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Daawat-e-Ishq
...not quite sure if it wants to be a social satire or a serious-minded attack on dowry.
Sep 2014
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Prem Ratan Dhan Payo
You can imagine brides-to-be making mental notes of which lehengas and saris they want copied as they watch this opulent, colour-coordinated costume drama.
Nov 2015
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Veerappan
...we see flashes of the Varma of old, and he gets solid support from Bharadwaj and Jadhav’s performances. If only the screenplay had been tighter and the mood more suspenseful.
May 2016
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Shootout At Wadala
A loose, directionless script and insipid dialogues take their toll half an hour into the film.
May 2013
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Poorna
...succeeds in a few scenes which could be rooted in real life anecdotes but throbs with imagination.
Mar 2017
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Qarib Qarib Singlle
A patchily constructed romantic comedy, redeemed somewhat by Irrfan and Parvathy.
Nov 2017
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Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi
...isn’t a total bust: there are intermittent laughs, and the Indian and Pakistani characters are treated with generosity. But to set a film in China and then spend 135 minutes sneering at the Chinese is, to put it plainly, opportunistic and childish.
Aug 2018
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Apr 2012
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Bhaag Milkha Bhaag
...is the film equivalent of an authorized biography, which is written with the help and collaboration of the subject. A self-mitigating account, every defeat and every turn of events in the film has a sentimental, ingratiating slant.
Jul 2013
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Coffee Bloom
...isn’t the most exciting of films, but it has a slow-burn intensity that owes a lot to Mathur and Garg’s carefully calibrated performances and Kapoor’s exuberant, pressure-releasing one.
Mar 2015
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Feb 2018
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Chaarfutiya Chhokare
Some nerve in the performances and crackle in the dialogues may have made the film a few notches better.
Sep 2014
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Ok Jaanu
...is more froth than coffee— sweet and diverting, but lacking the kick of emotion.
Jan 2017
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A Gentleman
By the truly dismal standards of Indian action comedies, A Gentleman is a middling offender—but what does that even mean?
Aug 2017
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Shikara
Given his personal connection with the story, Chopra captures emotion and upheaval, loss and fear, hope and hopelessness. However, as a chapter in Indian history, the film required a great deal more context and deference to the complexity of politics in the Valley.
Feb 2020
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Gippi
The film has the universally acceptable message that most self-help books will give you: love your flaws, love yourself. A film needs some more meat; it can’t thrive on a message. When storytelling, characterization and performance are lost, all is lost.
May 2013
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Bhopal: A Prayer For Rain
...apart from the provocative end, Bhopal: A Prayer For Rain is a wasted opportunity.
Dec 2014
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Budhia Singh
...maybe sincere and well-intentioned, but it is far from an engaging film.
Aug 2016
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Simmba
Even for Hindi cinema, where rape-revenge is a thriving subgenre (there were four films on the subject last year), this is pretty dire.
Dec 2018
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Shuddh Desi Romance
The big disappointment of Shuddh Desi Romance is writer Jaideep Sahni. Known for scripts and screenplays that retain efficacy of storytelling with commercially viable Bollywood elements, here is non-committal to making his characters fleshy or believable. The director and actors don’t rescue the fragile boat.
Sep 2013
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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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Mere Pyare Prime Minister
Appearing to be overly focused on delivering a message, the director has compromised on delivering a well-crafted cinematic experience.
Mar 2019
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May 2014
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Jan 2016
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Mission Mangal
The film plays up Indian ingenuity without making a convincing case for it.
Aug 2019
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Singham Returns
The delusion of an incorruptible police force dedicated to upholding law and order at all costs and impervious to any manner of inducement pushes Singham Returns onto the same shelf as science fiction.
Aug 2014