-
Kurbaan
...raises thorny questions, and prepares us for tough answers. It is an important, relevant film.
Nov 2009
-
Aug 2012
-
Kesari
...despite its predictable arcs, the outcome which we already know, and its length, we stay with the film.
Mar 2019
-
Kesari
...earns more brownie points by giving us an original plot, witty lines, and a cast of chirpy, cheerful characters.
Apr 2010
-
Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster Returns
The 'return' is a better film, but it stops short of being excellent. The smooth build-up in the first half leads to a confused, too-crowded second, which lets the film, and us, down.
Mar 2013
-
G Kutta Se
Dahiya pulls not one single punch, and every one of them lands where he intends. And they all hurt.
Jun 2017
-
Saina
Parineeti Chopra gives us a good, solid Saina Nehwal. When she raises her racket after a hard-fought win, you cheer.
Mar 2021
-
Mar 2010
-
Katiyabaaz
The subject could have easily become a turgid documentary. But the treatment makes it much more interesting...
Aug 2014
-
Simran
Kangana keeps us watching, though. With her plain varnished face, she comes across as a real, solid, complex woman, someone you can reach out and touch. When she’s on the top of her game, she’s glorious. Pity the storyline let’s her down.
Sep 2017
-
Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota
Mard works best when it is klutzy and bouncy and light on its feet, and those are the parts which help us go past the occasional flatness: many people in the theater where I saw it were laughing out loud.
Mar 2019
-
Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota
...suffers from some amount of narrative drabness, and some strange too-quick transitions. But it is a film that needs to be noted for its appealing cast and being true to itself.
Jul 2011
-
Jan 2014
-
Ittefaq
A good murder mystery leads you by the hand but doesn’t advertise its wares, takes care to keep it taut, and delivers a satisfactory payoff. Despite a few niggles, this brand new Ittefaq, which takes broad pointers from the 1969 original of the same name, manages to pull it off.
Nov 2017
-
Judgemental Hai Kya
It’s been a long time since I have seen something so determinedly experimental, so inventive, despite its flaws, to come out of Bollywood...
Jul 2019
-
Panga
I will take this, if it comes with a film that celebrates a woman trying to reclaim her dream, even if it comes sanctioned by family.
Jan 2020
-
Vishwaroop
This is a fill it-shut it-forget it film, whose big budget slickness never overpowers it, and which holds you while it lasts.
Feb 2013
-
Dekh Tamasha Dekh
...is fashioned as a satire, and at its best, it does what all satires must : it stings.
Apr 2014
-
Agneepath
...old style revenge drama which does well on the whole, despite its plot holes and a slackened second half...
Jan 2012
-
Mukkabaaz
This is a film whose lack of ostensible polish works to enhance its rough-and-tumble flavor: Kashyap and the film are at its most sure-footed when they are calling out discrimination, across the board. That’s when their punches land in exactly the right place.
Jan 2018
-
Gully Boy
...this is a film to enjoy. In today’s India, to bring a Murad and Safeena, their Muslim-ness a matter-of-fact statement, into centre-stage, to give traction to those who live on the wrong side of the tracks, is an act of bravery. ‘Inka time aa gaya’. Rap along.
Feb 2019
-
Jul 2013
-
Phobia
...is a genuinely frightener, so far away from those unintentionally comic monstrosities it keeps slinging out, that you feel like cheering.
May 2016
-
Pataakha
I’ve always maintained that Bharadwaj is great with set-up and dwindles as a finisher. Happy to be proved wrong this time around.
Sep 2018
-
Ramprasad Ki Tehrvi
...I found the acerbic overhang and the good-natured ribbing turning into something edgier, the quality which makes this kind of film stand out, dissolving a little. But then the director sweeps them up together, and we are back to being bystanders, amused and bemused, all at once.
Jan 2021
-
Veere Di Wedding
...is a fun ride, which squeezes past its creaky tropes and partial squelchiness by some smart casting choices, and perky performances.
Jun 2018
-
Talvar
Despite its flaws, ‘Talvar’, which rhymes so closely with ‘Talwar’, is a brave film that devastates.
Oct 2015