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Mardaani 2
While the briskness lends some urgency to what turns out to be routine serial killer fare, it barely allows for character sketching.
Dec 2019
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Aug 2011
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Jolly L.L.B.
...is bereft of debate or subtlety. It’s what they call an open-and-shut case.
Mar 2013
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22 Yards
...does benefit from nicely etched characters and a feel for cricketing denizens who are sometimes forgotten as the game gets too big for its own good. A T-20 trot becomes a one-day trudge, but the relief at a movie about cricket that doesn’t involve nationalism cannot be understated.
Mar 2019
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Mission Mangal
In between the gimmicky jugaad philosophising and meaningless sub-plots, Mission Mangal manages to devote some time to space technology.
Aug 2019
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Ra.One
...there's ultimately no escaping the poorly drawn characters, Khan's weird mannerisms and the surfeit of references to the male nether regions.
Oct 2011
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Chalk N Duster
The film's report card: an A for effort, but with marks cut for general incompetence.
Jan 2016
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Dhanak
...it is simply too cheerful and unconvincing to work as an Indian avatar of Iranian movies that feature adorable children grappling with adult problems.
Jun 2016
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Meri Pyaari Bindu
...is the kind of romcom that feeds leading questions to potential detractors. Such as, can anything new be said about a love story? Why is Bindu the way she is? And when will this end?
May 2017
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Bhoomi
...is your regular rape-revenge drama, but only much louder, with better camerawork and production design.
Sep 2017
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Mohalla Assi
What is supposed to be a satire about the exploitation of religious sentiment becomes a plodding dirge about a disappearing way of life.
Nov 2018
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Dec 2020
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7 Khoon Maaf
The story could have been passionate, funny, creepy or even schlocky. Bhardwaj opts for tepid.
Feb 2011
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Department
...the movie is a self-consciously parodic version of the cops-and-gangster genre that Varma has mined successfully in the past as a director and producer.
May 2012
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Shaadi Ke Side Effects
...has gained gloss and glamourous leads but at the expense of variety of tonal consistency.
Feb 2014
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Jai Gangaajal
For all its high-minded moralising, Jai Gangaajal plays out like a 1980s vigilante movie.
Mar 2016
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Mom
...comes close to the spirit of the South Korean films by which it has been influenced, even though it is not always able to replicate the fleetness and clarity with which such movies tackle fundamentally sordid material.
Jul 2017
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Firangi
...is highly overstretched, and squanders its comic potential despite having a comedian as its hero.
Dec 2017
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Bombairiya
...the humour not sharp or bizarre enough, and the narrative too disjointed to hang together.
Jan 2019
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Mere Pyare Prime Minister
...loses direction as it navigates its way through its good intentions and delays an outcome that is predicted from the first frame of the button-cute kids running around the slum.
Mar 2019
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Batla House
...claims to explore the role played by doubt in a police investigation, but it is loaded with biases.
Aug 2019
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Happy Hardy And Heer
Director Raka does his best within the circumstances, cutting to a song whenever possible. It’s a wise choice, since the only sources of energy is Reshammiya’s pulsating soundtrack, which has the potential to survive the movie’s life cycle.
Feb 2020
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Daawat-e-Ishq
...not quite sure if it wants to be a social satire or a serious-minded attack on dowry.
Sep 2014
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Half Girlfriend
Bhagat’s novel suffered from the writer’s inability to imagine Riya as anything more than a half person. The film too abounds with many such half persons...
May 2017
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Beyond The Clouds
By ignoring the cynicism that marks the average urban poverty saga, Beyond the Clouds ends up being a fairy tale woven around people living on the periphery. There is none of the painful honesty of Salaam Bombay! nor the wish fulfillment fantasies of Slumdog Millionaire in Amir’s adventures.
Apr 2018
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Bhavesh Joshi Superhero
For all its promises of looking at Mumbai’s seemingly intractable problems with a fresh eye, Bhavesh Joshi Superhero offers solutions that are far removed from reality. The film moves away from common sense as it descends into genre territory. It doesn’t help that its leading man fails to take audiences along.
Jun 2018
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Saand Ki Aankh
The movie aims high, and wants to say many important things about the lack of opportunities for women, in sports or elsewhere. But its uneven tone and the easy-peasy manner in which the lead pair accumulate awards rarely allows for an nuanced understanding of just how the Tomar women did it.
Oct 2019