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Sniff
It feels terrible to carp at a film made for children when there’s so few of these around – it’s the critical equivalent of tossing a mewling kitten off a cliff – but just about nothing goes right in Sniff.
Aug 2017
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Nov 2013
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Singh Is Bliing
Why can’t we make just pure comedy – without action, without missing mothers, without villains? I’d have ended up happier had I walked out during the interval.
Oct 2015
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Simran
It’s not half bad. This is one of the rare instances the US doesn’t look shiny and plasticky, like a Christmas-tree ornament. The music is similarly real, understated. With Ranaut practically accommodating the orchestra in her portrayal, playing every instrument and waving the baton, a more melodramatic score would have been overkill. But the whimsy doesn’t work.
Sep 2017
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Simmba
On his good days, Salman Khan can really carry off a “mass” movie. But based on his extraordinary performance in Simmba, Ranveer Singh can apparently do this even on a bad day.
Jan 2019
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Shuddh Desi Romance
When a subtle writer’s work is filmed by a subtle filmmaker, maybe we end up with too… understated a product. A little brashness isn’t out of place in a love story...
Sep 2013
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Shubh Mangal Saavdhan
...is yet another “small” film that shows where so many of our bigger movies go wrong. It’s not rocket science. It’s just the basics. With an alert cast, flavourful writing, good filmmaking, it’s not… hard..
Sep 2017
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Shortcut Romeo
A remake is usually a way to take care of the things that did not work earlier, but Ganesh is too busy having his African extras shake their buttocks...
Jun 2013
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Shorgul
This is a valid, even necessary issue to explore, but the filmmakers aren’t up to it.
Jul 2016
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Shootout At Wadala
...the film never becomes anything more than a proficiently made cops-and-robbers thriller.
May 2013
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Shirin Farhad Ki Toh Nikal Padi
This sort of material, to be pulled off, needs a certain kind of director – Bela Bhansali Sehgal isn’t that director.
Aug 2012
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Aug 2013
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Jun 2012
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Shahid
Shahid isn’t a polemic but – in the tradition of our cinema – a deeply humanistic drama. The film makes us think, but more often, it makes us feel.
Oct 2013
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Shab
It’s hard to get involved with any of these lives, as their problems are so generic (though Onir could claim, rightly, that the generic is the universal). Something’s off. The revelations are underwhelming, and, worse, unaffecting.
Jul 2017
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Oct 2015
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Shaadi Ke Side Effects
...the film feels toothless, pointless, pretending to tackle real issues while really searching for the next easy punch line.
Mar 2014
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Satyagraha
...wonder why Jha insists on following the commercial Hindi-film model when his heart is so clearly not in it.
Sep 2013
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Sarkar 3
A needless, not-all-bad sequel that’s more interesting as commentary on the director
May 2017
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Sarbjit
How can all this result in such a dull movie, which is neither a gripping familial drama nor a tense legal thriller?
May 2016
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Sanju
Hirani is more interested in event and entertainment. He transforms a feel-bad life into a feel-good story.
Jul 2018
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Feb 2016
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Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster 3
...is a bit of an underwhelmer, but not unwatchable — and the reason goes back to what the Randeep Hooda character said in Part 1: “Is haveli ke sab log pagal hain.” Everyone’s bonkers — even the filmmaker.
Jul 2018
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Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster
I walked away from Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster with the feeling that I needed to see it again, this time brushing aside the cobwebs of the earlier film and impressing on Dhulia's conceits a feminist reading.
Oct 2011
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Saand Ki Aankh
I would have liked a classier film, but as far as the emotional beats go, Saand Ki Aankh is mostly on target.
Nov 2019
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Jan 2016
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R... Rajkumar
The problem with this kind of cinema is that it’d probably work best as a two-hour show reel of highlights and our filmmakers almost always insist on adding the extra half-hour or hour. There’s just not enough plot or characterisation to sustain these films for that long.
Dec 2013
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Aug 2016
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Roy
Roy is what happens when an art-house English film masquerades as a mainstream Hindi movie.
Feb 2015
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Rocky Handsome
...if Sanjay Gupta and Sanjay Leela Bhansali had a baby, it’d look like this movie.
Mar 2016