-
Sonchiriya
The film itself is a tangle of ideas, and works better as an existential mood piece than the heavy-duty action drama it often resembles.
Mar 2019
-
Kahaani
Sujoy Ghosh is capable of delivering a tight script. He shows us that you can make a Hindi movie without songs and nobody will miss them.
Mar 2012
-
Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster Returns
...far more densely plotted than the first movie and has many more characters, but there’s no change in the theme—the struggle of feudals possessed by an immense sense of entitlement to remain relevant in a democracy.
Mar 2013
-
Manjunath
...Varma does throw up some surprises. He effectively captures the ordinariness of the milieu that produces Manjunath, and extracts solid performances from his cast. However, the director is less sure-footed about the larger issues thrown up by Manjunath’s death.
May 2014
-
Gurgaon
The movie works best in fits and starts, especially when it lets itself by guided by its richly layered atmospherics.
Aug 2017
-
Padmaavat
Although Padmaavat lacks the leap of imagination that is required to make the centuries-old story relevant for contemporary times, the movie coheres better than some of Bhansali’s previous efforts.
Jan 2018
-
Kabir Singh
...reimagines the Indian hero archetype in interesting ways, but its inability to even consider the flaws in its leading man’s romantic outlook is its undoing. Is masochism the flip side of machismo? Both movies seem to agree, but they never ask why.
Jun 2019
-
Pati Patni Aur Woh
The movie is refreshingly unsentimental and bereft of breast-beating, but fails to capitalise on its independent-spirited women...
Dec 2019
-
Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai
...has a sharp beginning, a sagging middle and an inconclusive end that promises a sequel.
Aug 2010
-
Ae Dil Hai Mushkil
Johar’s latest movie is somewhere in between. He is trying to move away from the large-canvas romances on which he has built his career, but his foundation remains the popular Hindi film idiom, especially Yash Chopra’s cinema.
Oct 2016
-
Laal Kaptaan
Threats are delivered but never carried out, and ambition is spelt out but not realised. Yet, Laal Kaptaan scores on other fronts. The lack of sentimentality suits the material, and Navdeep Singh effectively conveys the sense of a battle without honour or humanity.
Oct 2019
-
Angrezi Medium
The jalebi-shaped screenplay is attributed to four writers. The direction, by Homi Adajania, struggles to contain a narrative that is figuratively and literally all over the place.
Mar 2020
-
Saare Jahaan Se Mehnga
...is too slight to be this year’s Bheja Fry or Welcome to Sajjanpur, but there is no doubting its relevance and sincerity.
Mar 2013
-
Guddu Ki Gun
The daring premise seals the movie’s destiny as a cult favourite, but at 124 minutes, it is stretched beyond belief and tolerance.
Oct 2015
-
Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar
Without a sense of urgency or a clear understanding of how the characters are evolving between various crises, the 125-minute narrative moves stiffly from one scene to the next. Needlessly grim for the most part and jaunty when least expected, the movie ignores Pinky’s advice to Sandeep to “use head not heart”.
Mar 2021
-
Raees
...is overstretched and too much in thrall to the Indian gangster movie formula, but Dholakia does try to use the past to comment on the present.
Jan 2017
-
Kadvi Hawa
Panda creates a convincing world of genteel blight, packing in details of rural lives driven to ruin by the weather and an indifferent government. But the story is too sketchy even for its 99-minute running time.
Nov 2017
-
Jun 2018
-
Kalank
The movie retains its hauteur and attention to period haute couture even as it goes off the rails, finally chugging into its destination after leaving broken hearts and unmet ambitions in its wake.
Apr 2019
-
Titli
...a disturbing yet unforgettable portrait of a bunch of dark souls in search of redemption.
Oct 2015
-
Saina
The overwritten script, which includes a voiceover by its subject, still falls short of revealing her inner life. Sports biopics and documentaries often seek to discover the unknowable – the higher force that propels athletes to excellence.
Mar 2021
-
Phata Poster Nikhla Hero
...makes the strongest possible case yet to the movie trade and viewers that Kapoor cannot be written off easily.
Sep 2013
-
Guddu Rangeela
...starts off on a wholly different note from the one on which it ends.
Jul 2015
-
Manto
Despite the best efforts of Nawazuddin Siddiqui to humanise his character, Manto’s inner workings remain elusive, emerging only in bits and pieces.
Sep 2018
-
NH10
NH10 never glorifies its ample violence, and its moral compass is unerringly fixed.
Mar 2015
-
Sahi Dhandhe Galat Bande
...patchily written and too long for its own good. But it is also attempts to tackle the issue of the acquisition of farm land with some degree of seriousness.
Aug 2011