…between a poorly directed Hindi Medium and Arjun Kapoor’s broken English in Half Girlfriend, you really don’t have much of a choice…

Half Girlfriend is an exasperatingly asinine love story sans depth or any kind of reasoning. It glorifies stalking, manhandling, belittles grave medical conditions and girls’ education issue with its lame and superficial treatment. It lazily talks about small town life, class divides, language barriers, gender inequality and penury. My childhood debates were far better researched than this painfully pseudo love saga that rolls out for a painful two and a half hours.

Noor is not path breaking cinema. But it’s not regressive as well. It tries too hard man. But it has some well-written scenes too. It gets unnecessarily lengthy. But it does have a message at the end. Yeah, a message that comes after much drama and deliberation.

The film is based on one of the most massive mass migrations, leaving almost 12 million people to move houses.  There were riots. Millions were massacred; women were raped and abducted. It’s a heart-wrenching story aching to be told. Alas we watch a stubborn, high-headed woman whose strange sense of pride and heroism cost innocent lives.

Tapsee Pannu gets a couple of emotional scenes right but her straight-suppress-my-feelings-face gets too monotonous. The film makes unnecessary judgments on civilians and their choices in order to glorify the defense. Err. Not cool! The film has a few beautiful shots of Mumbai, especially the ones shot in an Iranian café, but the overall plot, the execution, the slow pace and the lazy editing make it a rather dull watch.

Phillauri despite some genuinely good performances failed to stir any emotions or strike any chord.

Had the film been snappier, shorter, it would have been more impactful. If you dig Vishal Bhardwaj’s brand of cinema, a one-time watch wouldn’t hurt much.

If the film focused on the crime, without trying too hard to make it easy-breezy and crack jokes that don’t have much context to the film, it would have made for a far more compelling story. 

Watch Raees only if you are a big Shah Rukh Khan fan. 

Ok Jaanu doesn’t convince you with the couple’s fear against marriage. Neither does it showcase real career problems. The parents and family are also such boring cardboard characters. You can see the climax well in advance but can hardly see any logic or reasoning in their change of hearts.