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Beyond The Clouds
By ignoring the cynicism that marks the average urban poverty saga, Beyond the Clouds ends up being a fairy tale woven around people living on the periphery. There is none of the painful honesty of Salaam Bombay! nor the wish fulfillment fantasies of Slumdog Millionaire in Amir’s adventures.
Apr 2018
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Badla
Taapsee Pannu is unable to summon up the blank canvas onto which all manner of possibilities can be projected, while Amitabh Bachchan hops on the gravitas train for the nth time.
Mar 2019
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Raag Desh
...doesn’t meet the requirements of the historical epic in terms of its production values, but it does match the genre’s basic requirement: the only reason to travel back into the past is to ponder about the present.
Jul 2017
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Bhavesh Joshi Superhero
For all its promises of looking at Mumbai’s seemingly intractable problems with a fresh eye, Bhavesh Joshi Superhero offers solutions that are far removed from reality. The film moves away from common sense as it descends into genre territory. It doesn’t help that its leading man fails to take audiences along.
Jun 2018
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Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety
The disposable soft-focus songs and foreign locations cannot gild the coarseness of Ranjan’s view of modern romance.
Feb 2018
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Bombairiya
...the humour not sharp or bizarre enough, and the narrative too disjointed to hang together.
Jan 2019
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Madam Chief Minister
...is about as sophisticated as a college play. The complexity of identity politics is reduced to palace intrigue.
Jan 2021
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Detective Byomkesh Bakshy!
Although Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! works hard on creating a convincing setting for Byomkesh to make his mark, the characters are mostly under-written and the central mystery lacks tension and a sense of imminent danger.
Apr 2015
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Daas Dev
Few films can survive the weight of so much loftiness and ambition. Daas Dev goes off the rails in its opening scenes and fails to return to course.
Apr 2018
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22 Yards
...does benefit from nicely etched characters and a feel for cricketing denizens who are sometimes forgotten as the game gets too big for its own good. A T-20 trot becomes a one-day trudge, but the relief at a movie about cricket that doesn’t involve nationalism cannot be understated.
Mar 2019
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Street Dancer 3D
The movie leaps to life only in the last 30 minutes, as various crews twist and twirl their way through the inevitable contest. But to get there, you have to wade through sentimental slush and endure trite humour (the tin-eared dialogue is by Farhad Samji) and endless distractions.
Jan 2020
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Dhanak
...it is simply too cheerful and unconvincing to work as an Indian avatar of Iranian movies that feature adorable children grappling with adult problems.
Jun 2016
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Poster Boys
The issue of over-population is tackled with a light hand and while the humour is anything but subtle, Poster Boys will appeal to fans of the brothers Deol looking for an inoffensive good time.
Sep 2017
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Gold
The sluggish pacing over 153 minutes contain few moments of surprise or discovery. In the end, the inevitable clamber for the exit gate is stalled in the final moments by the strains of the national anthem.
Aug 2018
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Roohi
Without the entertainment offered by Stree or the conviction of Bulbbul, Roohi is neither here nor there, like its dual-sided heroine.
Mar 2021
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Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon
...a throwback to the 1980s and '90s, when comedies featuring clandestinely bigamous and harried husbands were common enough to qualify as a sub-genre.
Sep 2015
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Jai Gangaajal
For all its high-minded moralising, Jai Gangaajal plays out like a 1980s vigilante movie.
Mar 2016
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Tubelight
Tubelight does not have as many layers as Bajrangi Bhaijaan, and Laxman is far too passive, lachrymose and one-dimensional to evoke empathy or identification.
Jun 2017
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May 2018
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Mere Pyare Prime Minister
...loses direction as it navigates its way through its good intentions and delays an outcome that is predicted from the first frame of the button-cute kids running around the slum.
Mar 2019
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Mission Mangal
In between the gimmicky jugaad philosophising and meaningless sub-plots, Mission Mangal manages to devote some time to space technology.
Aug 2019
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Surkhaab
A sobering look at illegal immigration from Punjab to Canada soon turns into an formulaic woman-on-the-run movie.
May 2015
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Kaalakaandi
...Mumbai can be like after dark – unpredictable, dangerous, exciting and strangely fulfilling. Anything can happen, but unfortunately little does in Kaalakaandi.
Jan 2018
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Thugs Of Hindostan
...scuttled by its ineptitude and palpable disinterest in approaching the freedom struggle with fresh eyes.
Nov 2018
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Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyun Aaata Hai?
...has an anti-establishment heart, but because of the somewhat outdated execution, it falls flat as a two-hour watch.
Apr 2019
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Saand Ki Aankh
The movie aims high, and wants to say many important things about the lack of opportunities for women, in sports or elsewhere. But its uneven tone and the easy-peasy manner in which the lead pair accumulate awards rarely allows for an nuanced understanding of just how the Tomar women did it.
Oct 2019
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Baaghi 3
Apart from a couple of lavishly mounted action scenes, Baaghi 3 has little going for it, except, perhaps, the compulsion to drag the franchise along for as long as its leading man is able and willing.
Mar 2020
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Sarkar 3
Amitabh Bachchan’s perfectly judged performance and the gravitas and authority that the thespian brings to his performance keep these scenes from sliding into pure parody.
May 2017
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Daddy
The problem with making yet another gangster film is that somebody has done it before and, in all probability, done a better job.
Sep 2017