Raja Sen
Top CriticRediff·Hindustan Times·NDTV
Raja Sen is an Indian Critic, Columnist and Screenwriter.
Most Divergent Takes
- Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram Leela (2013)2.0 vs TRM 6.3-4.3
- Zanjeer (2013)0.0 vs TRM 4.2-4.2
- Rangeela Raja (2019)0.0 vs TRM 4.1-4.1
- Buddha in a Traffic Jam (2016)0.0 vs TRM 3.9-3.9
- Gunday (2014)1.0 vs TRM 4.9-3.9
Mission Mangal
2019 · Hindustan Times · Aug 2019
All films to do with science invariably have to dumb things down — films about rocket-science doubly so — but here things are regretfully oversimplified. So while there are times Mission Mangal plays out pleasantly enough as a cheesy entertainer with a message, complete with a caricaturish villain in Dalip Tahil with an unholy accent, there are other times everything feels like too much of a stretch — even the runtime.
Batla House
2019 · Hindustan Times · Aug 2019
John Abraham tries hard but this police drama isn't arresting enough...
Khandaani Shafakhana
2019 · Hindustan Times · Aug 2019
Sonakshi Sinha and Badshah's film has its heart in the place but suffers for playing sexual problems for jokes and unnecessary melodrama.
Judgementall Hai Kya
2019 · Hindustan Times · Jul 2019
Watch this film. As evidenced by a man Bobby sees carrying homilies on placards on a street corner, Judgementall Hai Kya knows the difference between accepting and determining something. It is a film about malicious misdirection, and the validity of our narratives — especially those labelled incorrect. It's okay to jump at a cockroach even if you're the only one who sees it. From the right angle, a bug is a feature.
Super 30
2019 · Hindustan Times · Jul 2019
Hrithik Roshan tries hard in this ordinary film about an extraordinary man...Emotional manipulation gets in the way of inspiration in Vikas Bahl's latest film starring Hrithik Roshan as maths genius Anand Kumar.
Article 15
2019 · Hindustan Times · Jun 2019
Ayushmann Khurrana stands tall in this essential film about cops and caste. Anubhav Sinha and Ayushmann Khurrana's film has the stench of honesty. It as asks you questions you already know but don't ask yourselves enough.
Kabir Singh
2019 · Hindustan Times · Jun 2019
This Shahid Kapoor film is perhaps the most misogynistic Indian film in a long time -- the hero is a bully, an abuser of women, an insensitive lout, an alcoholic surgeon, and a foulmouthed hothead.
Game Over
2019 · Hindustan Times · Jun 2019
Taapsee Pannu tries her best in this slasher film with three climaxes...Taapsee Pannu's Black Mirror-inspired new film had a solid concept but devolves into a witless muddle in the final act.
PM Narendra Modi
2019 · Hindustan Times · May 2019
Vivek Oberoi stars in Omung Kumar's latest biopic. The film, PM Narendra Modi, isn't mere tribute but actual deification.
India's Most Wanted
2019 · Hindustan Times · May 2019
Arjun Kapoor plays it subtle in a well-meaning thriller too restrained to be memorable. The idea at its heart is good but there's little that leaves an impact.
De De Pyaar De
2019 · Hindustan Times · May 2019
The usual alpha male, Ajay Devgn, plays it uncharacteristically calm in the film as most of the good stuff comes from Tabu, who wields the word 'dal' like a loaded gun.
Student of the Year 2
2019 · Hindustan Times · May 2019
Tiger Shroff, Ananya Panday and Tara Sutaria star as a new batch of students/professionally bred actors in sequel to Karan Johar's 2012 film.
Blank
2019 · Hindustan Times · May 2019
Sunny Deol keeps things watchable, though it is a bit odd to see those legendary, larger-than-life hands pulling coloured string across an FBI-style board of suspects. It gives the sense of a majestic jungle cat forced to play with yarn.
Rangeela Raja
2019 · Hindustan Times · Apr 2019
For the love of Govinda, don't watch this film...Pahlaj Nihalani assaults us with images of a sickening Govinda, a performance-enhancing rapist who laughs in the face of consequences.
Kalank
2019 · Hindustan Times · Apr 2019
Kalank often feels too much, and I only wish it made me do the same. It is a stunningly plated meal, but needed salt.
