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Panga
...mostly spurns melodrama, and instead gives us a world we can connect with and live in for a bit.
Jan 2020
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Pagglait
Pagglait’s setting, its characters, their sadness, banter, rituals, hypocrisy, everything rings true and has familiar familial warmth. It’s when Bist has to take the story forward that the plotting gets weak and cliched.
Mar 2021
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My Birthday Song
...is needlessly convoluted and so annoyingly pretentious that you want the whole thing to be bleeped out of your memory.
Jan 2018
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Mulk
...when mainstream Bollywood begins to get it right, when it finds the strength to articulate what’s right and wrong in a way that sits with audiences for a long time, there is hope.
Aug 2018
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Motichoor Chaknachoor
...is simple but its plot is full of gentle little twists and turns that surprise, delight and take the film in unexpected directions.
Nov 2019
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Moh Maya Money
My grouse is with the screenplay. Written by Bhardwaj and Mansi Nirmal Jain, it’s uneven, much like the film’s cinematography and scene-setting. At times smart and crackling, but also, for long spells, dull and sparse.
Nov 2016
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Sep 2015
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Mastizaade
Arre bhai, here we are, with cinema tickets. Corrupt us, please. But for that Bollywood will have to man-up first and stop pretending we are a nation of gurgling morons who get off on montages of cleavage.
Feb 2016
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Marjaavaan
...this illegitimate offspring of many B-grade items mating with each other is worse than C-grade. It is third-rate.
Nov 2019
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Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota
MKDNH’s strength lies in its clever, political screenplay, funny, crisp dialogue and the film’s goofy disposition to have fun.
Mar 2019
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Malang
Mohit Suri’s film is set in Goa for a reason. It allows him to show smoking, drinking, drugs, rave parties, lots of skin and random sex without having to bother about a story. So, he didn’t bother.
Feb 2020
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Main Aur Charles
Watch it for not just an incredible performance by Hooda, but also how smart biopics can be made.
Oct 2015
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Love Aaj Kal
...has an annoying, irritating, glacial pace, and at some point after interval, I tried to fix my glare at the head of the man sitting in front, to check the speed at which hair grows.
Feb 2020
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Mar 2014
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Krrish 3
...the film is based on a screenplay that’s creative in parts — it focuses on creating curious villains, even adding a provocative familial side-story. And it has some stunning CGI stunts and visuals.
Nov 2013
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Kill Dil
...flirts with the idea of having rotten men as its lead pair. It even seems to enjoy their bloody bonhomie. But it chickens out. What a shame! And what a waste!
Nov 2014
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Kerry on Kutton
The film is flawed, not just in pacing, but also some characters. But nothing that damages it in any serious way.
Jul 2016
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Katiyabaaz
...a funny, moving and very well-researched documentary that’s definitely worth watch.
Aug 2014
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Aug 2018
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Joker
...is a bit of this and a bit of that. We buy the story of Paglapur because the whole premise is so mental, so random. But when Joker turns around and does exactly what it has been mocking all this while, it stinks.
Sep 2012
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Aug 2012
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Jal
...it takes occasional flight, like a good, compelling dastan. But the film has an intermittently sparse and jam-packed screenplay
Apr 2014
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Hunterrr
The obsession with “likes” in these times of Facebook is killing all the fun. And Hunterrr is its latest victim. It’s all too keen that we like it, rather than we simply enjoy it. How sad.
Mar 2015
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Hum Hai Raahi CAR Ke
There is no reason for 'Hum Hai Raahi Car Ke' to exist except that producer-director Jyotin Goel’s son, Dev Goel, is now of kissable age and has acquired muscles - feats that daddy dear thinks deserve a public audience.
May 2013
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Hero
He has co-written the film’s screenplay and that’s where the film’s first major problem sits. The second is his direction.
Sep 2015
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Gulaab Gang
Visually the film is seductive – pink saris in sepia dehaat — but its message is scary. While I had severe problems with its glorification of vigilante justice, there were a few moments when I was both thrilled and moved.
Mar 2014
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Gour Hari Dastaan
Anant Mahadevan is a repeat offender. He picks up an interesting topic and then proceeds to ruin it. Almost always.
Aug 2015