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Love Sex Aur Dhokha
Dibakar Banerjee has taken that much-nudged envelope, ripped it apart, and mailed out a magnificently tawdry postcard. He's made a film which lets Hindi cinema sit back, take a deep glug of adulthood, and wipe Haywards 5000 foam from its 'stache as it leers at the girl in stockings. Bollywood has just grown up the only way it could...
Mar 2010
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Haider
...a knockout, a film that makes you smell corpses, that makes you shudder with melancholia, and a film that points accusing fingers. A film that doesn't flinch.
Oct 2014
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The Lunchbox
It is a film of multiple pleasures -- small ones and overwhelming ones and exquisitely crafted ones -- layered one on top of the other, with something for everyone, and so, so much for the cinematic glutton.
Sep 2013
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Mukkabaaz
Kashyap is at his absolute best in Mukkabaaz, all heart and heartland, a movie made with a vintage filmi sensibility but highly modern skills. And a story that bleeds.
Jan 2018
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Jan 2014
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Lootera
...a gorgeous, gorgeous film, one that uses its period setting affectionately, with loving detail, and not exploitatively, as our cinema is wont to do.
Jul 2013
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May 2011
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Andhadhun
This is why we need directors who refuse to be obvious. This phenomenal new thriller from Sriram Raghavan pulls off its tricks in plain sight. Everybody knows how a mystery should work, but Raghavan knows how all the mysteries work.
Oct 2018
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Article 15
...is not a film in search of easy answers. Instead, it is a reminder that we already know the questions but don’t ask them enough. Not cool, sir.
Jun 2019
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Mukti Bhawan
Somewhere in the middle of this beautiful, meditative film comes the greatest lesson of all: that a perfect, poetic goodbye doesn't have to wait for the end.
Apr 2017
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Ugly
...a constantly riveting, ticking timebomb of a film -- is by far Kashyap’s finest film.
Dec 2014
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Photograph
More than anything else, this film is poetry. Photograph reminds us to believe in minor magic. Here is a film about a city that makes room for everything, from formulaic films to ghosts. Like when posing for a camera, all we need to know is where to look.
Mar 2019
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Dec 2016
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Pink
This is a solid, terse film that makes its points in mainstream fashion with an appropriate lack of subtlety. Pink is a barnstormer -- and it doesn't pull its punches.
Sep 2016
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Badlapur
...is all fury and fog, a revenge saga that plays out with such eyebrow-singeing intensity that I could imagine a gravel-voiced narrator filling us in on dames and dreams and dark, stormy nights.
Feb 2015
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Rockstar
...a simple, unspectacular tale, sometimes even predictable, but director Imtiaz Ali masterfully weaves in details that draw us in.
Nov 2011
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Tumhari Sulu
...is a special film, the kind where you know what is going to happen and yet texture and detailing give you much to marvel at.
Nov 2017
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Mar 2015
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Oct 2012
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Neerja
Madhvani paces the film masterfully, making for a highstrung but justifiably emotional narrative.
Feb 2016
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Udta Punjab
...truly soars when being its own madcap beast, profane and powerful and preening.
Jun 2016
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Ae Dil Hai Mushkil
The heart wants what it wants, and sometimes all we need is a compelling reason to cry. Thank you, Karan Johar. For this film feels like a sob.
Nov 2016
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Gully Boy
...is the first great Hindi film of 2019 and a rousing celebration of spunk. The writing is enthralling, the texture fantastic, and this world is a revelation.
Feb 2019
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Shanghai
Shanghai is all Dibakar, who we must lift on our shoulders with grateful pride.
Jun 2012
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Bbuddah...Hoga Terra Baap
...not a particularly well-crafted film but none of that matters as Amitabh Bachchan makes it work.
Jul 2011
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Judgemental Hai Kya
...looks like a slick, snappy comedy but there is so much more to this smart, significant satire.
Jul 2019
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Pad Man
...is a genuinely strong movie, telling an unlikely story in likeable fashion and doing it briskly and smartly.
Feb 2018