Romeo Akbar Walter
2019 · Hindustan Times · Apr 2019
John Abraham stars in a dumb movie about intelligence...A stiff John Abraham threatens to blend into the traditionally wood-panelled walls
Photograph
2019 · Hindustan Times · Mar 2019
More than anything else, this film is poetry. Photograph reminds us to believe in minor magic. Here is a film about a city that makes room for everything, from formulaic films to ghosts. Like when posing for a camera, all we need to know is where to look.
Badla
2019 · Hindustan Times · Mar 2019
Amitabh Bachchan and Taapsee Pannu's efficiently assembled film keeps tension at a boil through twist and counter-twist, but the finalé is easy to see coming.
Sonchiriya
2019 · Hindustan Times · Mar 2019
Sonchiriya claims to be about a band of outlaws in wild search of a golden bird — but that bird may just be a goose. The film skims topics of caste, gender, religion and politics, and proves to be a film about the desperation to belong to something larger than oneself, the all-consuming desire to believe in something. Even birds of prey need to pray.
Total Dhamaal
2019 · Hindustan Times · Feb 2019
Faces common to every single Dhamaal/Golmaal movie make an appearance in the Ajay Devgn starrer but the only stars are Madhuri Dixit and Anil Kapoor, and it is tragic to see them languish thus.
Gully Boy
2019 · Hindustan Times · Feb 2019
Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt's Gully Boy, an underdog story shining a light on India's incipient hip-hop subculture, is the first great Hindi film of 2019 and a rousing celebration of spunk.
Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga
2019 · Hindustan Times · Feb 2019
Ek Ladki Ko Dekhi Toh Aisa Laga concedes the unlikelihood of entertainment to change bigoted minds. When Sweety performs in Sahil's play, we see disgusted and intolerant audiences get up and leave. Yet I was struck by the image of an old man, sobbing as he leans on the empty bench in front of him, reserved for VIPs who have left. There will be plenty who leave their seats unconvinced, but this film will make some wonder — many of whom may never have considered it. This could have been a bolder and more explicit film, but sometimes cinema should work like a street play. Sometimes we need to preach beyond the choir.
Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi
2019 · Hindustan Times · Jan 2019
Kangana Ranaut is glorious, and the film better than Sanjay Leela Bhansali's carnivals. But the budgetary constrains show and the impact is Amar Chitra Katha.
Thackeray
2019 · Hindustan Times · Jan 2019
This is either an oblivious or blatantly self-aware film, a work not of propaganda as much as it is a work of pride, celebrating a legacy of violence.
Why Cheat India
2019 · Hindustan Times · Jan 2019
The eternally amoral Emraan Hashmi plays a man helping students cheat in a film that never finds momentum.
The Accidental Prime Minister
2019 · Hindustan Times · Jan 2019
All is unsubtle, everyone's a lookalike in this film and yet manage to outperform the man in the lead -- Anupam Kher who stars as former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Uri: The Surgical Strike
2019 · Hindustan Times · Jan 2019
Vicky Kaushal leads an efficient but unimpressive attack. They may well have titled this film based on 2016 Surgical Strikes the Call Of Desi Duty.
Simmba
2018 · Hindustan Times · Dec 2018
A relentless Ranveer Singh and Rohit Shetty ensure that this film is not just ahead of Ajay Devgn's Singham but far superior to Salman Khan's genre-defining Dabangg.
Zero
2018 · Hindustan Times · Dec 2018
Shah Rukh Khan measures up. The visual effects lack continuity and he looks more like a dwarf in some scenes than others, his deformity occasionally more pronounced while he looks like a spookily smooth tiny-Khan in other sequences. The actor, however, glosses over this with a dominating performance and tremendous energy. Bauaa Singh is a severely flawed character made irresistible by his pluck, and it's remarkable how much Khan brings to the part. And he remains the best lover in the business.
Kedarnath
2018 · Hindustan Times · Dec 2018
Kedarnath is a pointless, entirely forgettable film, but some may remember the girl fondly — which may well be the film's only task. In one scene, Sara rides down the mountain on Sushant's back, and he calls her the heaviest load he's lifted. She smiles and tells him to get used to it. Carry on, Indian cinema, carry on.
