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Veerappan
To find an actor who resembles the real-life character he has to play is a stroke of pure luck. But to fritter that away by making that reel-life character so uni-dimensional, so uninteresting is pure misfortune, both for the once terrific director, as well as for us viewers who live in hope for his return.
May 2016
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Bhoomi
Dutt’s face is kept in close-up for much of the film, and there is still power in it. This is an actor who can explode off the screen, given the right story. Maybe he needs something much better told to vent his anger.
Sep 2017
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Kaagaz
...could have been an important film. But the plot is littered with clichés, and comes off distressingly dated...
Jan 2021
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Jannat 2
...is, for the most part, a badly-done, badly-acted enterprise, lifted only a notch by a couple of performances.
May 2012
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Kochadaiiyaan
...the outcome is so spectacularly dull that it overwhelms the most technologically advanced cinematography witnessed in Indian cinema.
May 2014
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Nov 2014
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Aug 2015
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Jagga Jasoos
Trouble is, in its zeal to put together novel locations and exotic hot spots, ‘Jagga Jasoos’ forgets to give us a story. The good-looking leads are left to fend for themselves in a sinking plot. What we get, with the exception of a few smiley moments, is a long, dull meander.
Jul 2017
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Dabangg 3
No ‘pyaar’, no ‘thappad’, and even Shirtless Salman eliciting only muted ‘seeties’? What’s the point then?
Dec 2019
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Naam Shabana
...leaves you with a niggling question: why create a heroine in the action hero mode, with both mind and heart, and then give her a big bro to ‘help’ her out? This results in second-guessing your biggest asset, wondering if she is a liability.
Mar 2017
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Qaidi Band
More realism would have made this a film we could have believed in. But we do take away the young faces with us, especially Anya Singh whose bright-eyed earnestness is wholly convincing.
Aug 2017
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Luka Chuppi
If you really want to kick the bigots where it hurts, you have to do it early and hard. To lament about the horrors of live-in relationships through the film, for a last-minute turnaround live-and-let-live-speech, is not enough.
Mar 2019
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Yeh Saali Zindagi
Other characters drift in and out of this crowded, disjointed film, which keeps giving us expository labels as to location and situation.
Feb 2011
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Mahayoddha Rama
...my expectations that it was going to be a delightfully subversive take on the epic were dashed almost as soon as it started.
Nov 2016
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Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyun Aaata Hai?
The original had a protagonist whose raving and ranting, whose very being the way he was, was alive to the moment. This fully superfluous remake will only make you angry.
Apr 2019
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Rabba Main Kya Karoon
The trouble with Rabba Main Kya Karoon, as with most of these films which showcase a pair of inexperienced newcomers with a solid, ill-used supporting cast, is that it settles too easily into a sexist, let's-dump-on--these-idiot-women mode.
Aug 2013
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Dharam Sankat Mein
...opens with promise, bringing up concepts that need to be spoken about, but you soon realize that the film is not as radical as it could have been, which should have been clear with its choice of title.
Apr 2015
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Welcome Back
...the movie clomps about, looking for the laughs. And failing, mostly, to find them.
Sep 2015
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Ghayal Once Again
Sunny the actor is still a lethal weapon and can blow his opponent all the way across the room. Sunny the director should just get out his way.
Feb 2016
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Kaabil
Hrithik does all the heavy lifting and remains the only bright spot in this dispirited mess of a movie. He still has the moves. What he needs is a plot.
Jan 2017
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Game Over
Clearly, Pannu has worked hard, and there are a couple of genuinely scary moments, but the rest of it is too stretched: even the 102 minute run time feels too long.
Jun 2019
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Gali Gali Chor Hai
This could have been a film with bite to it, given that we are all so exercised these days with corruption and its high-profile fighters and shameless purveyors. But satire is not Bollywood’s thing.
Feb 2012
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Fukrey
...how many times can we see fumbling fellows with cops hot on their heels running down the narrow alleyways of Old Delhi?
Jun 2013
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Phata Poster Nikhla Hero
...is meant to make us laugh, but ends up making us groan instead.
Sep 2013
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Gang of Ghosts
The stinging satirical tone of the original was its hook. This ‘Bhootiyapanti’, as it is called in the film, keeps looking for one.
Mar 2014
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Raaz Reboot
The shenanigans of Emraan Hashmi, Gaurav Arora and Kriti Kharbanda are supposed to be scary. What you get instead is unintended humour.
Sep 2016
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Batla House
...the trouble with Batla House is that the whole film acts like a disclaimer...
Aug 2019
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Love Aaj Kal
I came away with a feeling of being comprehensively let down: where has the craft gone, and where, indeed, the heart?
Feb 2020
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Double Dhamaal
You have to admire the film for one thing though : it sticks unswervingly to its promise of delivering loudness and crassness.
Jun 2011
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Mod
Takia is her familiar wholesome-girl-next-door but has to shoulder too much of the film, and Rannvijay is one-tone.
Oct 2011