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Kaagaz
...is an enjoyable and important film, held together by its largely assured direction and by Tripathi, one of contemporary Bollywood’s finest actors.
Jan 2021
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Dum Laga Ke Haisha
This is as crowd-pleasing as a film gets, only without mawkish manipulation or contrivances. It’s also the best Yash Raj film in a very long time.
Feb 2015
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Anaarkali Of Aarah
Swara Bhaskar has you rooting for Anaarkali with all her strengths, weaknesses, loneliness, talent and flaws.
Mar 2017
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Tiger Zinda Hai
Go watch Tiger Zinda Hai if you're a fan of large-scale action entertainers, with probably just the right amount of logic. Salman Khan has well and truly arrived (again) with a potential blockbuster that has enough to keep you pinned. Good fun while it lasts.
Dec 2017
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Nakkash
In terms of narrative style, Imam swings between naturalism and an occasionally operatic tone, which suits Nakkash well. The plot is not designed as a thriller meant to dazzle us with its twists and turns. It is instead a believable slice-of-life saga in a toxic setting.
May 2019
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Singh Is Bliing
...there isn't much by way of a plot or storytelling in this film. It's essentially a set of well-written comic sketches, featuring recurring characters. There's nothing evolved or sophisticated about this film, but that doesn't mean it's not worth a watch.
Oct 2015
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Tubelight
...does have a great message: hope pulls us through in any situation we may find ourselves in. A worthwhile watch.
Jun 2017
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Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga
Leading the positives in Ek Ladki is the use of the comedy genre for such grave social commentary, and the skill the writers and director display while pulling it off without mocking the LGBT+ community.
Feb 2019
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Lucknow Central
And while this jailhouse rock-on see-saws between musical drama and message movie, its origins in a true story (about a real life prison band called Healing Hearts) and it’s notation on the merits of reformation give it soul.
Sep 2017
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Gone Kesh
...is an important story to tell in the hair-normative culture we live in, where hair is seen as representative of femininity.
Mar 2019
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NH10
A thoroughly average idea and a flawed script add up to a gripping experience, thanks to Singh's direction, Merchant's editing and Sharma's acting.
Mar 2015
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Bombay Velvet
...what Bombay Velvet lacks in complexity, it ultimately makes up for with its sheer beauty. And if you think about it, that more or less sums up the mainstream genre, so perhaps on his first attempt at a blockbuster, Kashyap is on the right track after all.
May 2015
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Budhia Singh
Das is not painted simply as a hero in Budhia’s life. He may have had the child’s best intentions at heart but there are enough shades of grey to doubt his methods.
Aug 2016
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Bajrangi Bhaijaan
Does this simple story bordering on the dumb with a simpleton character work? Strangely, yes. Thanks to Khan’s uncharacteristic convincing performance and intelligent direction by the Ek Tha Tiger director who seemed to have forgotten his craft after his first film, Kabul Express.
Jul 2015
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No Fathers In Kashmir
For a fictionalised feature to shine a light on the most contentious aspects of Kashmir's tragedy - from hypocritical fundamentalists to half widows and mass graves - takes immense guts irrespective of which political party is in power at the Centre.
Apr 2019
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Bioscopewala
...the enormously evocative aroma of childhood nostalgia that floats through the film — its excesses balanced by the tender interplay between memory and forgetting involving a conflicted father-daughter relationship — and the strong performances, turn it into a poignant and heartfelt adaptation of a beloved tale.
May 2018
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Romeo Akbar Walter
...chooses to tell the other, more populist side of the story. Though that is completely the makers' choice, one wishes they would have not given up on nuance while translating the popular sentiment into a half-baked spy thriller.
Apr 2019
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Saina
Even with its flaws, Saina does provoke some thought, is moving in places and has some fun to offer.
Mar 2021
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Mar 2019
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Nail Polish
...is a smartly handled, intriguing, well-acted psychological thriller that comes as a pleasant surprise.
Jan 2021
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Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar
The film is a mixed bag but I found myself drawn to its quietude and heartening conviction that kindness may be found in the most unexpected places and the most unexpected persons could turn out to be allies, sometimes without the expectation of anything in return.
Mar 2021
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Mumbai Saga
If only the director had chosen to up his game further (and trusted today’s audience a little more) instead of turning back to a formula that has worked for him in the past, Mumbai Saga could have been a film worth returning to theatres for; all safety precautions considered.
Mar 2021
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Welcome Back
...a straightforward, unabashed copy of Welcome and like the first film, this one wears its stupidity proudly on its sleeve.
Sep 2015
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UnIndian
A simple film with flashes of charm and humour, UNIndian serves mainly as a showcase for Brett Lee trying his hand on a new pitch (I couldn’t resist slipping in one cliché).
Aug 2016
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Veere Di Wedding
It’s strange that filmmakers take some risk when mounting a film like Veere Di Wedding, and then don’t back it with sensible writing all the way through, trusting the audience to understand a modicum of nuance and subtlety.
Jun 2018
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Laal Kaptaan
...the director, had all the pieces to craft an effectual Indian western: the terrain, the long-suffering sadhu, an age of flux, elements of magic realism, and touches of Shakespearean tragedy. But Laal Kaptaan falters on an over-written script and visually over-told story.
Oct 2019
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Drishyam
...is in a perpetual loop of rise and fall. Seldom has an Indian film trundled along its runtime with such a cycle of offering promising elements, tripping over those very elements, getting up unscathed and falling again, only to rise yet again, and so on.
Jul 2015
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Meri Pyaari Bindu
Nostalgia is one of the strongest characters in Meri Pyaari Bindu, but it’s unlikely that the target audience for this kind of frothy romcom would warm up to that, and those who would are perhaps seeking more heft.
May 2017
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Sep 2016