To be fair SOTY2 tries to be a little different, by adding a little Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar to K2H2. The poor “Pishorilal ka fukra” gets pitched against the “St Teresa dude” in the game of kabaddi, in much the same way as Model had a face off with Rajput in a cycle race in JJWS. But caught between two cult films, SOTY2 isn’t able to acquire a personality of its own.

Despite the vendetta twist in the end, Blank eventually doesn’t rise above being a stilted “bad Muslim” narrative. It’s yet another film that plays on Islamophobia and it does say a lot that it comes with the backing of the BJP candidate from Gurdaspur (who plays the clean-handed ATS chief) and the Canadian journalist specialising in doing non-political interviews (who does a special end credits song, titled Ali ali).

Chaudhary gets the milieu, lingo and the social nuances and hierarchies right and has a fabulous ensemble of actors, some in smaller roles, but the film doesn’t hit a high note. It remains facile rather than probing or provocative. It’s also too protracted to hold your interest. Incidentally, two of the actors here—Jameel Khan and Ishita Datta—can also be seen in the other release of the week, Blank.

Kalank’s visual grandeur burdens its romance and shoves Partition politics to the background. Kalank is a strange film that leaves one’s head in an odd whirl.

In trying to bring in humaneness and politics in equal measure on screen, Ashvin Kumar’s film stops short of being a searing account of a tragedy

Trying to find too much logic here is totally futile. Fashioned along the lines of the childish, old-fashioned B-grade Bollywood-Hollywood thrillers, RAW is all about the hidden transmitters and surveillance rooms and gratuitous third degree torture in ISI detention centres, laughable polygraph tests and sundry similar procedurals and investigations.

There is a sweet stray dog and magnificent tuskers and an unintended nostalgia unleashed for Haathi Mere Saathi. I came out raving about Kulkarni’s fitness and agility and Jammwal’s voice and jawline. But that wasn’t quite the point of the film, was it?

…in the one-man show, none of the other characters or actors turn out memorable. All that has stayed on with me is the landscape—the brown, arid earth pitted against the majesty of the snow-laden, silver mountains. If only panoramic settings could make a good film.

…with Photograph I was also left feeling a sense of void and dissatisfaction, in that it barely scratches the surface of what could have been a far deeper engagement. It chooses to provide just passing snapshots that don’t come together as a memorable album. The situations themselves feel consciously set-up, more deliberate rather than flowing along spontaneously.

Bachchan and Pannu are in fine form. Beyond them no other actor is of any major consequence save Amrita Singh who effortlessly steals everybody’s thunder and turns out to be Badla’s big takeaway. Here’s hoping to see her more often on screen.