Bhaiaji Superhit
2018 · Hindustan Times · Nov 2018
Sunny Deol rocks a surprisingly fun film...Unlike a Dabanng or a Singham, this Sunny Deol-starrer knows how silly it is.
Pihu
2018 · Hindustan Times · Nov 2018
Director Vinod Kapri's film is a silly, sadistic and torturous experience
Thugs of Hindostan
2018 · Hindustan Times · Nov 2018
Aamir Khan and Amitabh Bachchan's film is Pirates Of The Caribbean without pirates or Caribbean. It is a film so dull and unoriginal that it can only inspire the shrugs of Hindustan. Full of slow-motions sequences, director Vijay Krishna Acharya amps up the frames per second to disguise the lack of storytelling craft. Aamir's character in the film is one of his most unremarkable characters, a rogue free of charisma or cleverness, with barely a line worth remembering.
Baazaar
2018 · Hindustan Times · Oct 2018
Saif Ali Khan can't save this stock market trash...Despite a bullish Saif Ali Khan and a competent Radhika Apte, Baazaar is a mediocre film that tries to borrow from masterworks such as The Wolf of the Wall Street and The Big Short with disastrous results.
Badhaai Ho
2018 · Hindustan Times · Oct 2018
Ayushmann Khurrana and Sanya Malhotra's film is a fine, funny film about family and accepting an unfamiliar situation.
Tumbbad
2018 · Hindustan Times · Oct 2018
The story becomes exasperatingly concentric, as Vinayak gets addicted to narrow escapes and keeps going back to the temple for more. The film thus finds itself in a loop as we see it play out for over thirty years, a short story told by a longform narrator. I marvelled at things, but also yawned.
Helicopter Eela
2018 · Hindustan Times · Oct 2018
Being a tiger or helicopter parent often becomes a point of pride, and there is much to be said here — but we must wait for a better film to say it.
Andhadhun
2018 · Hindustan Times · Oct 2018
Sriram Raghvan's new thriller pulls off great tricks in plain sight. It will surprise you when you least expect it to.
Pataakha
2018 · Hindustan Times · Sep 2018
The new Vishal Bhardwaj film is colourful, noisy and dazzling...Vishal Bhardwaj turns the two warring sisters, played by Radhika Madan and Sanya Malhotra, into a metaphor for India and Pakistan, countries locked in an endless cycle of sniping.
Sui Dhaaga
2018 · Hindustan Times · Sep 2018
Anushka Sharma, Varun Dhawan film is as exciting as watching a shirt-pocket get monogrammed with a familiar logo.
Manto
2018 · Hindustan Times · Sep 2018
Nawaduddin Siddiqui and Rasika Dugal deliver internalised performances in director Nandita Das' biopic.
Manmarziyaan
2018 · Hindustan Times · Sep 2018
Abhishek Bachchan, Taapsee Pannu and Vicky Kaushal play intriguing characters in Anurag Kashyap's new film, but the romance is a slow-motion slog.
Paltan
2018 · Hindustan Times · Sep 2018
There is a lot to be said about the futility of war, and now Dutta has made his case for the futility of the war movie. Starring Arjun Rampal, Sonu Sood and others.
Laila Majnu
2018 · Hindustan Times · Sep 2018
Brother of Imtiaz Ali, Sajid, has made a thoughtful film, about young lovers torn apart by their families and the world.
Lust Stories
2018 · NDTV · Jun 2018
Lust Stories is out on Netflix, and I applaud these four distinct filmmakers for exploring this anthological format and still maintaining their originality of vision. Your mileage may vary on which film you like best, but it is heartening to watch these creators decode the idea of lust and never attempt to titillate. That would be too obvious. Carnality, after all, is only part of the equation. The headiness of lust lies also in the exhalation, the smile, the laugh. Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Come.
Kaala
2018 · NDTV · Jun 2018
Pa Ranjith has some strong Leftist messaging and a lot to say about caste and colour, but all is lost within a mediocre film.
Bhavesh Joshi Superhero
2018 · NDTV · Jun 2018
The vigilante film is well meaning and has good actors, but it is ultimately a boring effort.
