Panipat has clearly taken liberties to gloss over aspects such as travelling heavy and with pilgrims and women that are considered as reasons for the failure of the Maratha attack. It also leaves the reason why Abdali might never have returned to Hindustan out and makes his victory letter a eulogy to the great warrior that Sadashiv was.

It’s a win for an espionage film if it is written half-well, especially a Hindi one. War is victorious on that count. The much shorter first-half scores because it passes by quickly and doesn’t feel like it was over an hour long. The longer second half has a lot more going on story-wise to keep you hooked. And this is despite some seriously patchy writing.

…as a whole, the film is a mix of hits and misses. It leaves you entertained, but if you were told you could nap instead, you would consider the option.

The film doesn’t make much of an impact on that count either. A couple of good jokes are watered down because the spontaneity dies a long death. It is as if the writers knew the weight of the punch line and slowed the reveal down. It literally transitions in slow motion! And this is only the beginning of the drama. The bright and loud town in Bihar builds up to an inevitably typical climax that made me want to scream, “nahhhhiiiiiiii.” Of course, that would fall to deaf ears, so you just sit through hoping against hope that all your predictions fail. Instead, the film slips and falls while bruising the viewer’s senses.

The humor is not always slapstick and every once in a while the action makes you sit up and watch, despite awful CGI and editing.

I’d like to state upfront that I am clearly not a part of this film’s target audience because I’ve never liked slapstick. But over the years, I have realised the core of why I don’t like them. I don’t find people insulting others, funny. And a lot of Judwaa 2’s humor relies on exactly that. Insult the obese, insult the colored, insult the women, insult those with speech defects – to name a few. I am sure the intention is not to insult but to bring laughs. But that insults bring laughs is a premise I have never understood.

Except for the effort of the actors, there isn’t anything going for Bhoomi. There are a couple of well conceptualised scenes, especially the one in the climax. But, one it is a little too dramatic too and it is of course very little, very late.

Daddy, comes across as an earnest defense for one of the most feared men of his times. I lived in Mumbai during those times. I don’t remember hearing of any of his Robinhood deeds. Maybe they were deliberately kept under wraps. If this film was made to invoke sympathy for a man who might wrongfully be in prison today, it didn’t really do much in that direction. Lacking balance, it just might have pushed the audience, that can be bothered to care, even further in the other direction.

f only, only they were enough to recommend a trip to the theaters for you. In that sense, it is a step down for this writer-directer duo.

…turns out to be as underwhelming as the trailer. Neither does it have the sparks of a romance, nor the laughs of a comedy. What it does have is some fine performances, lovely details and nuances that are not usually found in Hindi films. But, these actors have given finer performances. So, put together that makes Barielly Ki Barfi a “maybe watch if it happens to be playing” kind of a film.