Mayank Shekhar
Top Rated Films
Mayank Shekhar's Film Reviews
-
More than a period film, a costume drama, a Bollywood musical, a war memorial, a battle-field actioner, Panipat is essentially a lesson in history that might have occupied at best a page in your NCERT/school text.
-
You have to give it to heavyweight Bollywood producers backing this heartbreakingly intimate subject, and the top stars — particularly Priyanka, in top-form, as the ferociously indefatigable tigress for a mom — mainstreaming this delicate script into a picture you’ve got to warm theatre-seats for. And no, Farhan isn’t miscast at all. His character’s life pans out far beyond Chandni Chowk thereafter! Perfect.
-
Dream Girl is a non-stop gag-fest. And all that you need to know is if the gags being thrown at you at the speed of light, hits your brains, or bounces off the skull.
-
Chhichhore is the sort of film that we can all add to, with our own versions of the same story — a user-generated series, if you like. This has the makings of one.
-
There’s no escaping basic Bollywood tropes here either. But it’s done all so smartly to never take attention away from a deeply realistic crime-drama. This is clearly Advani’s best work in a long while; suspect since the animation film Delhi Safari (2012), if not his rom-com debut, Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003)!
-
Most movies suffer from what’s called the ‘curse of the second half’. Mission Mangal is a rare one that reverses that principle. It gets much better towards the end!
-
Whether or not you’re easily drawn to this alternate world (let alone its conclusion), what can’t be denied is how brilliantly Kanika Dhillon carves out a fine suspense-thriller.
-
Suffice it to know, this is a ‘home-invasion’ picture, a full-on sub-genre of its own, with limited pay-off, yes. But with only one question that should really matter: Does it keep you interested/hooked right through to the end? For sure. That’s all you need to know. And get set, go!
-
Kesari is in-your-face, goose-bumpy ride-heartwarming because it’s history; and hysterical, because it’s that kinda movie-it is just the best one can do.
-
Gully Boy is a new kind of ‘Angry Young Man’ movie, in effect – seamlessly merging sub-culture with pop mainstream.