The pacy pessimism of the picture effectively captures that of the street. Psychopaths on screen strongly mirror elected leaders, who’ve herded us together to where we are now, and where we’re headed. What’s in their head? This pic is one way to ponder over that. This cycle of democracy, violence continues unabated though. As it would. Play it again, sham!

Suffice it to say, by the end of Nanu Ki Jaanu, pretty much everyone in my theatre (me included) were essentially laughing at the film, rather than with it

This subtle, lyrical drama had me slightly teary-eyed on occasion — it could be because of an emotional trigger, or perhaps a memory it subconsciously draws one towards. This happens to me a lot at the movies by the way. Just so you know, and can probably treat that as a word of caution as well!

You want to feel more for this character. I ended up feeling more for the actor Irrfan, on the other hand. As we speak, he is undergoing treatment for a serious health issue. If anything, this movie tells us, he needs to get better soon, and come back with much, much better stuff. The audiences, like me, are praying, patiently waiting.

Sure, we could do with a fine, desi version of Dead Poets Society (1989). This film’s intentions—even if multiple, and therefore all mixed up—are laudable, no doubt. But, naah, doesn’t quite cut it, you know. Or at least doesn’t seem like worth cutting classes for, anyway.

The film reveals all that’s wrong with modern India, where crores are cornered by a few (by hook or crook), while the middle class gets harangued over its meager incomes. The same rich politicos—patriarchs for places they’re from—are in fact secretly admired by locals for being champs at bending the system. They become the system. Not much has changed since. Only what the crooks look like may have. Raid does an honest job of showing it, almost as is. Hence the Raid Alert: Do catch this at a theatre near you.

Have we seen such anthologies on the Indian screen before? Joshi himself was part of Life In A Metro, similarly a slice of life kinda collection of shorts, set in a metro. But this one is more like Dus Kahaniyan, if you may, only less exhausting, since lengths of films don’t matter as much as moving from one experience to another, without much of a breather, does.

This Thriller About A Smart Secret Service Agent Cutting Himself Loose (Gone Rogue) In Itself Is So Loosely Cut (At 160 Minutes) That You Can’t Help But Come Up With Conspiracy Theories On How The Filmmakers Could’ve So Horribly Lost The Plot

…none of those efforts would have had the legs to travel as wide as this Akshay Kumar entertainer (with a lovely soundtrack), spreading a message that is impossible to ignore in a country where, as the film informs us, only 12 per cent women use sanitary napkins at all. The rest simply can’t stay free from likely infections, diseases. So you know where this film is coming from. I’m actually really glad to know where it’s going. Period.

Kashyap uses sport (even romance) as fine entry point to speak truth to power, along with the phoniness of ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’, where we apparently love our country but hate our countrymen. ‘Bahut hua sammaan’ as a hook is to Mukkabaaz what ‘Kehke loonga’ was to Gangs Of Wasseypur. And, really, kehke li hai, completely.