The satire is seems confidently put across at first but then becomes illogical and unwieldy. Kapri is aiming for a tragicomedy about rural India, but some of his visuals are straight out of a horror movie.

It’s hard to shake off the feeling that we are inside the head of the average member of the Pixar approvals committee rather than a girl on the cusp of puberty. Pixar productions are always fun, but they are rarely profound despite their visible efforts, unlike French and Japanese animated films that do not try to be, and often predictable. That’s why the one emotion missing in Riley’s head is surprise.

Since ABCD 2 aims to be bigger than its predecessor and magnifies its spectacle to 3D proportions, it takes no chances. Apart from God, Vande Mataram is also invoked to help the Mumbai Stunners conquer hearts in Las Vegas. All that is missing from the rousing climax, in which all races and nationalities rise to applaud this Make in India moment, is a Swachh Bharat message.

Events move at a fast clip, the paleontology talk is kept to a minimum, the computer-generated effects are beautifully realised, and the characters perform their parts with the required efficiency. The raptors easily steal the show, especially in the sequence where they hurtle through the woods in pursuit of the Indominus rex, as ugly-cute as pit bulls.

Passionless and pathos-ridden ‘Hamari Adhuri Kahani’ struggles to show the love…

For all its efforts, Dil Dhadakne Do doesn’t have one standout sequence that lays bare the nastiness that fester in some families. The Mehras are mildly troubled rather than seriously dysfunctional. They have one crucial scene together, inspired partly by The War of the Roses, when Kabir decides to end the lies once and for all. Like other such scenes, this one too suffers from the butter-knife treatment when it actually needed a razor.

Overcooked and unsatisfying smorgasbord…

Lots of sweet, not enough bitters, and one great Dimple…It’s a they-are-crazy-but-not-dangerous giggle-fest, with as many repeat-worthy jokes in Goan English as there are cashew trees in the state. Since this is also India’s European corner, the sun-blessed land of laidback, where time can stretch onto eternity or to the 105-minute duration of this movie, Finding Fanny never dares to disappoint.

The movie’s sexist title suggests that she has masculine qualities of bravery and honour, but the best proof of her macho side is her indifferent relationship with her spouse. Not unlike the average Indian husband, Shivani prefers the company of others, in this case her co-workers, her orphaned niece, and a teenager, Pyari, who sells flowers at traffic signals. The abduction of this flower girl by a sex trafficking ring deeply upsets Shivani, who launches a personal crusade to save Pyari and whoever else might be in the room at that moment.

A vigilante movie that smartly lands its punches and punch dialogue is well suited to provide unreal solutions to very real problems, but Shetty also wants to change the world, one car blow-up at a time. In between the runs-in with thugs and masked gun-men, there are pleas for a better tomorrow, candle-light vigils and speeches to the media to behave.