Raazi is an excellent film because of how easily it could have not been one. On another day, this might have well been a jingoistic Neeraj Pandey actioner called Naam Sehmat. But Gulzar and her co-writer Bhavani Iyer don’t lose cultural context of their material.

I suspect that this is the kind of average fare that relies on who its viewers are. Many parents might choose to overlook the flimsiness and view this as a winning unbeaten century in a chase. I’m not so sure others may look at it the same way. After all, if an opening batsman scores 102 Not Out in the first innings of an ODI match, it’s more likely that the knock is slow, selfish, self-defeating and bereft of awareness.

Omerta, a biographical drama on British-Pakistani terrorist Omar Saeed Sheikh directed by Hansal Mehta, opens with unidentified wails flooding a pitch-black screen. This might be the maker’s way of informing us that the story – as is often the case, but frequently neglected by Hindi cinema’s hasty biopic directors – began long before the film that will attempt to encompass it.

The horror film starring actor-director John Krasinski and Emily Blunt, is so current, uncomplicated and all encompassing with its narrative templates that it’s impossible not to laud its slick form of genre activism

I suspect I will be reviewing Baaghi 8 in the near future. Perhaps by then, Hindi cinema will have moved on from believing that the Indian Army is composed of heartbroken college boys who decide to substitute women for country.

This film’s inoffensive unoriginality is a reminder that Hollywood willfully abets the tired landscape by churning out a dozen identical sequels

Even Yashraj Films went through a phase of lazy, derivative wink-wink self-referential rom-coms when they ran out of ideas. Rohit Shetty’s entire career is built on this. But the way Balaji has convinced repeat-offender Indra Kumar to run amok in their own film library points to a rather disconcerting possibility: Do they actually think this is a “homage” to themselves? That’s like a schizophrenic copycat killer going on a rampage to pay tribute to his own gory legacy.

Rough Book fails to be an affecting and timely film. Its lack of relevance lies in its first-bencher, textbook interpretation of India’s most legal epidemic.

You can sense the makers’ hearts breaking, as they dig deeper and harder into a world none of us wish we knew about. They’re enjoying expressing themselves, but this isn’t the kind of achievement they can shout out from rooftops about – much like a bittersweet, guilt-tinged victory over your best friend in a tournament final. It feels a bit unfair that its artistic merit may forever be transcended by the sheer heft and consequences of its subject.

Te3n is far more competent than the similarly themed Wazir this year, but is nowhere near as smart as it pretends to be. It holds your gaze, and sucks you into the chase, only to shy away and go home with bat and ball once you get too close. At best, the film is an honest attempt at being dishonest – a slow and middling effort, given the remarkable resources at hand.