Veere Di Wedding
2018 · NDTV · Jun 2018
Friends are the new family. Weddings are now as much about parents giving away the bride as they are about friends entrusting her to a man they approve of. Veere Di Wedding gets this fantastic bond right, and gives us four dramatically different kinds of women with agency and spirit. Nobody stands in the way of their decisions. Some girls will always choose to argue, just as some mothers will always choose to harangue. We haven't seen these ladies on screen before, and they will serve as an awakening. India could do with an alarm call. Sometimes we need a movie to tell us what an orgasm means.
Deadpool 2
2018 · NDTV · May 2018
Deadpool 2 gets impressively emotional at the end, even when only pretending to be serious. The Domino sequences serve as a reminder that life is an elaborate Rube Goldberg machine, and there's only that much we can do with luck. As this film shows, Deadpool pushes it.
Raazi
2018 · NDTV · May 2018
Besides the intriguing bahu-spy premise, the film presents nothing new to inform the genre: spies have feelings, spies get sappy, spies cry. Even Bond films show us that these days. Gulzar does commendably depict how the other side is just like us - there is a rather clever use of the song Ae Watan, a patriotic track sung with equal fervour from both sides - but is the mere fact that this film does not thump its chest enough for applause?
102 Not Out
2018 · NDTV · May 2018
102 Not Out is, as I said, a sweet film. It's nice to see an old Bachchan picture on the wall, circa Abhimaan, just as it is fine to see a photograph of a Khel Khel Mein Kapoor teaching his son math. Yet despite Bachchan and Kapoor - and young Jimit Trivedi, who plays the enthusiastic domestic help with infectious enthusiasm - the film relies too heavily on prosthetics, with liver spots being used either for laughs, or instead of character details. All we ever know about Dattatraya is his decrepitude. For a film about living a full life, that feels rather toothless.
October
2018 · NDTV · Apr 2018
Varun Dhawan Shines In This Exquisite Drama...Director Shoojit Sircar has made his bravest film, a poetic and emotional drama about unconditional affection
Hichki
2018 · NDTV · Mar 2018
Rani Mukherji's strong portrayal of a Tourette Syndrome sufferer emerges skin deep in a film that never goes beyond the obvious
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
2018 · NDTV · Feb 2018
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is eventually a film about the need to point fingers. Mildred Hayes is out there hunting for arrests, hunting for someone to blame for an unthinkable, unjustifiable tragedy. At one point in the film, a character - unexpectedly - uses the word 'begets' correctly, as in "violence begets violence," and that momentary lapse of stupidity is enough to protect her from wrath. The difference lies all in an instant. We can put up the labels on giant billboards - Good, Bad, Ugly, Guilty - but we only ever make our minds up as we drive past them, deciding along the way. This film is about reading between the signs.
The Shape of Water
2018 · NDTV · Feb 2018
Guillermo Del Toro has always made sensationally strange movies, but with this one it is as if he, like his heroine, is finally unafraid to be beautiful.
Pad Man
2018 · NDTV · Feb 2018
Many films about relevant, important subjects are not actually good movies. R Balki's PadMan, which features an extraordinary true-life story brought to the screen featuring Akshay Kumar is both a strong film and one that needs to be watched
Padmaavat
2018 · NDTV · Jan 2018
The problem lies not in Padmaavat being a costume drama, but in the fact that there is too much costume, too little drama. In the film's opening scene, we see a king chewing roughly on a piece of poultry. This is a surprisingly small, tandoori-sized handful of bird, nothing compared to the way we have, in international film and television, watched vikings gnaw at giant animal legs the size of motorcycles. Therein lies the problem. There's not nearly enough meat.
Mukkabaaz
2018 · NDTV · Jan 2018
Vineet's compelling performance makes him a character to root for, and even if we are shown the odds too many times, his triumphs feel earned, they feel good
Tiger Zinda Hai
2017 · NDTV · Dec 2017
At an exhausting two hours and forty minutes, I really don't care if Tiger is alive or a vegetable - whether he's Zinda or Tinda, really - but this film needed to be much tighter.
Tumhari Sulu
2017 · NDTV · Nov 2017
Vidya Balan's deals with real conflicts and dares to push some boundaries hard. It is a special film, the kind where you know what is going to happen and yet texture and detailing give you much to marvel at...
