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Jai Jawaan Jai Kisaan
Usually, if anyone dares to criticize the craft behind 'well-intentioned tributes', the perpetrator's lack of patriotism and respect is invoked. However, today I am fighting for freedom: from mediocrity, and from oppression in cinema halls.
Feb 2015
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Shamitabh
...ultimately morphs into the film equivalent of medical marijuana. It aims for a necessary high, the concept is barely legal, but once the plot is lost it becomes a moody epidemic of inopportune giggles.
Feb 2015
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Dolly Ki Doli
...liberties would be acceptable if this was a mischievous Disney fairytale. Or if this didn't actually boast of a stellar supporting cast.
Jan 2015
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Baby
For all its machinations, Baby is a step in the right direction for an ailing genre, albeit a slightly bloated and infantile step at that.
Jan 2015
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Sharafat Gayi Tel Lene
Though it is written with a fair amount of conviction and research, the paper-to-screen transition adds nothing new. There isn't enough within sequences—be it the performers, their lines or routines—to keep us engaged.
Jan 2015
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I
...three throbbing hours of an operatic musical--with a unique style that refuses to find firm footing between Victor Hugo and Michael Bay.
Jan 2015
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Tevar
...there's not a moment that isn't formula-driven, which is why Sharma fails to stamp any kind of storytelling authority.
Jan 2015
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Jan 2015
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Mumbai Can Dance Saala
...if this is a sign of things to come in 2015, I might consider alternate career options.
Jan 2015
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Ugly
I disliked what I saw, and I dislike thinking or even writing about its familiar environment. And this vile aftertaste is perhaps Mr. Kashyap's most significant achievement.
Dec 2014
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PK
The two smartest screenwriters of our generation, Mr. Hirani and Abhijat Joshi, have gone one better and crafted not so much as a movie as a relevant argument—with the usual ebbs and flows, dramatic flourishes, pauses and lapses in concentration (bloated second half) that characterize fierce debates.
Dec 2014
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Main Aur Mr. Riight
When incompetent acting marries awful writing, it makes for a critic's worst nightmare.
Dec 2014
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Action Jackson
There's suspension of disbelief, and there's Action Jackson—where suspension climbs to the top of Everest, moonwalks and floats into the stratosphere strapped with eardrum-shattering jetpacks. Not usually my cuppa, but perhaps this one time, it is. With a shot of rum.
Dec 2014
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Sulemani Keeda
We've lately seen so many shiny self-referential movies about movies, but none as self-aware and poker-faced as this charming little effort.
Dec 2014
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Bhopal: A Prayer For Rain
This isn't an easy event to storify, because it is even harder to watch. While much of it merely lends grainy well-cut images to pages we've been hesitant to read about, this is a film that shouldn't be escaped.
Dec 2014
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Ungli
...takes a chestthumping, crowd-pleasing concept and turns it into a preachy mess that might discourage future attempts at this genre.
Nov 2014
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Zid
Who actually created this-disgruntled director, proud producer, or horny underaged kid in the matinee show?
Nov 2014
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Zed Plus
...a good, intelligent film-one that needs to be watched, if only to recognise the value of solid writing.
Nov 2014
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Happy Ending
Seen before, done before. Narrative styles, conflicts, background scores and supporting characters have begun to overlap. All that differ are the littler details—professions, environments, guest appearances.
Nov 2014
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Kill Dil
...is eventually the kind of lightweight effort watchable not for its content, but because you see the makers enjoying themselves. We admire the way they laugh, not the joke they laugh at.
Nov 2014
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6-5=2
The first rule is that these films should be scary and the actors, naturalistic. Their deaths should invoke horror, not glee and relief that they're finally being bumped off.
Nov 2014
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The Shaukeens
...more than what The Shaukeens does right, its redeeming qualities are strictly contained within what it doesn't do wrong.
Nov 2014
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A Decent Arrangement
It's hardly surprising that NRI filmmakers manage to capture the essence and eccentricity of our ways with greater restraint. As evident here, theirs is essentially an outsider's inside perspective, an honest union of craft and storytelling uncluttered by commercial aspirations.
Nov 2014
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Chaar Sahibzade
Even if this is a passable watch for those unexposed to Pixar, it's time to move past the embryonic stages of a universe aching to be explored.
Nov 2014
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Rang Rasiya
...will be remembered not for its subversive images and tacky craft, but for its counterintuitive storytelling.
Nov 2014
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Super Nani
Mr Kumar has created a world that will instantly take you back to the regressive ways of the 18th century-the kind of attitude you battled to break norms and set the stage.
Nov 2014
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Roar: Tigers Of The Sundarbans
...ends up as an ill-conceived tribute to an animal that deserves a more majestic showcase.
Oct 2014