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Kochadaiiyaan
...is truly history-making in a sense, because this is the first time that a huge star has allowed himself to be the hero in a full-length animated feature. Walking out, you may find yourself wondering: Did it have to be Rajinikanth?
May 2014
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Mar 2020
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Raanjhanaa
I was left with mixed feelings, torn between admiration for what was being attempted and frustration that a film dealing with such serious subject matter had chosen to take an audience-friendly approach, showcasing its protagonist as someone you just can’t help loving.
Jun 2013
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Monsoon Shootout
...was a little too low-key for my taste — it isn’t quite as existential as I’d have liked, and the butter-smooth filmmaking could have used more rough edges. But there’s still a lot of skill on display, not least from Nawazuddin Siddiqui.
Dec 2017
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Ra.One
...this isn't a film that embraces tomorrow as much as it celebrates yesterday, and its most remarkable achievement may be that, with one foot tentatively toeing the future and one stuck resolutely in the past, it didn't end up peeing all over itself.
Oct 2011
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Jun 2017
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Raazi
I’m happy Raazi is a hit. We need more heroine-driven films to work broadly — and not just in a few metro pockets. But the film is broad, too, as is Alia Bhatt’s performance, though she is a victim of the writing and filmmaking.
May 2018
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Go Goa Gone
...it knows what it wants to do - clear a low bar - and does it pretty well, with a jaunty tone and cheerfully foul-mouthed one-liners.
May 2013
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Hasee Toh Phasee
...the heavier scenes don’t work at all. Part of the problem is that the film, as it goes along, becomes broader and more “Bollywoody”...
Feb 2014
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Raja Natwarlal
...isn’t a great – or maybe even a good – movie, but it serves up some of the innocuous fun we used to get from Hindi films before the industry went all global and classy on us.
Aug 2014
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Ishqiya
On a basic level, Ishqiya is extremely entertaining, and yet, it’s hard to shake off the suspicion that it could have been so much more given its initial promise about a refreshingly adult approach to love, an emotion that has been infantilised by most of our filmmakers.
Jan 2010
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Gippi
...follows a tried-and-tested Hollywood template, and it doesn’t try to do too much. Its triumphs are minor (though not insignificant).
May 2013
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Nov 2015
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Tum Milo Toh Sahi
...a crisscross of lives converging on a depressingly drawn-out courtroom proceeding.
Apr 2010
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Tanu Weds Manu
A generally underwhelming love story cannot make up its mind whether it wants to be a romantic comedy or a romantic melodrama.
Feb 2011
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Ghanchakkar
Raj Kumar Gupta is a tasteful filmmaker with an eye for colourful detail and the archly droll moment. But he cannot rein in the various dimensions of the story, and the film feels like it’s stuck in a loop.
Jun 2013
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Gunday
The experience is immersive, but solely at a surface level – we’re not pulled in. Zafar is so busy making a movie that looks like a 1970s movie that he forgets to make a movie that feels like a 1970s movie.
Feb 2014
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Guddu Rangeela
Some films that don’t quite work, you dismiss outright. Guddu Rangeela is the kind of film you grapple with. You wish it were better.
Jul 2015
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I Hate Luv Storys
Extremely winning leads do their best to add freshness to a film that feels a decade old (and about as long).
Jul 2010
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The Dirty Picture
Like most of The Dirty Picture, these supposedly stinging observations are little more than storms in a D cup.
Dec 2011
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Hawaizaada
Puri has toiled hard to make his film look outré, but that isn’t enough – you wish he’d expended an equal amount of energy to infuse a similar eccentricity into the plot and the characters as well.
Feb 2015
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Dear Dad
The film is anchored by Arvind Swamy’s performance – though it’s really his presence, that quiet way he weathers the worst of storms.
May 2016
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Aurangzeb
Aurangzeb, which should have been much better, plays like a mashup of Hindi cinema before it became Bollywood.
May 2013
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Dilwale
Every decision in Dilwale screams: I have Shah Rukh and Kajol in my film, so why bother?
Jan 2016
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Zubaan
...it’s a problem when what’s meant to be an edgy coming-of-age story is hijacked by a campy, entertainingly nutty family soap.
Mar 2016
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Jolly LLB 2
Merely okay as courtroom drama, but a vivid look at Hindu-Muslim dynamics.
Feb 2017
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Apr 2014
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Singh Is Bliing
Why can’t we make just pure comedy – without action, without missing mothers, without villains? I’d have ended up happier had I walked out during the interval.
Oct 2015
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I Don't Luv U
...isn’t terrible and it could have been saved with a rousing climax, but the end is shockingly low-key.
May 2013