-
Bhaag Milkha Bhaag
It is a pity that Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, despite being about the life and career of one of India’s greatest sporting achievers, never makes for the kind of compelling viewing that it would have been had it relied solely on the drama inherent in the hero’s singular struggle against all odds instead of overlaying it with extraneous narrative trappings.
Jul 2013
-
Lootera
...a Bollywood miracle – a rare Mumbai film that is mounted on a lavish scale and yet dares not to play by the established norms of the marketplace.
Jul 2013
-
Policegiri
Everybody involved with this film deserves a break. The audience certainly does.
Jul 2013
-
Ghanchakkar
The fundamental concept of Ghanchakkar is intriguing all right, but it simply isn’t sturdy enough to bear the weight of an entire two hour-plus film.
Jun 2013
-
Raanjhanaa
The vibrant, recognizable human tableau that unfolds in the background gives Raanjhanaa a distinctive feel.
Jun 2013
-
Fukrey
...is full-on entertainment although it stops shy of being an outstanding comedy.
Jun 2013
-
Ankur Arora Murder Case
It is a well-meaning, proficiently crafted and competently acted drama about the wages of medical skullduggery. But Ankur Arora Murder Case fails to make a strong enough case for itself.
Jun 2013
-
Yamla Pagla Deewana 2
...its attempts to pass off lunacy as a humour simply do not have the force to hold such a long film together.
Jun 2013
-
Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani
Director Ayan Mukherji, who gave an impressive account of himself in his debut film, Wake Up Sid, appears to have allowed the skills that he displayed the first time around to go into deep slumber.
May 2013
-
Gippi
For all its attempts to look and feel different from the run-of-the-mill, Gippi is pretty obviously not the ultimate film about adolescence.
May 2013
-
Go Goa Gone
...it’s crazy but cool. It gives you what you least expect and in ways that you least anticipate.
May 2013
-
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
-
Bombay Talkies
One is left with the feeling that a once-in-a-century cinematic experiment should have had more heart and heft.
May 2013
-
Jolly L.L.B.
...has its heart in the right place. And it’s a heart that is backed by a ticking mind and a responsive conscience.
Mar 2013
-
Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster Returns
...an intense, effervescent and eventually melancholic film.
Mar 2013
-
Mar 2013
-
I Me Aur Main
...a rather listless drama about grown-ups who still have much growing up to do. Eventually it amounts to much ado about nothing.
Mar 2013
-
Zila Ghaziabad
The film unleashes such a merciless, ceaseless and mindless onslaught on the senses and the eardrums that it could actually put the assault rifles of the most trigger-happy of crime lords in the shade.
Feb 2013
-
Kai Po Che!
...a competently crafted, well acted and consistently engaging drama that makes its point without sinking into preachy paroxysms.
Feb 2013
-
Murder 3
...has plenty of visual flair, but at times all its labour might seem wasted on a tale that strains too hard for effect. It is steamy all right but tends to run out of steam at crucial junctures.
Feb 2013
-
Special 26
...is an intelligently scripted, superbly acted, enthralling and believable heist film that is more than just that.
Feb 2013
-
Vishwaroop
...trust producer-director-actor Kamal Haasan to serve up the good old filmic formula in a well-mounted cinematic package that lends the largely predictable material an impressive veneer.
Feb 2013
-
Race 2
To be fair, some of the implausible action sequences are startlingly good. However, they do not add up to a convincing enough whole that can paper over the holes in the narrative.
Jan 2013
-
Inkaar
For a film that is remarkable in many significant ways, it ultimately disappoints because, despite showing the nerve to deal squarely with a demanding subject, it eventually chickens out of the prospect of going the whole distance to a coherent and radical conclusion.
Jan 2013
-
Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola
Few filmmakers in Mumbai engage with ideas and issues of contemporary relevance as felicitously as Bhardwaj. He might have fallen short this time around, but even when he is not at his best, he is infinitely better than most in the business. A director who does not fear failure merits our support.
Jan 2013
-
Table No. 21
This is a well-meaning film. It even has a relevant social message appended to its ending. Unfortunately, along the way, it yo-yos wildly between semblances of profundity and dashes of pulp.
Jan 2013
-
Dabangg 2
There can be no denying that Salman Khan is perfectly cut out for the carefree Robin Hood act that he has made his own. Unfortunately, the Dabangg 2 screenplay is devoid of any fresh ideas.
Dec 2012
-
Khiladi 786
...has nothing new to offer. It is cut from the same cloth that has yielded many of Akshay Kumar's recent vehicles. These films have sought to cash in on his rough and rowdy screen persona.
Dec 2012