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Pari
...is an uneven film that could have benefitted from the intervention of a more assertive editor. While it is replete with twists, these throw the audience off rather than aid in enhancing clarity.
Mar 2018
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Zubaan
...stretches itself too thin at times in trying to raise its narrative tempo. In its quieter moments, however, it does manage to get its voice heard.
Mar 2016
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Naam Shabana
...for all its avowed aspirations, it rarely ventures beyond the trite and tested. Watch it only if standard-fare action dramas do not put you off.
Mar 2017
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Mohalla Assi
Had the immense potential of the literary text that forms the foundation of Mohalla Assi been even half realized, this would have been powerful indictment of the pernicious brand of politics that thrives on communal hatred and socio-religious divisions.
Nov 2018
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Good Newwz
...the complexity and depth inherent in the principal plot point remain beyond the ken of a screenplay that thrives on broad strokes.
Dec 2019
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Happy New Year
There is no dearth of gloss in Happy New Year, but everything else in the film, including the content and its treatment, are allowed to go for a toss.
Oct 2014
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Dobaara
...the portentous game of shadows, silhouettes and sly suggestions, which alternates between the teasing and the terrifying, is too much superficial style for a film so slight.
Jun 2017
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Firangi
Neither the comic potential at the core of the film nor the energy of Kapil Sharma's antics is enough to pull it out of the irremediable mess it degenerates into. Firangi might have been harmless fun if only it had stopped short of running so hopelessly amok.
Dec 2017
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Tevar
...a film that is more fizzle than sizzle, with too much gratuitous violence marring the broth.
Jan 2015
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Batti Gul Meter Chalu
...makes the right noises for the most part. If only it took less time and fewer detours to get to the point, it might have dodged its frequent blackouts.
Sep 2018
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2.0
The good versus evil tropes that 2.0 employs are trite, but the battle at the heart of the film - it pits a warped model if development against in the need for ecological conservation in a no-holds-barred fantasy - has moments that are thought-provoking and entertaining at once.
Nov 2018
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Teri Meri Kahaani
Whose story, make that stories, and to what real end? That is the question that Teri Meri Kahaani leaves the audience with. The answer isn’t even worth looking for.
Jun 2012
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Roohi
It delivers a reasonably passable first half - it is enlivened by Varun Sharma's comic timing - but then meanders into a post-interval stretch that limps around in circles until a bizarre twist in the climax sends us home scratching our heads and wondering what on earth has hit us.
Mar 2021
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Sep 2012
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Singham Returns
...unfolds with relentless vehemence, the question that pops into mind is: who will fight for our freedom from the weekly assault of bad cinema? Don’t expect the film’s director and action designer Rohit Shetty to be of any help in this regard.
Aug 2014
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Veere Di Wedding
...if you are not looking for radical departures from norm and are happy watching a film that seeks to blur gender expectations without shaking the boat too much, Veere di Wedding could pass muster. Does it give you your money's worth? It does. Does it break new ground? Fat chance.
Jun 2018
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Kedarnath
The special effects aren't up to scratch nor is the screenplay, but do watch the film for Sara Ali Khan.
Dec 2018
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Bharat
...is a full-on crowd-pleaser for the massive fan base out there seeking recompense for the Tubelight and Race 3 reverses. But for the rest, Bharat is a ponderous trudge.
Jun 2019
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Gulaab Gang
Women who weave their own pink saris and are determined to put all pigs in their place, even if they are in the make-believe world of Gulaab Gang, should be the last people to enforce a stereotype that Hindi films have perpetuated for decades.
Mar 2014
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Behen Hogi Teri
The quality of the acting is uneven, especially when compared to the steady performance from the unwavering Rao. Watch Behen Hogi Teri only if you think a one-man show is good enough to offset the drudgery of a two-hour trudge through a maze of inanities.
Jun 2017
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Fukrey Returns
For a film that aspires to be a full-on laugh riot, Fukrey Returns is a bit of a trudge.
Dec 2017
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Gold
...dragged down by a storyline that puts too much store by the anticipated crowd-pulling power of a Bollywood A-lister.
Aug 2018
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Alone
...delivers enough surface-level chills and thrills to please diehard fans of this form of entertainment. But those that expect paranormal thrillers to open the doors to deeper layers of experience will find in this film nothing that could capture their imagination.
Jan 2015
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Bangistan
True to its title, Bangistan makes more than its share of noise. But this mildly wacky satire on the futility of religious bigotry does not make too much sense.
Aug 2015
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Dishoom
The audience sits through the cacophony hoping for a genuine knockout blow to be delivered somewhere down the line. It never materialises. Dishoom doesn't land a single half-decent punch.
Jul 2016
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Jab Harry Met Sejal
...is cinema's equivalent of a shiny bauble that glitters wholly in vain. Watch it only if you fancy a vicarious romp through Europe with an off-colour megastar trying hard to get going.
Aug 2017
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Bhavesh Joshi Superhero
...in its bid to be dark, cool and edgy, it cannot shrug off its air of puerility. If not pure bunkum, it strays dangerously close, like Icarus, to slipping off its orbit completely.
Jun 2018
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Zero
...its astral ambitions are thwarted by a lack of imagination and genuine understanding of the minds of people struggling to ward off undeserved ridicule and earn rightful recognition.
Dec 2018
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The Zoya Factor
...could have been a thoroughly enjoyable comedy. It ends up being a scrappy, erratic knock where a few crisp strokes are hopelessly outnumbered by a host of ungainly heave-hos. The film does not hit the sweet spot often enough to translate into either a truly rousing cricket film or a memorably moving love story.
Sep 2019