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Why Cheat India
The writing is flat. The wheeze is ingenious enough to fill a great film, but Sen revels in obvious filmy cliché.
Jan 2019
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The Accidental Prime Minister
The one-sided intent of The Accidental Prime Minister may have appeared more insidious had it felt like an actual motion picture.
Jan 2019
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Uri
...while the action is convincing, the proceedings are unmistakably dull. The film doesn’t thump its chest as hard as the ones made by JP Dutta, but merely keeping its shirt on doesn’t make this an actual movie.
Jan 2019
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Zero
Bauaa Singh is a severely flawed character made irresistible by his pluck, and it’s remarkable how much Khan brings to the part. And he remains the best lover in the business.
Dec 2018
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Kedarnath
...is a pointless, entirely forgettable film, but some may remember the girl (Sara Ali Khan) fondly — which may well be the film’s only task.
Dec 2018
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2.0
It could have been a smarter film, but it is a mostly fun Rajinikanth ride, with solid 3D and great Atmos sound...
Nov 2018
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Bhaiaji Superhittt
...there’s constantly something worth enjoying in this film that refuses to moralise at the very end, and it is often the leading man — hapless, hilarious and never trying too hard. They could have called this movie Philadelphia, because it really is always Sunny.
Nov 2018
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Pihu
The idea — of anything in a house being a potential threat — could have been made into a watchable short film, but this is feature-length torture, where the viewer is made aware that they must sit through more than ninety minutes of a helpless and endangered child, despite knowing that nothing can really happen to her before the end.
Nov 2018
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Nov 2018
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Tumbbad
Barve is a director with vision and a voice, and his film will undoubtedly spawn a cult of admirers. And, ideally, imitators. If there’s one thing Tumbbad has to say, it is that all gods need believers.
Oct 2018
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Helicopter Eela
Sarkar’s film is too melodramatic and long drawn out to hold any impact.
Oct 2018
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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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Sui Dhaaga
...is a feel-good film about dignity of labour, and the honest toil of a hard-working tailor. Too bad it feels machine-made.
Sep 2018
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Pataakha
The short story Do Behnein is six pages long, and starts only as Pataakha enters its second half. Bhardwaj takes these hysterical sisters at each other’s throats and turns them into a metaphor for India and Pakistan, locked in an endless cycle of sniping. It is an unsubtle analogy but effective in its crude directness, like a street-play.
Sep 2018
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Manto
The Bombay portions feel like clips of a highlight reel, but these scenes are buoyed by lyricism and spirit, even though the editing is choppy and some moments flash by too hurriedly. The Lahore half, more conventionally linear, feels eventually tedious, with hoary scenes of tormented creators and sick children.
Sep 2018
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Manmarziyaan
It is ultimately a disappointment not because of its craft, but because of predictability, self-indulgent pace and its irritating attempt to be both a light crowd-pleaser with a cutesy ending as well as an impassioned, volatile romance.
Sep 2018
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Paltan
There is a lot to be said about the futility of war, and now Dutta has made his case for the futility of the war movie.
Sep 2018
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Laila Majnu
...is a thoughtfully written film, where the escalation of feelings appears as natural as it can, and characters stay credible even as the intensity becomes unbearable.
Sep 2018
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Stree
The laughs are inconsistent, and the plotting feels sloppy and rushed. The ideas are fine, but the writing needed work.
Sep 2018
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Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi
The sequel has an even more ridiculous plot, a tedious heroine and — this is the crucial bit — not enough gags. It runs out of steam long before the finish line.
Aug 2018
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Veere Di Wedding
...lands several blows to the patriarchy while never giving up its masala entertainer roots. It is the kind of film that needs to work because of what it says.
Jun 2018
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Bhavesh Joshi Superhero
Motwane has made a minimal and bare-knuckled vigilante film that means well, but is built out of obvious influences. We know exactly where it's heading, but it still leaves us waiting at the signal too long.
Jun 2018
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Raazi
The stakes feel dramatic but unreal, and the film feels slow as a result. It certainly doesn't earn its running time of two hours and twenty minutes. By the time the shrill climax comes around, dullness has set in.
May 2018
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102 Not Out
...the film relies too heavily on prosthetics, with liver spots being used either for laughs, or instead of character details.
May 2018
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Baaghi 2
It is a long, painful film capable of giving audiences post-traumatic stress disorder.
Mar 2018
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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
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Padmaavat
The problem lies not in Padmaavat being a costume drama, but in the fact that there is too much costume, too little drama.
Jan 2018
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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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Tiger Zinda Hai
At an exhausting two hours and forty minutes, I really don't care if Tiger is alive or a vegetable - whether he's Zinda or Tinda, really - but this film needed to be much tighter.
Dec 2017