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Shimla Mirchi
The plot fits snugly in romcom territory, providing an update to the hill-station romances that were the staple of Hindi cinema in the 1960s and ’70s.
Jan 2020
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Ki & Ka
The main characters are too sketchy for the movie Balki hopes to have made, and they are not light enough for the movie he should have made.
Apr 2016
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Ajji
Outrage over the rape of children is easily provoked, but it takes hard work to make a movie about the justice that is due to them. Ajji takes the easy way out.
Nov 2017
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Angrezi Mein Kehte Hain
...has enough sense to confront the lovelessness that characterises far too many middle-class marriages, but not the courage to get to the heart of the problem.
May 2018
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Miss Tanakpur Haazir Ho
The satire is seems confidently put across at first but then becomes illogical and unwieldy. Kapri is aiming for a tragicomedy about rural India, but some of his visuals are straight out of a horror movie.
Jun 2015
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May 2016
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Zero
Khan’s fanbase will possibly be even more perplexed with Zero. By trying to play the man next door rather than a larger-than-life personality, Khan has all too literally let himself be cut to size. The romantic declarations are less effective, the conviction with which Khan has carried off more modest romances is missing, and the package is smaller than before.
Dec 2018
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India‘s Most Wanted
The overheated and undercooked film doesn’t have enough substance to justify its flourishes.
May 2019
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Welcome Back
...spilling over with some good gags, many great lines, and piles of tedium.
Sep 2015
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Befikre
If a breezy, highly styled, armchair travel rom-com is your mood, then Befikre might be the ticket. But if you prefer insightful, warming and witty, skip this.
Dec 2016
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Shaandaar
...proceeds in a jerky and slapdash fashion, and only a few sequences hit the mark.
Oct 2015
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Parmanu
...merrily mixes fact, fiction, Quora-type information, artificially generated suspense and domestic melodrama to roll out a nationalistic yarn about India’s transformation into a nuclear state.
May 2018
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Gone Kesh
The light touch that peppers most of the scenes feels misplaced, given the gravity of Enakshi’s condition and the association between beauty and hair. The shattering of self-image and the tragedy of Enakshi’s plight, given her youth, are barely explored.
Mar 2019
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Love Aaj Kal
A few of Ali’s gambles pay off up until the interval, at which point the 141-minute movie launches into freefall, never to recover. Love Aaj Kal is crammed with non-sequitur conversations and faux philosophical musings, but the best bits are the dialogue-free montages, which reflect the beauty and purity of timeless ardour that the film seems to be aiming for.
Feb 2020
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Wazir
It’s only a few days into the new year, but a leading contender for the Most Ludicrous Screenplay of 2016 has already emerged.
Jan 2016
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Coffee Bloom
...most of the characters created by director and co-writer Sharat Parvathavani are under-written and not rounded enough to justify the complexity of their experiences.
Mar 2015
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Baaghi 2
Tiger Shroff is still waiting for the movie that shapes his limited emoting abilities and limitless action skills into a character who embodies the times.
Mar 2018
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Luka Chuppi
...isn’t quite radical, let alone consistently funny, but the long walk to the altar is far less conservative than it could have been.
Mar 2019
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Baar Baar Dekho
It wants to be seen as a departure from sentimental Hindi film romances, but it doesn’t want to let go of the messy bundle of emotions these films tap into.
Sep 2016
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Firangi
...is highly overstretched, and squanders its comic potential despite having a comedian as its hero.
Dec 2017
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Bhoot – Part One
The absence of a strongly plotted emotional undertow to convey the idea that personal loss can lead to a never-ending nightmare of literally monstrous proportions results in a half-full vessel that makes some noise.
Feb 2020
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Noor
Noor’s nose for news is weak, but at least she gets the romance beat right. She would make a questionable investigative journalist, but a fine relationship advice columnist.
Apr 2017
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A Gentleman
...is unable to overcome its derivative cool and come up with new ways of reimagining the action comedy.
Aug 2017
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The Accidental Prime Minister
...never evolves into anything more than a broadside against the Gandhi clan.
Jan 2019
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Nakkash
Imam doesn’t have enough layers to weave around a threadbare plot, and the double life that Alla Rakha leads, which is the most interesting aspect of the story, gets drowned by the melodrama.
May 2019
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Katti Batti
The humour misses its mark and the romantic entanglement rarely locks into place. This is a rom-com low on rom as well as com.
Sep 2015
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Raabta
...reincarnates a tried and tested formula without capturing the mystery and sense of aching loss that mark the better entries in the genre. Some experiences don’t last beyond a single lifetime.
Jun 2017
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Khandaani Shafakhana
There isn’t enough humour of the gentle or wicked variety across the sluggishly-paced film to communicate its larger themes.
Aug 2019
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Maatr
...Sayed manages to skillfully steer his fantasy of vigilante justice all the way to the ludicrous climax.
Apr 2017