Don’t mistake Fandry for a commercial film. Yes it has its moments of crowd pleasing appeal when a family desperately chases pigs around the village. But you know the comedy is going to give way to a much darker end. This is art cinema at its best. There’s a visceral punch right at the end. And long after you leave the movie theatre, it compels you to think of the irony. And the more you think, the more you feel troubled at the grim conclusion of a fantasy tale. This is easily one of the best films of 2014.

Any attempt to intellectualise Chennai Express is futile. This film is unabashedly juvenile in its sense of humour and entertainment. Shah Rukh Khan is in full-on self deprecation mode. Deepika Padukone speaks in a caricature-ish Tamil accent. More than half the film’s dialogue is in Tamil. The story arc is so simple that you can fit it in a single tweet. Despite all its shortcomings, this is still a funny film. Rohit Shetty makes chettinad-style masala movies. And that’s the perfect description of this film.

Inspired by real-life events. That statement creates a certain blanket effect for a film. Saving it from its own loop holes, because the viewers’ mind keeps harking back to the thought that ‘this really happened’. Special 26 benefits from that statement immensely. On the strength of its actors’ performances and filmmaking technique this film rises above its many narrative loop holes to give you a fairly entertaining experience.