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Ok Jaanu
Shaad Ali’s copy Ok Jaanu, with a screenplay by Ratnam, is faithful but pale and predictable.
Jan 2017
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Shaadi Mein Zaroor Aana
For a film that ostensibly sets out to speak against the ills of dowry, Shaadi Mein Zaroor Aana is surprisingly, and dangerously muted.
Nov 2017
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Main Aur Mr. Riight
Sobti gets the hungry-actor look right, but the smiley Treasurywala needed to be deeper. So did the film.
Dec 2014
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Sep 2016
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Vodka Diaries
...just why, with a notable exception or two, doesn’t Bollywood make any worthwhile thrillers? Sadly, the reliable Menon is wasted. So is our time.
Jan 2018
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Total Dhamaal
Brainless comedies can be a lot of fun (brain, stop smirking), but they need to be written with smarts. Here, the CGI animals (the climactic chunk of the film is set in a zoo) have more effect than the humans.
Feb 2019
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Aug 2014
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Khamoshiyan
There’s your new Bhatt Brothers film, which does exactly what you expect : plays out familiar erotic-horror-thriller ingredients on new, or almost-new faces.
Jan 2015
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Sarkar 3
The best that can be said about Sarkar 3 is that it is not as terrible as Not A Love Story, and, no, nowhere as ghastly as Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag. That’s small consolation for a film...
May 2017
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Haseena Parkar
...is a long and winding and weary telling of a story which could have been something, but comes off merely as a tired re-tread of tired re-treads.
Sep 2017
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Mar 2018
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Nov 2010
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Khap
That a burning social issue has been sought to be addressed is a good thing, but not this way.
Jul 2011
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Aiyyaa
...a flat, heavy-footed clomp through screechy lines and overstated, dragged-out situations.
Oct 2012
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Chor Chor Super Chor
Turning the tables on someone usually is a fun thing. But the execution is amateurish, so is most of the acting, even if Dobriyal keeps some of it humming.
Aug 2013
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One By Two
This is a case of missed opportunities. Trying for likeability is tough when the film is saddled with a listless plot and pace.
Jan 2014
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Children Of War
There should have been more history and more competence in ‘Children Of War’ for it to be the film it had set out to be.
May 2014
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Jul 2016
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Race 3
...is nothing but a recycled bin of too many car chases, explosions, buffed up characters strutting in slo-mo, and wilted lines.
Jun 2018
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Bodyguard
...can also safely be called In which Salman Continues to Give Us Those Ones. Let me count the ways.
Sep 2011
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Maximum
...brings no novelty to the viewer and ends up being just another hackneyed affair.
Jun 2012
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Jazbaa
...convoluted and over-plotted, as a whole. Sanjay Gupta’s ability to create menace and a sinister sense of place is overwhelmed by the film’s need to showcase the lead actor.
Oct 2015
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Freaky Ali
Nawazuddin Siddiqui is capable of carrying a film on his own shoulders but the film drowns in its own silliness.
Sep 2016
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My Birthday Song
The plotting and the treatment is far too inept to create a solid psychological thriller out of this looping-upon-itself story, whose big reveal is too brief, too late.
Jan 2018
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Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi
The sequel tries for the same mix of muddled-headed but large-hearted Punjabis, crooked Chinese, a song or two, and a series of sequences which are meant to be funny but are most flat and dull.
Aug 2018
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Malang
Here’s a film which is a perfect example of how Bollywood struggles with creating a plot in which every single thread counts.
Feb 2020
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My Friend Pinto
...the end is energetic, making up, somewhat, for the random, chaotic air the film has worn till it gets there. But the rest is strictly amateursville.
Oct 2011
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Revolver Rani
...the Rani in ‘Queen’ won our hearts because she was believable every inch of the way. This Rani, who hefts revolvers and shoots to kill, is neither wholly a cartoon figure, nor completely credible.
Apr 2014