s passable entertainment. And sometimes that’s enough.
Nov 2019
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Monsoon Shootout
The scenario might be new but the set-up and visuals we’ve seen before – the mean streets of Mumbai, killers, cops, slumlords, brothels, blood.
Dec 2017
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Mohenjo Daro
It breaks my heart to say this because so much talent and sweat is involved, but Mohenjo Daro is a mess.
Aug 2016
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Miss Lovely
Yes, it is an acquired taste. But Ashim Ahluwalia’s distinct and intriguing voice is one more sign of how fundamentally and excitingly the Hindi film topography is changing.
Jan 2014
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Oct 2013
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Maximum
Can we all agree that Bollywood has squeezed as much cinema as is humanly possible out of Mumbai’s infamous encounter cops, their weasel-faced informers and the police-politician-builder-underworld nexus?
Jun 2012
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Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola
...didn’t stir up any keen emotions in me. Parts of the film soar but many are saggy and ultimately I was just underwhelmed.
Jan 2013
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Mastram
There are so many ideas here about writing, sexual desire, fantasy, hypocrisy, the artist in the market-place, but they remain unexplored. Mastram is an opportunity lost.
May 2014
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Jul 2015