-
Hasee Toh Phasee
...the heavier scenes don’t work at all. Part of the problem is that the film, as it goes along, becomes broader and more “Bollywoody”...
Feb 2014
-
One By Two
After a while, the film begins to feel like an academic experiment: Can the lives of two not-terribly-interesting people be shaped into an interesting story?
Feb 2014
-
Jai Ho
There is so little to root for in the film – despite such an emotional hook, of man helping fellow man – that we look for scraps...
Jan 2014
-
Dedh Ishqiya
...the problem with these Ishqiya movies. There’s so much to savour in them, but they never become what they could have been because the heaviness of the love stories, which are the core, are diminished by the lightness, the cheekiness, the tomfoolery in everything else.
Jan 2014
-
Dhoom 3
The scenarios are dull. The face-offs are flat. The set pieces are flabby, uninspired...
Dec 2013
-
Jackpot
What he (the director) doesn’t do is put together something that can make us care. And the acting is awful.
Dec 2013
-
Jackpot
The director, Gurmmeet Singh, rounds up able actors – Deepti Pujari, as a naïf from Saharanpur, is quite good – but they’re let down by a series of sketches that must have sounded good on paper but fall flat on screen.
Dec 2013
-
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
-
Bullett Raja
With so much that’s so fascinating at a conceptual level, it’s surprising how dull Bullett Raja is – and that’s because Dhulia, in his attempts to imbue his material with layers and texture, forgets what made those masala movies work in the first place.
Dec 2013
-
Nov 2013
-
Gori Tere Pyaar Mein
We don’t go to rom-coms expecting cold logic, but even as a heart-tugger Gori Tere Pyaar Mein doesn’t quite cut it.
Nov 2013
-
Ram-leela
...is so generic, it could have been made by anyone with the sense to hire a good cinematographer and art director.
Nov 2013
-
Krrish 3
...shows no signs of heightened or indeed, any brain activity. This is a big dumb movie without the trashy thrills that we sometimes get from big dumb movies.
Nov 2013
-
Mickey Virus
The trick is to convey a sense of breathlessness, and Saurabh Varma’s Mickey Virus manages this only in spurts.
Oct 2013
-
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
-
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
-
Oct 2013
-
Phata Poster Nikhla Hero
We really only care about the laughs. But what Santoshi’s making aren’t just comedies. They’re reverential homage. They’re tongue-in-cheek throwback. They’re a love letter to the movies. They’re utterly one-of-a-kind.
Sep 2013
-
The Lunchbox
...a fascinating mix of fact and fiction, documentary-like realism and flights of poetic whimsy.
Sep 2013
-
Sep 2013
-
Zanjeer
The most frustrating aspect of this Zanjeer is the cynicism on display, as if the audience would show up just because lines like “Yeh police station hai, tere baap ka ghar nahin” are reproduced.
Sep 2013
-
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
-
Satyagraha
...wonder why Jha insists on following the commercial Hindi-film model when his heart is so clearly not in it.
Sep 2013
-
Once Upon A Time In Mumbai Dobaara
The directors from the Mahesh Bhatt stable know their way around the darker side of desire and they know how to shape characters that are real yet just this side of larger-than-life. Other filmmakers venturing into these waters come off as posers...
Aug 2013
-
Bajatey Raho
...galling to put oneself through a Khosla ka Ghosla rip-off with none of the charm and wit.
Aug 2013
-
Aug 2013
-
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