-
A Flying Jatt
Since he also has a healthy stash of Hollywood DVDs, it’s clear that this Indian superhero is set for a bright future.
Aug 2016
-
Lipstick Under My Burkha
The sexual politics isn’t always on target, but the emphasis on sexual freedom is. The script wobbles as the four tracks evolve and get far too complicated to be smoothly straightened out, but it is at its entertaining best when the women get all hot and heavy.
Jul 2017
-
Junglee
The scenes between Jammwal and elephants of various sizes are the best thing about Junglee, after its plea to halt the poaching of the gentle giants.
Mar 2019
-
Dream Girl
The movie’s aims include supplying a joke every minute, which it often does, and delivering a comic take on urban loneliness, which it doesn’t quite do.
Sep 2019
-
Karwaan
The 120-minute featherweight comedy is so content to embrace the big cliches associated with the road movie genre that it is almost possible to go along with the easygoing vibe and forget that there are larger questions at stake about the generation gap, lost dreams, and mortality itself.
Aug 2018
-
Halkaa
Halkaa’s good intentions are never in doubt, nor are the efforts of the filmmaking team in illuminating a dark reality of Indian cities. But far greater subtlety, and a more realistic assessment of the problems faced by slum dwellers in building toilets, were needed to have made Pichku’s mission credible.
Sep 2018
-
Total Dhamaal
When you throw so much at the screen, something is bound to stick. The screenplay, by Paritosh Painter, Ved Prakash and Bunty Rathore, has enough visual gags and punchlines to distract from the severely tacky visual effects and overwhelming familiarity of such movies.
Feb 2019
-
Judgemental Hai Kya
Neither whodunit or even whydunit, Judgementall Hai Kya is never quite able to match its ambitions. Buried somewhere in the rubble is the ghost of a movie about why madness is sometimes the only sane response to violence.
Jul 2019
-
Feb 2017
-
Munna Michael
The undemanding and unpretentious script races from start to finish, pausing to give Shroff numerous opportunities to display his outstanding dancing and fighting skills.
Jul 2017
-
Kadvi Hawa
Panda creates a convincing world of genteel blight, packing in details of rural lives driven to ruin by the weather and an indifferent government. But the story is too sketchy even for its 99-minute running time.
Nov 2017
-
The Zoya Factor
...a movie that both suffers from miscasting and benefits from perfect casting. Abhishek Sharma’s shambolic romantic comedy, based on the bestselling 2008 novel by Anuja Chauhan, gives top billing to Sonam Kapoor, but all the attention is hogged by the name that follows hers in the credits. Malayalam star Dulquer Salmaan...
Sep 2019
-
Shikara
The epistolary device is one of the clumsy ways in which the movie deals with a knotty issue. Chopra, who has written the screenplay with Rahul Pandita and Abhijat Joshi, picks a narrow-angle lens through which to view the Kashmiri struggle.
Feb 2020
-
Guddu Rangeela
...starts off on a wholly different note from the one on which it ends.
Jul 2015
-
Fanney Khan
The actors help the movie navigate the implausibility at the heart of the plot and its facile critique of a music industry in which talent is worthy of being recognised only if it is televised.
Aug 2018
-
Simmba
Ranveer Singh’s energy and flamboyance ensure that Simmba appears more engaging than it often is, and Ajay Devgn’s well-timed cameo rescues the film from being a write-off.
Dec 2018
-
Bypass Road
Had the 137-minute movie been as ruthless about its running length as some of its characters, Bypass Road might actually have worked.
Nov 2019
-
Guddu Ki Gun
The daring premise seals the movie’s destiny as a cult favourite, but at 124 minutes, it is stretched beyond belief and tolerance.
Oct 2015
-
Indu Sarkar
...is a valuable addition to a slim catalogue of films about the excesses of the period even though it lacks the political insights of the better works about the Emergency.
Jul 2017
-
Helicopter Eela
The start-stop narrative, which feels jerky and disjointed, contains the ghost of a screwball comedy.
Oct 2018
-
War
The male leads, separated by a couple of generations and united by their ability to land punches and execute pirouettes without breaking a sweat, set the screen on fire. Fortunately for War, there is barely a scene without either of them.
Oct 2019
-
Kuchh Bheege Alfaaz
There isn’t much of a plot to stretch over 116 minutes, but there are enough cute moments of youthful angst and Kolkata chic to prevent a total washout.
Feb 2018
-
NH10
NH10 never glorifies its ample violence, and its moral compass is unerringly fixed.
Mar 2015
-
Sonchiriya
The film itself is a tangle of ideas, and works better as an existential mood piece than the heavy-duty action drama it often resembles.
Mar 2019
-
Tanhaji
People will write powadas, or ballads, about you, Tanjahi is told. They did, and the movie often has the quality of a ballad – it’s heavily embellished, romantic and simplistic. Tanhaji loudly sings its hero’s praises, creating a spectacle that is thrilling when in battle mode and troubling when considering the dynamic between the Marathas and the Mughals.
Jan 2020
-
Titli
...a disturbing yet unforgettable portrait of a bunch of dark souls in search of redemption.
Oct 2015
-
Jun 2018