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Sniff
What an absolutely lovely premise for a film crafted for children, which adults can potentially also enjoy. But Amol Gupte, who gave us the delightful Stanley Ka Dabba, falters with this one, because of a slack plot and treatment.
Aug 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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Bareilly Ki Barfi
Rajkummar Rao blows away the weaknesses of this film with his consummate act, playing the timid 'chota shehari' on the one hand, and the loud 'rangbaaz' on the other. He sweetens the pot, and makes up for the rest of it.
Aug 2017
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Toilet
The moment a film succumbs to being the carrier of a Message as opposed to a message, it becomes burdened.
Aug 2017
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Jab Harry Met Sejal
What you need in such films with their flimsy one-line plots, is the magic and mystery of love between two people. And full-blown wonder. All in short supply in Jab Harry Met Sejal, which comes off as a mix of Ali’s older films, in its flashes of Jab We Met, Tamasha and Love Aaj Kal.
Aug 2017
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Mubarakan
Post-interval, the film’s funny bone gets lost. It becomes a long, maudlin harangue on family values and good sisters and brothers, while slipping in a few distasteful jokes about wives and women.
Jul 2017
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Jul 2017
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Indu Sarkar
...doesn’t break fresh ground, even as it does bring alive some of the most disturbing aspects of the time. And we relive it, even as we cringe at the heavy melodrama, and the over-simplification of many of the issues the film raises.
Jul 2017
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Lipstick Under My Burkha
It is a film to be celebrated. Take a bow, producer Prakash Jha, director Alankrita Srivastava, and the entire cast and crew. And now excuse me while I go looking for my deepest, reddest lipstick.
Jul 2017
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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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Guest Iin London
Do you think crude jokes should be strewn liberally in your weekly flick fix? Should a gag, abysmally executed in the first place, be stretched out like a rubber band to keep you rolling in the aisles?Then Guest Iin London is just the ticket for you.
Jul 2017
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Mom
Sridevi has to do the heavy-lifting of the film, as actors Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Akshaye Khanna, Sajal Ali and Adnan Siddiqui are not left with enough in hand. It gets so busy keeping Sridevi at the centre-stage that this rape-and-revenge drama turns less impactful.
Jul 2017
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Ek Haseena Thi Ek Deewana Tha
...Suneel, who clearly hasn’t kept up with the times, comes up with a hopelessly outdated series of reels, reeking strongly of mothballs and terrible acting all round.
Jun 2017
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Tubelight
...when the main act isn’t convincing, the film becomes just like the title: mostly flicker with a little late glow.
Jun 2017
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G Kutta Se
Dahiya pulls not one single punch, and every one of them lands where he intends. And they all hurt.
Jun 2017
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Behen Hogi Teri
The only element worth looking at in this film, apart from the dependable Kamat, is the rock-solid Rao. If he was given a better co-star than the strictly one-note Haasan, this might have turned out to be a better film.
Jun 2017
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Half Girlfriend
The book, despite its shortcomings, feels more an organic whole: the film, which was what the book was always going to be, tries too hard.
May 2017
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Hindi Medium
The flat writing which doesn’t quite know whose side to take — show up the parents desperate for English-medium schooling, or point fingers at those who are inept gatekeepers of these bastions, or both, by sentimentalizing those who live below the poverty line as `good’ and `noble’ — turns this film much less than it could have been.
May 2017
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Meri Pyaari Bindu
...proves that Bollyland romance still hasn’t got over its ‘500 Days Of Summer’ overhang.
May 2017
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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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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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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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Apr 2017
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Maatr
Crass, cringe-inducing and downright sordid, this Raveena Tandon rape-and-revenge thriller makes you ask just one question -- who writes this stuff?
Apr 2017
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Begum Jaan
...climbs up to a high-pitched melodramatic perch, and progresses in episodic lurches, never climbing down.
Apr 2017
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Mirza Juuliet
There’s much to like about Mutki Bhawan. It brings to us themes which are either ignored or dealt with in our cinema with mawkishness and heavy sentimentality.
Apr 2017
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Mar 2017