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The Attacks Of 26/11
It had the potential to be both smart procedural, and spiffy action, but '26/11' sinks somewhere in the middle.
Mar 2013
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Haider
...a gorgeous but choppy film that you cannot take your eyes off for fear of losing another exquisite piece of detailing; it is also one that fails to fully keep you with it.
Oct 2014
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Dec 2019
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Tere Bin Laden
...the film isn’t entirely the laugh riot that it sets out to be : the first half is slow and slack.
Jul 2010
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Haunted
You are left feeling grateful for the couple of creepy moments the film manages, before sinking into sameness again.
May 2011
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May 2013
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Sep 2015
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Mar 2010
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Turning 30
..turns from a warm, welcome peek into that girl's life, a girl we are prepared to like, into a series of cliches.
Jan 2011
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War Chhod Na Yaar
Pity because the theme, fronted by the two lead actors, had the potential to be a zinger.
Oct 2013
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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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Chance Pe Dance
...it is simply not new enough : Shahid/ Sameer’s thorny progress through tinsel-town is strewn with moments we’ve witnessed before. You also wish there was more energy in the sequences that fill in the spaces between the work-outs on the dance floor : the film gets lax too often.
Jan 2010
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Singham
...works in bits and pieces, only when Devgn gets fully into his stride, squaring up to Raj as he hits the high notes. The rest is just stitched-up scenery.
Jul 2011
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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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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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Ragini MMS
...is strange mix of Hollywood horror influences and old-style Bollywood ghost stories.
May 2011
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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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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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Mantra
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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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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De Dana Dan
An hour into ‘De Dana Dan’, you are at the exact same point you were the last time Priydarshan got a bunch of people to chase their tails in an enclosed space: struggling to keep your eyes open.
Nov 2009
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For Real
...sets out to mine the rocky terrain between rowing adults and how it impacts children; it succeeds only partially.
Sep 2010
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Love Express
...a simple, occasionally charming, and highly improbable romantic movie.
Jun 2011