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Kurbaan
Clearly Rensil is a talent to watch. He isn’t afraid to take risks but his ambition and good intentions aren’t matched by the sophistication that this project required.
Nov 2009
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Veer
If like me, you can find delight in the sheer delirium of a bad Bollywood film, then see Veer, otherwise do catch it on DVD. In a few years, this sensibility and swagger will be extinct.
Jan 2010
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2 States
The unabashed shallowness of a Chetan Bhagat book meets the inane glitter of a Karan Johar-Sajid Nadiadwala production in 2 States.The result is the creation of a third state – the state of overpowering indolence.
Apr 2014
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Hindi Medium
It isn't possible to completely dislike Hindi Medium. So, ignore its hiccups and watch it for the relevance of the questions it poses and the remarkable quality of the acting.
May 2017
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3 Storeys
...considering all the beginnings and endings, comings and goings, and hopes and setbacks that constitute 3 Storeys, the film could have done with a stronger culmination. It meanders to a close, leaving the audience more flummoxed than intrigued.
Mar 2018
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Ramayana
...an ambitious step toward better homegrown cinema for children. I just wish it had more crackle.
Oct 2010
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Dum Maaro Dum
This is one film that should soar but sadly it never quite takes flight. The problem is the writing.
Apr 2011
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Ferrari Ki Sawaari
This competently crafted and well-intentioned cricket-themed film steers clear of many of commercial Hindi cinema’s narrative conventions - it sure gets full marks on that count - but succumbs to some of its most retreaded cliches.
Jun 2012
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Kick
...provides a kick only sporadically. For Salman Khan fans, that should be good enough.
Jul 2014
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Wazir
The surface vim and vigour on show in Wazir is considerable, but Bollywood’s first big release of 2016 is disappointingly low on substance.
Jan 2016
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Begum Jaan
She (Vidya Balan) is phenomenally riveting no doubt, but the film that rests awkwardly on her shoulders is passable at best.
Apr 2017
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Tiger Zinda Hai
At an exhausting two hours and forty minutes, I really don't care if Tiger is alive or a vegetable - whether he's Zinda or Tinda, really - but this film needed to be much tighter.
Dec 2017
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Malaal
...would have left as with no regrets whatever if only it had the courage to go all out to stress upon the power of love to surmount divisive forces at play in Mumbai and elsewhere. It abandons that topical concern and settles for a construct that drifts towards a tame, sanitized finish.
Jul 2019
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Shirin Farhad Ki Toh Nikal Padi
Though a bit on the sluggish side, Shirin Farhad Ki To Nikal Padi is warm-hearted and generally watchable without being exhilarating.
Aug 2012
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Shootout At Wadala
The film is generally entertaining without attaining the sort of innate quality that could attract favourable comparisons with Ram Gopal Varma’s Satya and Company or Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Parinda.
May 2013
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Besharam
...rambunctious and robust, does not offer much by way of narrative novelty. But like Dabangg, it sets a crackling pace and does not flinch from the prospect of going over the edge in its pursuit of cheap thrills.
Oct 2013
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Bollywood Diaries
If only the disparate elements were better dovetailed into the larger picture it seeks to paint, Bollywood Diaries might have had more to write home about.
Feb 2016
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Happy Bhag Jayegi
...isn't the kind of film that will have audiences rolling in the aisles. But it might occasionally induce faint smiles on some faces.
Aug 2016
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Kaabil
Hrithik Roshan delivers a convincing enough performance as a man who cannot see. Kaabil is paisa vasool fare, if not more.
Jan 2017
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Rakht Charitra – I
...how much you relish Rakta Charitra is directly connected to your threshold for gore.
Oct 2010
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Pati Patni Aur Woh
This iteration of Pati Patni Aur Woh manages to convey two truths: one, Bollywood's fictional heroines have evolved much faster than their male counterparts and two, film comedies that Mumbai churns out these days are no patch on the ones that the industry produced in earlier decades.
Dec 2019
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City Of Gold
...had the potential to be a far better film than it is...But the director is unable to find the right narrative tone for this difficult material.
Apr 2010
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Rock On 2
It rocks only sporadically, and it almost never sways the audience enough for the latter to crave for another helping.
Nov 2016
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Shikara
...is evasive on many crucial counts, but, judged on purely cinematic parameters, its strengths are noteworthy.
Feb 2020
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We Are Family
It has the essence of a fabulous weepie. What it delivers teeters on the edge of mediocrity, swinging wildly from the vacuous to the mawkish.
Sep 2010
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Patiala House
It is an old-fashioned Hindi movie with big drama, solid dialogue-baazi and moments that are genuinely moving and rousing.
Feb 2011
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Laal Kaptaan
...an overlong film that takes a circuitous route to its climax and spends an awfully long time to get there...
Oct 2019
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Dil Dhadakne Do
It is an overly caramelised and flaky dysfunctional family drama that strives - and fails - to strike a balance between the sly and the syrupy.
Jun 2015
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Jul 2011