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Radhe
...at the end of a couple of hours (in this case, mercifully, only an hour and 40 minutes), these films are really like political elections. The quality of parties and candidates doesn’t matter. What does is, who won. Or, if it was a box-office success. Which, for the first time, we will never know.
May 2021
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Pagglait
Where the film manages to stay afloat with much aplomb though is turning all of this into a coming-of-age story of the young widow, whose life changes within the span of the 13 days it takes for the soul to exit a home.
Mar 2021
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Coolie No.1
None of this campy comedy from the times of Campa Cola is done with any sense of irony. Making everything else that follows seem not so much as an insult to the audience's intelligence, as a movie that ignores your intellect altogether.
Dec 2020
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AK vs AK
Outside of casual voyeurism boxed into a genre flick, what are you supposed to make of this spoof of a spoof (showbiz/celebrity lives)? That's thing about stuff that's meta—you gotta look beyond what you see.
Dec 2020
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Angrezi Medium
...pulls itself (and the audience) into so many different (and opposite) directions, all at the same time, that after a blunt point, you begin to lose interest altogether.
Mar 2020
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Thappad
As a filmmaker with a sharp voice, this is Sinha's third film in a row that knocks open a fissure to reveal the rot within (when it comes to gender relations).
Feb 2020
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Bhoot – Part One
It keeps slipping back to normal, after a few jolting sequences thrown in. There's much back-story — as if you're meant to care.
Feb 2020
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Chhapaak
...subtly puts a lot of such debates into perspective. We should be proud of it. As we are, of Padukone fronting and backing it, of course.
Jan 2020
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Sab Kushal Mangal
Honestly, as an audience, when the premise, let alone the story, doesn't work for you, it's best to be distracted by things that do.
Jan 2020
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Chhapaak
...Padukone's under-stated presence more than matches this picture's intention, as the film flits between a court-room drama, and anecdotal storytelling.
Jan 2020
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Dabangg 3
...there's no point intellectualising, analyzing, mentally masturbating over a movie that makes no bones about its severely lowbrow, literally below-the-belt purpose.
Dec 2019
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Pati Patni Aur Woh
...a whole lot of random desi-lad humour, in what's essentially a naughty-uncle comedy about the wife, and woh (the other woman). Couldn't find anything funny here. Surely this sort of stuff has an audience. Hope the film finds it then.
Dec 2019
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Nov 2019
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Motichoor Chaknachoor
Where do you go from there? Practically nowhere. The plot is pretty plain and simple.
Nov 2019
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Bala
It's almost as if the film has been designed to clear every headspace and leg/elbow room for the leading man Ayushmann to spread his wings and soar. And boy, does he shine—perhaps outshining anything he's done in the mainstream space so far.
Nov 2019
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Ujda Chaman
This is a film about lost hair that eventually makes you want to tear your own off at some point.
Nov 2019
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Saand Ki Aankh
There's something so desperately missing in the general rhythm and tone of this film that beyond a point, not just the audience, even the filmmakers seem unable to decide on whether this is a high-octane melodrama, set to appease junta-class.
Oct 2019
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Made In China
Sure the film, rather overtly, tackles too many things in one go. Most of it presented quite directly on a platter/bowl. But underneath all of this is an ingenious subject that so neatly captures the spirit of the current times—Indian entrepreneurship (call it 'jugaad'), and China (basically 'sasta maal').
Oct 2019
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Laal Kaptaan
...there are way too many scenes to the point that it begins to feel like a stretch, and you merely hope for the movie to get to the point.
Oct 2019
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The Sky Is Pink
It seems like an emotion that the filmmaker's probably been through, and so wants the world to know. And ponder over. It just stops being just a movie then.
Oct 2019
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Dream Girl
Now should we think about the finesse of filmmaking here (there's very little of it), or gags overstaying their welcome (some of them do), or the political correctness of some of these small-town/mohalla gags... Should we think, about? Don't. Seriously, don't.
Sep 2019
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Chhichhore
It's almost like the writer-director, at a living-room, is regaling you with anecdotes and blokes from his hostel life in an engineering campus. In fact, that's how this plot is also narrated in the film — to the lead character's son, who, along with the audience, is hearing all of this for the first time.
Sep 2019
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Saaho
They let loose on an eager audience merely set-pieces in quick succession, and so much random anth-shanth, akar-bakar, that it becomes impossible to saho (bear) Saaho, once you get closer to three hours.
Aug 2019
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Mission Mangal
This is actually a pretty sweet, syrupy film, in a schmaltzy sort of way, full of Hallmark card type quotable quotes, on success and life, and all that jazz. To a point that you may even forget sometimes that it's entirely a space-mission movie to begin with.
Aug 2019
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Batla House
Here's what the film compels you to do though. Read up more and more about the case. This is already saying a lot. Last time that happened? Maybe Anurag Kashyap's Black Friday? Woah, now that's a seriously tall compliment.
Aug 2019
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Judgemental Hai Kya
With the script firmly in place, this picture, competently directed by Bollywood debutant Prakash Kovelamudi, immaculately plays with form (sharp editing, art-direction, cinematography)--going wild at times, but never so haywire that it's impossible to self-contain, at any point. Which is a huge relief.
Jul 2019
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Super 30
Suffice it to suggest that the script, treated with an arthouse touch, has a potential of an Oscar nomination (no less). But you already know, this is a 'Bollywood' event-entertainer, with an understandable mix of memoir and melodrama.
Jul 2019
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India‘s Most Wanted
Frankly, nothing really happens for you to care enough. And the movie at two hours plus simply appears an hour too long. Ah! Felt like an empty shell -- well, to me, anyway.
May 2019
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De De Pyaar De
The film just stops being about a relationship; let alone romance, or comedy. It's almost like the filmmakers are certain the intended audience won't connect much with such a young-old love, by itself, in a single screen theatre. Well if you think they can't take it, then why make it?
May 2019