“Azhar” is an unmitigated disaster only because of its relentless idolization of an obviously flawed man. A more subtle, honest and casual admission of the cricketer’s repeated lapses in judgments would perhaps have made him look less greedy, and more deserving of sympathy and forgiveness.

The message to Suri is simple. Lose the metaphors. Kill the background score. Go easy on the explanations. Cut your script by half. And most importantly, trust your audience’s intelligence and their ability to digest modern notions of emancipation and gender equality without building a ridiculously elaborate case for it.

Some viewers might complain of an overdose of blood and gore, although I did enjoy the stylized gun-battle between a machine-gun wielding Ranbir and Khambatta’s henchmen. The ending feels clumsy and needlessly violent, with Kashyap trying to tie loose ends with a bare postscript before the final credits roll.

“Zed Plus” isn’t a frighteningly boring or stupid movie; it has its moments and most actors manage to effectively carry their roles. But the film is marred by a conspicuous absence of logic at crucial points. It remains, till the end, just marginally more engaging than your average Bollywood flick.

“Chaarfutiya Chhokare” is a film made by a lazy director who refuses to push himself or his team, and churns out a dud with a clumsy, superficial take on grim social issues.

“Katiyabaaz” takes an objective look at an enormous problem, and transforms the mundane, all-too-familiar reality of India’s power crisis into a gripping tale of Indian ingenuity and battle for survival. Watch it if stark reality on celluloid does not leave you feeling bored, short-changed or overwhelmed.

After watching Akshay Akkineni’s “Pizza”, I took a look at the Wikipedia entry for the movie’s Tamil version. The minor deviations from the original plot seem to have veered Akkineni’s directorial debut badly off track. This “Pizza” may have the right ingredients but it’s sadly served half-baked.

In the opening credits, Sajid Khan pays tribute to Kishore Kumar, Jim Carrey and Peter Sellers. It takes barely a few minutes of “Humshakals” to find this claim to greatness by association both arrogant and audacious. The movie is best avoided.