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Jul 2010
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That Girl in Yellow Boots
Anurag Kashyap's ability to create this kind of grunge, and characters who live on the margins, is matchless. But by now we've got used to it, as well as his skill in laying it out for our delectation. By now we want the next level.
Sep 2011
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Maximum
Turns out to be a dampener. Not because it doesn’t have interesting actors. Nor because it doesn’t have interesting situations. But because it comes off merely as 'Seher' redux, minus its power.
Jun 2012
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Ek Villain
Suri is an innate story-teller, and can keep things moving. All he needs is a strong, all-the-way credible, original plot.
Jun 2014
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Sep 2015
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Baahubali 2: The Conclusion
...what took our breath away in 2015 is same old in 2017. Yes, it is bigger, but it is not better.
Apr 2017
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Lucknow Central
But more than anything else, it is the mawkish sentimentality which overcomes the story-telling. When it is not that, then we find our fine conspirators being much too dramatic.
Sep 2017
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Lucknow Central
The trouble with ‘Dil Toh Bachcha Hai Ji’ is that the slim material gets stretched over two-and-a-half hours. Too much running time, and too little nuance flatten this enterprise.
Jan 2011
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Always Kabhi Kabhi
...always looking as if it's trying too hard, only very kabhi kabhi finding its voice.
Jun 2011
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Mardaani
The resolution, showcasing bloody vigilante-ism, is problematic. Is that the only definition of ‘mardaani’, and is that something to be celebrated? Something more pragmatic, and yes, more real, would have served its consistently watchable leading lady, better.
Aug 2014
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Bhavesh Joshi Superhero
There is a film in here. Or should I say, would have been, if Bhavesh Joshi Superhero had been less of a cobbled-together-from-many-influences overlong yarn. And fresher, sharper, clearer.
Jun 2018
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2.0
...is dull as ditchwater in the first half, perking up a little in the second, with a half-way watchable Akshay, and a Rajini coming into his own right towards the end, for a bit. There are some oh-wow moments, but on the whole, the film is not worth all the sound and fury.
Nov 2018
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PM Narendra Modi
As a bio-pic, it inhabits muddled, post-truth territory. As a hagiography though, genuflecting at the altar of the man, it’s perfect. It’s uncritical, unquestioning, high on rhetoric. And there’s nothing accidental about it.
May 2019
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Pati Patni Aur Woh
Our ‘pati’ may have redeemed himself, and the ‘patni’ and ‘woh’ may have lifted the film somewhat, but to wish for good taste in a comedy dealing with straying husbands and wives-and-other-women-in-holding patterns is no laughing matter.
Dec 2019
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Fatso
...despite a standout turn from Ranvir Shorey as the eponymous lead, and some nicely realized segments, 'Fatso' comes off flat and tonally confused.
May 2012
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The Xpose
The murder mystery set in the backdrop of big bad tinseltown should have been pacy and cheesy and racy, but ends up being a bit of a drag. Despite all the fun and games.
May 2014
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Manjhi
Nawazuddin Siddiqui strains every sinew, and remains consistently watchable despite the shifts in tone. But even he cannot make the film soar.
Aug 2015
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Haraamkhor
...despite some strong moments, the film suffers from slightness and disjointedness: did the censorship process snip off more than we could chew? Was there more? A second film from the clearly talented Sharma will give us a clue.
Jan 2017
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Babumoshai Bandookbaaz
...the squelchy pulp fiction aspect, and the attempts at black comedy are not quite enough to make this a film on its own.
Aug 2017
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Mar 2010
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Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai
Milan Luthria...starts off well, and carries on as he means to, but then falls into the trap of the familiar.
Jul 2010
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Shagird
...despite its sharp, often funny exchanges, and a few spanking scenes, is that it is not new enough.
May 2011
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Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani
...a been-here, seen-this, much-too-long glossy creature, and not much else.
May 2013
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Kapoor & Sons
...film like this one, with a nice sense of place and more-than-competent performers, could have been that rare Bollywood thing : a grown-up drama featuring grown-ups
Mar 2016
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Kapoor & Sons
Rajat Kapoor delivers a stand-out performance as a man struggling in the changing economic scenario but is failed by the uneven film.
Mar 2017
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Mantostaan
...the film fails in translation: it is a forced construct, and comes off flat and stagey, both in treatment and performance.
May 2017
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Junglee
There’s not one ounce of complexity in the movie, unspooling in such a linear fashion that even two-year-olds would have no difficulty in understanding it. Maybe that’s the demographic the film will appeal to, with its bright colours and straight-forward story-line, and a smiling hero who can take on an army of scowling bad guys single-handedly.
Mar 2019
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Dec 2009
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Jun 2011