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Mar 2016
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Mar 2016
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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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Neerja
Kapoor, in a break from her usual achingly hip persona, presents Bhanot as a believable mixture of quick thinking and barely suppressed panic.
Feb 2016
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Fitoor
As it stands, Fitoor is about Noor, Noor is all about Firdaus, and Firdaus is a beautiful blank.
Feb 2016
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Sanam Teri Kasam
....it’s very difficult to take the film as seriously as they do—especially after it becomes clear that they’re unwilling to grant their female lead the slightest bit of agency.
Feb 2016
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Jan 2016
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Jan 2016
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Jan 2016
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Jugni
...its virtues are the sort that are often missing from films more highly rated: a keen sense of place; a commitment to its characters’ best and worst impulses; and an ability to suggest an emotional journey...
Jan 2016
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Wazir
Nambiar’s previous films have suffered from screenplays that are less than clever. This one reaches for cleverness, which is just beyond its grasp, and that mars what could have been an unusually dour, taut thriller.
Jan 2016
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Chauranga
Had the performances been stronger, the accents more convincing, and the ideas more novel, Chauranga might have achieved something...
Jan 2016
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Dilwale
There are stupid films, and there are films that flaunt their stupidity. Rohit Shetty is a frequent purveyor of the latter sort.
Dec 2015
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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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Tamasha
What he might need, though, is a writing partner, someone who can supply him stories and characters that aren’t composites of things he’s written earlier.
Nov 2015
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Main Aur Charles
Hooda’s Sobhraj is a cipher, a beautiful surface with no indication of the emotions—if any—that are raging underneath.
Oct 2015
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Titli
Unrelentingly grim, morally unmoored, Titli festers like a sore on your consciousness.
Oct 2015
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Shaandaar
A film of consistent, determined frivolity. And the fun starts dimming soon.
Oct 2015
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Jazbaa
...is all Dutch angles and green filters and slo-mo, an excess of stylization that calls attention to the absence of any real style.
Oct 2015
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Singh Is Bliing
...had a few classic comic scenes. With its lame script and tiresome gags, you’ll forget Singh Is Bliing within seconds of leaving the cinema.
Oct 2015
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Talvar
By turns witty and thoughtful, devastating and emotional, it’s up there with Masaan and Dum Laga Ke Haisha and the one or two other stirringly well-written films of the year.
Oct 2015
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Calendar Girls
...a ‘Madhur Bhandarkar-type film’ is one the worst things you could call a young filmmaker’s work. And yet, the man himself perseveres.
Sep 2015
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Meeruthiya Gangsters
Still, there’s just enough here to suggest that Quadri has a future as a screenwriter. Direction, though, may require a little work.
Sep 2015
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Hero
It’s unlikely anyone in this day and age could have made a totally convincing film with material like this, but Hero is dragged down further by pedestrian writing, unremarkable music and patchy direction.
Sep 2015
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Welcome Back
Over its cruelly prolonged 150-minute running time, Welcome Back treats human intellect with the sort of disdain that’s remarkable, even for Bollywood.
Sep 2015