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A Flying Jatt
...is derivative, sloppily structured and, especially in its latter stages, tacky beyond belief. That it might also be the best Indian superhero film ever (barring Mr India, if that qualifies) is an indication of how low the bar is set.
Aug 2016
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A Gentleman
By the truly dismal standards of Indian action comedies, A Gentleman is a middling offender—but what does that even mean?
Aug 2017
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AkaashVani
The ending is straight out of a TV serial, though Bharucha salvages enough from it to mark her as someone worth keeping an eye on.
Jan 2013
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Jun 2015
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Ae Dil Hai Mushkil
Instead of confronting its central question—what do you do if the person you love doesn’t love you back?—the film sidesteps it with a shameless deus ex machina.
Oct 2016
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Ajji
...is one of the most unsettling experiences you’ll have at the movies this year. Whether it adds up to much more than exploitation-art is another question.
Nov 2017
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AK vs AK
The one-line is irresistible—“Anurag Kashyap kidnaps Anil Kapoor’s daughter”—but it’s still sketch material. Blown up to feature-length, it plays like a grungy, scrappy vanity project.
Dec 2020
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Aligarh
...an even bigger victory for the film might lie in getting vaguely homophobic viewers to empathize with Siras, to understand his distaste for easy labels, to admit that even they sit in the dark with a drink and listen to old Hindi film songs.
Feb 2016
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Angrezi Medium
A film about a free and loving father-daughter relationship becomes a closed circuit. It’s that old cliché about setting someone free if you love them and seeing if they come back.
Mar 2020
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Article 15
...might not comfort the afflicted, but there’s every chance it will afflict the comfortable.
Jun 2019
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Azhar
Mohammad Azharuddin may or may not have sold out his team and country, but at least he was never boring. One cannot say the same for Azhar, Tony D’Souza’s inert biopic...
May 2016
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Baadshaho
...may not be a smart film, but it’s a reasonably savvy daft one, inventive enough to revisit a key event from multiple perspectives and silly enough to have Mishra pick a safe in horse blinkers.
Sep 2017
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Baaghi 2
The ridiculousness of such scenes almost distracts from the noxious nature of this film, which dilutes its near-constant violence with cheaply bought nationalism.
Mar 2018
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Baaghi 3
The Baaghi films aren’t sequels, but they’re basically the same: someone close to Tiger is threatened, and he responds by killing his way to the source.
Mar 2020
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Baahubali 2: The Conclusion
...is undoubtedly a spectacular action film. It’s also a tradition-bound, caste-conscious macho militarist fantasy.
Apr 2017
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Baar Baar Dekho
In her first film as director, Mehra moves everything along briskly but is unable to add her own visual touch to the impossibly bright and beautiful Dharma house style.
Sep 2016
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Mar 2017
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Bajirao Mastani
Bhansali might be one of the last exponents of the grand old Bollywood style. Melodrama is not only something he’s comfortable with, it’s the air his characters breathe.
Dec 2015
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Bajrangi Bhaijaan
Whether you’re a sceptic or a fan, it’s almost impossible to withstand Bajrangi Bhaijaan’s calculated emotional assault. But it’s also tough to shake the feeling that you’re being played.
Jul 2015
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Bala
The central quandary is that Bala would have seemed skewed and farcical with only male baldness to concentrate on. It needs the skin colour scenes – but it really didn’t need the blackface.
Nov 2019
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Barefoot To Goa
I take no pleasure in running down a film that’s obviously been strung together on a miniscule budget, but couldn’t everything have been thought through a bit more?
Apr 2015
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Bareilly Ki Barfi
...it lacks bite, which Rao, playing a rather toothless individual, supplies.
Aug 2017
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Befikre
For a film about relationships, there’s little insight offered into why we behave the way we do in love and lust, just a reiteration of that old chestnut: former lovers can’t be friends.
Dec 2016