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Break Ke Baad
...the story never really catches fire, and it never makes you invest enough emotion in the continent-hopping lovers - painted as opposites, in typical rom-com colours - ending up together. The hurdles that they plant on their way to happiness appear molehills, not mountains.
Nov 2010
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Boss
Akshay Kumar does what he can to keep things afloat, taking care of the action and the drama and the comedy, but unless you’re Amitabh Bachchan, these one-man circus shows are never a good idea.
Oct 2013
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May 2015
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Bombay Talkies
The quartet of shorts that make up Bombay Talkies train a zoom lens on cinema, starting on the outside and slowly drawing us in.
May 2013
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Bollywood Diaries
...is a splash of ice-cold water on everyone who stands in front of a mirror and says: Main Madhuri Dixit Banna Chahti Hoon.
Mar 2016
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May 2018
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Bhoomi
The problem with Bhoomi isn’t the loud, old-fashioned storytelling. It’s that it finds nothing interesting to tell.
Sep 2017
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Bhavesh Joshi Superhero
A sombre not-quite-superhero tale whose flaws don’t make it any less fascinating.
Jun 2018
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Bharat
...is rooted neither in the cinema traditions of the decades it covers nor is it the designer masala of this day. It’s a series of very perfunctorily staged scenes that flit past us. This happened. And then, this happened. And then this.
Jun 2019
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Bhaag Milkha Bhaag
There’s always something happening, but very little perspective on why this man’s life demanded to be made into a movie.
Jul 2013
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Bewakoofiyaan
...is much more complicated and adult, and by reducing it to a rom-com, Asthana pulls her punches.
Mar 2014
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Oct 2013
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Befikre
You need emotional investment. You need to care about these borderline-unlikable characters. It’s not a good sign when you keep wishing someone would make a love story around the heroine’s parents instead.
Dec 2016
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Barfi!
I was trying to think of another film that’s so sad that made me feel so happy watching it. I still haven’t come up with a name.
Sep 2012
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Aug 2017
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Bangistan
Anshuman has ideas – but he doesn’t know what to do with those ideas on screen.
Aug 2015
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Bang Bang!
...the film needed better location photography. It needed better writing. It needed better songs. And it needed a better director, someone with attitude and style.
Oct 2014
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Band Baaja Baaraat
A beautifully textured romcom with flesh-and-blood characters instead of lazy caricatures.
Dec 2010
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Bajirao Mastani
...the performance is still an exhilarating mix of fireworks and thunder and lightning, if only because Ranveer Singh is the first leading man in a Sanjay Leela Bhansali movie who knows what it means to play a Sanjay Leela Bhansali leading man.
Jan 2016
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Bajatey Raho
...galling to put oneself through a Khosla ka Ghosla rip-off with none of the charm and wit.
Aug 2013
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Jul 2015
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Badrinath Ki Dulhania
At the “leave your brains at home” level, Badrinath Ki Dulhaniya is undeniably fun. Only, it doesn’t want you to leave your brains at home. It wants you to think about the things it’s doing. That’s the trouble.
Mar 2017
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Badlapur
...goes beyond genre and simple homage. It isn’t slick. It has a verité feel.
Feb 2015
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Badla
...despite an overall watchable quality, especially towards the end, Badla is a tepid affair.
Mar 2019
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Baby
The director Neeraj Pandey realises that he isn’t making a film about ideas. He’s making an action movie, a thriller. Baby feels long at over two-and-a-half hours, but there’s nothing that feels redundant.
Jan 2015
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Babumoshai Bandookbaaz
An anything-goes genre hybrid that’s totally nuts, and totally entertaining.
Aug 2017
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Sep 2016