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Jab Harry Met Sejal
...ends up a cautionary tale about idiosyncratic filmmakers with a distinct voice working with a big star. Imtiaz Ali gets his biggest star yet, and he’s made his most underwhelming movie.
Aug 2017
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It's a Wonderful Afterlife
...after the enjoyably batty It’s A Wonderful Afterlife, I suppose it’s time to wonder how Gurinder Chadha was drawn to an empowerment saga like Bend It Like Beckham in the first place. Her talents seem to be those of a natural-born farceur...
May 2010
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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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Ishkq In Paris
It’s hard to decide what’s worse - this psychobabble, or the bland drama that it sets up.
May 2013
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Ishaqzaade
...works so well because it’s a love story where there’s something more at stake than the question of will-they-get-together.
May 2012
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Irada
...leaves you with a renewed appreciation for burning-issue masala movies like Kaththi and Kodi, which, for all their flaws, at least remember to entertain.
Feb 2017
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Inkaar
Mishra’s point may be that the sexual harassment case was just a red herring and that the real story was about a man and a woman who realised what’s truly important and repriortised their lives, but that’s just cheapening a sensitive issue.
Jan 2013
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Indu Sarkar
The storytelling is undeniably (and unsurprisingly) broad, but the masala treatment transforms what was simplistic and didactic in Bhandarkar’s earlier films into something touching, open-hearted, sentimental in a sweetly cornball style.
Aug 2017
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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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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
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Humshakals
Why are our comedies so bad? We don’t have to search very far for the reasons – tempo-killing songs, underwritten heroines, leaden pace, overlong running times… And we insist on casting stars rather than comic actors.
Jun 2014
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Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania
Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhaniya isn’t a cynical rip-off. It’s more the work of a young filmmaker who clearly adores an older filmmaker’s movie, but infuses it with his own new-gen vibe. And that vibe is infectious.
Jul 2014
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Housefull
The problem, as always, is that our filmmakers confuse no-brainer entertainment with no-brainer filmmaking. Housefull is far too long and laden with far too many emotional subplots to function fully as comedy.
May 2010
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Jun 2017
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Highway
The feeling that we’re on a journey with no use for beginnings or ends is exhilarating.
Feb 2014
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Hichki
...isn’t a bad film — it’s a mild, pleasant diversion, something that’s going to make a lot of people think they saw something “good” and “worthwhile.”
Mar 2018
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Helicopter Eela
A terrible mother-son story with a Freudian subtext it doesn’t know what to do with.
Oct 2018
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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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Hawaa Hawaai
For a film that skirts melodrama so scrupulously in the first half, the high-decibel contrivances in the latter portions come as a rude shock.
May 2014
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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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Happy New Year
...relentless cannibalisation (and self-cannibalisation) is a pity because Farah’s real talent lies in the mad bits she cooks up...
Oct 2014