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Padmaavat
How do you support a film that glorifies the very beliefs you don't stand for? Do you accept it as a portrayal of the times in which the film is based, or do you give into your disappointment?
Jan 2018
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Street Dancer 3D
...has its heart in the right place, one only wishes the music and the choreography had something new to offer.
Jan 2020
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Shab
...should have augmented Onir’s oeuvre. Perhaps being based on a script written over a decade ago contributed to the feeling of datedness.
Jul 2017
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Luka Chuppi
Utekar directs what can best be defined as an overwritten dummies guide to live-in relationships.
Mar 2019
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The Last Color
You could reassemble its striking images in practically any order, and you’d end up with a similar aesthetic experience. The film’s heart is in the right place, but touching anyone else’s feels like a chasm too wide to cross.
Dec 2020
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Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyun Aaata Hai?
...demands a great deal of patience and leaves you dissatisfied with the modern revision.
Apr 2019
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Panipat
...is shorn of Padmaavat and Kesari's insidious intent, but it is not exactly an innocent, truthful chronicler of Indian history. Add to that its lack of polish and spark, and for all its occasional positives, it ends up as just an average affair.
Dec 2019
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Detective Byomkesh Bakshy!
...is slow and lacks tension, which is criminal for a thriller. The lazy and inept editing makes the entire film suffer and exposes the weaknesses in Banerjee's story.
Apr 2015
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Mohalla Assi
...is less cinema and more textual. The small things and little metaphors are more impactful than the bombastic monologues which dominate this taxing and ponderous chronicle.
Nov 2018
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Munna Michael
Director Sabbir Khan and writer Vimi Datta have designed a film that is serviced by Shroff’s two skills – dancing and action. In spite of being predictable story with slack storytelling, Khan once again (Heropanti, Baaghi) showcases just what is needed to keep Shroff’s fans satisfied. Put in enough of these two elements and who cares about logic, story, acting or originality.
Jul 2017
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Mere Pyare Prime Minister
Despite its heartwarming intentions, liberal soul and some interesting actors, Mere Pyare Prime Minister is an underwhelming experience.
Mar 2019
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Haraamkhor
I didn’t feel for any of the characters and I was let down by this emotional disinterest.
Jan 2017
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One Day
The story of a vigilante judge trying to bring justice once he has given up the duty of following the rule book had potential, but Ashok Nanda’s direction exposes flaws in the performances and tears open the already gaping holes in Alaukik Rahi’s story.
Jul 2019
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Bhavesh Joshi Superhero
While Motwane’s blueprint is derivative (you will think Kick Ass and Arrow), his thoughts and setting are localised enough to make this a convincing character within the genre. But the film’s flaw is that it’s trying to say too much and doing so at such a painful pace that much of a good intention is lost in execution.
Jun 2018
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Jacqueline I Am Coming
...is a simple story, that is simply made and simply told. Its simplicity is both its appeal and its shortcoming.
Oct 2019
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Chalk N Duster
...is not great cinema by any stretch of the imagination. It is often crude and unapologetic in its melodramatic pitch. But its heart is in the right place.
Jan 2016
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Half Girlfriend
...is strictly for fans of the book or the two leads, because at best it’s quarter tolerable.
May 2017
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Malang
A whole lot of time is wasted setting up the story; far less is assigned to unravelling the mystery or providing adequate backstory to all the characters.
Feb 2020
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Dil Dhadakne Do
For better or for worse, Dil Dhadakne Do quickly reveals itself to be a hipster version of a Sooraj Barjatya film. It’s pretty but artificial, with a tissue-thin story told through flat characters played by gorgeous actors.
Jun 2015
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The Accidental Prime Minister
The fumbles in The Accidental Prime Minister lie in the screenplay (by Gutte, Mayank Tiwari, Aditya Sinha and Karl Dunne) and the tonally confused direction.
Jan 2019
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Super 30
...comes across as a project that someone somewhere lost interest in at some point and then it all came apart.
Jul 2019
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Tamasha
...is a film with ambitions of being mature and experienced. It creates an alternate reality for its principal characters and lets their emotions grow naturally to a point. But then the journey gets tiring for everyone concerned.
Nov 2015
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Freaky Ali
Though it’s called Freaky Ali, Siddiqui’s Ali is the least freaky of all the characters and his performance is the only reason this film is not a complete washout.
Sep 2016
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Made In China
...fails to hit the bull's eye because it sorely needed an evening out of pace and tone, depth of characterisation and detailing in the plotline.
Oct 2019
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Dil Juunglee
...the huge potential of two talented actors was completely wasted because the filmmakers decided to stick to the same old formulaic and cheesy way of making a typical Bollywood ‘love’ story.
Mar 2018
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ABCD - Any Body Can Dance - 2
ABCD 2’s many and needlessly frequent dance sequences make it less of a film and more of a bunch of loosely-strung music videos that can’t tell a compelling story.
Jun 2015
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Feb 2017
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Kalank
...it is fronted by such a likeable cast and comes in such pretty packaging. There is nothing pretty though about the lack of nuance in its portrayal of Hindu-Muslim equations...
Apr 2019
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The Power
...is engaging to begin with, but as it rolls along it becomes clear that it falls in the ‘if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen ’em all’ category of underworld dramas.
Jan 2021
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Chhichhore
The writing of Chhichhore (by Tiwari himself with Nikhil Mehrotra and Piyush Gupta) is so lacking in depth, and the direction so passionless that it is hard to believe it is brought to us by the same person who made Dangal. Despite its sporadic bursts of humour, Chhichhore comes across as a half-hearted enterprise.
Sep 2019