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Tanhaji
...has so much fun recreating a bygone legend and fictionalising history, authenticity and spellings, it gets infectious.
Jan 2020
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Patiala House
...a film that's surprisingly alright in spite of the obviousness of its generic plot and sloppy screenplay...
Feb 2011
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Badla
...wears the air of a cold, civil, old-fashioned whodunit, which treats its premise like an insidious game and characters with undisguised suspicion.
Mar 2019
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Tanu Weds Manu
...engages best if you can read in between the lines and draw your own sub-text.
Feb 2011
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Daawat-e-Ishq
...makes up for many of its cinematic imperfections and half-baked explorations with infectious charm, platefuls of it.
Sep 2014
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Raid
...does have its moments of compelling optimism and unexpected wit. It's also the most I've enjoyed watching Ajay Devgn in a while.
Mar 2018
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Ok Jaanu
...cannot shrug off the identity of a remake. It’s like two people who’ve watched the original consciously recreating it for an audience unfamiliar to the original.
Jan 2017
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Kedarnath
The heft and conviction of a sparkling Sara and subdued Sushant as well as its solid supporting cast make Kedarnath's stereotypes and contrivances a whole lot agreeable.
Dec 2018
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Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu
...is neither on the epic side like Dharma Productions' great, grand ancestors nor weighed down by an overload of pop culture references of those that define the genre. Instead the confection's appeal lies in its underplayed wit, quirky within plausibility protagonists and a refreshing disregard for conventional conclusions.
Feb 2012
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Soorma
...Diljit Dosanjh's striking self-possession, like the champion he's portraying, doesn't let it come in the way of a performance that screams g-o-a-l.
Jul 2018
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Jawaani Jaaneman
More in the moment than in your face, the humour has a refreshingly offhand quality to it.
Jan 2020
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Apr 2011
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Ki & Ka
This is a recurring problem in Balki’s filmmaking. Certainly, he comes up with the most unique ideas, infuses them with a whimsical energy but in his eagerness to impress, he loses all subtlety.
Apr 2016
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Toilet
...Toilet's sanctimonious tone and melodramatic inclinations that takes every possible complexity -- social, cultural or religious -- and shoves it down the viewer's throat in the garb of rushed protests and simplistic resolve.
Aug 2017
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Yeh Saali Aashiqui
...I have to give it to Yeh Saali Aashiqui for showing such raging ambition and commitment to go bonkers all the way.
Nov 2019
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Bhoothnath Returns
Whatever connect the towering Bachchan makes with his viewer is rudely disrupted to accommodate mediocre songs or misplaced sentimentalism in a prolonged slide show of poignant portraits making Bhoothnath's return quite a drag in the end.
Apr 2014
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Beyond The Clouds
What works in this manufactured moral tale is Ishaan Khatter's unripe intensity.
Apr 2018
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Chakravyuh
...is nothing more than an average action flick in the garb of relevant cinema where socio-politico turmoil is nothing more than a prop and gun-toting militants in uniforms and bandanas hollering 'Lal Salaam' fill up the frames.
Oct 2012
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Manikarnika
A historical with an identity crisis, initially the period drama cannot decide whether it wants to chronicle facts or fictionalise them in the tradition of a crowd-pleasing fantasy. After some uncertainty, it settles for the second.
Jan 2019
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ABCD - Any Body Can Dance - 2
Because of its poorly paced beginning, ABCD 2 feels a bit of stretch at 154 minutes.
Jun 2015
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Karwaan
After all that running around, the life lessons it ultimately imparts only show the makers's inability by resorting to the same old soppy idea of closure it so desperately seeks to break away from.
Aug 2018
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Break Ke Baad
...the prospect of zero individuality in a creative medium is hardly a deal breaker. And it's definitely not cool anymore.
Nov 2010
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Jab Tak Hai Jaan
...is nothing more than lovely fluff that could have been shorter, snappier but is definitely worth watching once for the man whose name appears against the bright blue sky Mr Yash Chopra.
Nov 2012
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Bodyguard
...while Dabangg offered a precise volume of coolness and chutzpah, Ready went overboard with the shtick. Bodyguard, meanwhile, is on the underwhelming side.
Sep 2011
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102 Not Out
Every single gesture is overdone and extra boisterous like Bachchan's inflated exuberance and screaming prosthetics, reminiscent of the 1970s when he'd masquerade as a grey-haired old man playing to the gallery. It was phony, but so much fun.
May 2018
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Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga
...wishes to lend itself as a significant voice of change and support towards the LGBT community, but its woefully apologetic tone regarding individual choices repeatedly negates it when characters -- both traumatised and enlightened -- spew things like, 'Yeh janam se hi aise hai' or 'I wish I was normal'.
Feb 2019
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Fanney Khan
...is in the same space as Tumhari Sulu and Secret Superstar where starry-eyed aspiration and gullible hearts of gold go but nowhere as grounded in reality.
Aug 2018
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Notebook
Sadly, Notebook's more introspective and humane aspects remain confined to the backdrop to accommodate a lacklustre romance.
Mar 2019