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Machine
...the machine jangles and clatters away for 148 minutes before hurtling towards an inevitable pile-up.
Mar 2017
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Gulaab Gang
Of all the tributes to Sampat Pal’s debatable feminist politics, this one is the narrowest, and the silliest.
Mar 2014
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Alif
The theatrical acting and inept handling of scenes stretches on for 120 minutes, and the larger issues that the movie tries to tackle fall by the wayside.
Feb 2017
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Ujda Chaman
A movie that sets itself up as an anti-romcom, one in which outward appearances don’t matter, makes little effort to explore the inner lives of its characters, particularly its self-centred hero.
Nov 2019
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Paathshaala
The disconnectedness between scenes suggests that a big chunk of Paathshaala is lying on the floor of an editing suite somewhere.
Apr 2010
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Bodyguard
Until somebody comes up with a smart way to channelise his brawny appeal and knack for self-deprecating humour – as Abhinav Singh Kashyap did in Dabanng – we are condemned to watch bad films repeat themselves.
Sep 2011
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Thackeray
Subtlety, or, for that matter, reason, are hardly to be expected from Thackeray, a 139-minute propaganda video for the Shiv Sena as it gears up for the Lok Sabha election later this year.
Jan 2019
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Nov 2011
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Hawaizaada
...would have worked nicely as a work of fiction about two individuals who dream of putting the allegories and myths on which they grew up into practice, but Puri wholly believes in his flight of fancy.
Jan 2015
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X: Past is Present
...amateurish and poorly acted attempt at deconstructing romance, heartbreak and the merging of reality with fiction.
Nov 2015
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Aug 2018
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Jhootha Kahin Ka
The whole commotion would have been resolved if the characters had sat across from each other and explained their positions, but then we wouldn’t have had a movie to plod through.
Jul 2019
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Boss
The action-comedy category, characterised by such films as Wanted, Singham and Rowdy Rathore, is primarily aimed at boosting the careers of the marquee male stars who headline them. Every actor who isn’t the ubermensch that no force in the world can withstand doesn’t need to bother. Why then should audiences?
Oct 2013
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Mastizaade
From peeling a banana to opening a bank account, from light sockets to soda bottles, Mastizaade pulls out all the stops and lets the ribald humour gush for 108 minutes.
Jan 2016
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Rough Book
The message is muddled and the pace glacial even at 90 minutes. Most of the acting is strictly functional...
Jun 2016
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The Power
...is a slog, staggering from one grisly death to another and pausing only to marvel at Vidyut Jammwal’s eye-popping stunts in slow motion.
Jan 2021
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The Fakir Of Venice
The decade between its completion and its release shows in every frame. Mumbai and Venice are visibly less crowded than they now are and the actors are younger and more energetic, but the movie’s art world con made little sense then and even less sense in 2019.
Feb 2019
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Family Of Thakurganj
The plot kicks in very late, and a bit too late to rescue the movie from utter predictability and sameness.
Jul 2019
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Rajjo
...the movie plays out unmistakably in la-la land, with characters that can only be found in other movies about prostitutes and a series of plot developments that bear little connection to the real world.
Nov 2013
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Ek Paheli Leela
Leone’s risqué image will prove most handy in getting productions off the ground and ensuring footfalls in cinemas, but at least in this movie at least, she is clearly out of place.
Apr 2015
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Rocky Handsome
...proves that it is possible to pay good money for an official remake of a South Korean hit rather than pilfer the plot, as Bollywood has done in the past, and still botch it up.
Mar 2016
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PM Narendra Modi
Any insights the movie offers into Modi’s rise are inadvertent. The monomaniacal focus on one man above all else will surely be of interest to those who study how cinema can be used for propaganda.
May 2019
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Dec 2015
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Saat Uchhakkey
...has little going for it, but the movie might be worth its 139-minute running time for those who know only 19 ways to insult their mothers and sisters and have merely four phrases to describe the manner in which the human posterior can be punished.
Oct 2016
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Sniff
Sluggishly paced and sketchily written, the movie barely has enough going on to merit 90 minutes of running time.
Aug 2017
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Yamla Pagla Deewana Phir Se
The forced wackiness is spread thinly over 148 minutes, and the poor production values and all-round laziness indicate that nobody in this production was trying too hard.
Aug 2018
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Gori Tere Pyaar Mein
Malhotra’s desire to engage with the issues that matter seems to be a response to criticism that Bollywood needs to move out of la-la land and in the direction of realistic cinema, but Gori Tere Pyaar Mein! is proof that this journey is not for everybody.
Nov 2013
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Hate Story IV
The scenes between Tasha and the expressionless hunks lusting for her are about as erotic as watching a light bulb being changed.
Mar 2018
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The Blueberry Hunt
There simply isn’t enough in here to justify the 110-minute running time.
Apr 2016
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Kuldip Patwal
Kohli’s amateurish handling of the subject and inability to ensure a smoothly paced narrative ensure that the movie is a trudge from start to finish.
Feb 2018