Thor: Ragnarok
2017 · NDTV · Nov 2017
Thor Ragnarok is a true rock and roll original, and the reason it exists is because there's a director who's sure all that titters is gold.
Ittefaq
2017 · NDTV · Nov 2017
To me, the big and mysterious crime this film brings to light is the way Sidharth Malhotra now finds himself typecast as a novelist. It happened in Kapoor And Sons, and it happened here again, in this film that describes him as a "mashoor novelist" and where cops chase a murder suspect down the street yelling "Ei, writer!" as if it were an expletive. Then again, to those who make Hindi cinema these days, perhaps it is.
Chef
2017 · NDTV · Oct 2017
Chef holds no secret sauce of its own, but perhaps we shouldn't be that surprised. There is only that much you can do with a reheated film.
Newton
2017 · NDTV · Sep 2017
Amit Masurkar's Newton is a dry and intriguing look at an India we don't usually see - and shows us how hard it is to take elections seriously.
Simran
2017 · NDTV · Sep 2017
Kangana Ranaut's solid performance keeps the film watchable, but Simran is ultimately an exhausting film.
Lucknow Central
2017 · NDTV · Sep 2017
Any good escape film requires detailed plotting, however, and Lucknow Central is frequently stupid. The prisoners wanting to break out, to give you just one example, stash fake police uniforms in their drum set - even though their band doesn't ever play or practice with drums.
Logan Lucky
2017 · NDTV · Sep 2017
Logan Lucky Movie Review: Steven Soderbergh, the master of heist cinema, strikes again with a delightful comedy about people who may look like idiots and yet concoct a brilliant plan.
Tubelight
2017 · NDTV · Jun 2017
Playing a developmentally disabled young man, Salman Khan gives one of the worst performances of his career
Baywatch
2017 · NDTV · Jun 2017
I suggest you avoid this moist mess. The reason the Baywatch series became such a sensation - only outside of the United States, mind you - was that for many countries, this was one of the hottest things we could watch while pretending there was a plot in there somewhere. This was a time before the internet, or at least before the World Wide Web allowed us to download images fast enough. "I'll be there," as Hasselhoff sang during those unforgettable opening credits, was a promise that Baywatch would bring us sun and skimpiness and spunk. Now it feels like a threat.
Sachin: A Billion Dreams
2017 · NDTV · May 2017
If you're a believer, you'll smile, sob and love this, albeit because of the subject and not the film itself. Film, in fact, is an inadequate word. This is a pilgrimage.
Sarkar 3
2017 · NDTV · May 2017
The plotting is oafish, the character motivations are boringly shallow, and there seems to have been a catastrophic misreading of what palace politics entail. Bajpayee, Bachchan and Ronit Roy are wasted, but have it better than the women. The great Rohini Hattangadi is given nothing to do and vanishes midway through, while Yami Gautam appears incredibly vacuous, the actress perhaps unaware what to do because she doesn't usually get to stay alive and unharmed in her films.
Baahubali 2: The Conclusion
2017 · NDTV · Apr 2017
Baahubali 2: Rajamouli never loosens his grip on the narrative. Prabhas is a hero to celebrate. This is the rare sequel that is better than the first...
The Salesman
2016 · NDTV · Mar 2017
Everything that comes first is exhaustingly awake, while the finale, I gather, is yet another way to look at The American Dream. What a sales pitch.
Phillauri
2017 · NDTV · Mar 2017
The fundamental problem with Phillauri, I believe, may be one of miscasting. Raza Murad, the man with the greatest voice of all, is around but doesn't get to speak much. Sharma, similarly, is perfectly suitable as a ghost when gliding around or trying to blow out a chandelier bulb, but, despite sparkly translucence, she has no aura. It is in flashback that she sparks brightest, when she listens to a record for the first time, or when she allows herself to grin at the idea of shamelessness. Life becomes her.
Trapped
2017 · NDTV · Mar 2017
Vikramaditya Motwane's ingenuous new film, Trapped, exploits this detachedness the city gets off on, simply by taking the island metaphor further
Badrinath Ki Dulhania
2017 · Rediff · Mar 2017
What makes Badrinath Ki Dulhania work, really, is the intent and the two principal actors...
Logan
2017 · Rediff · Mar 2017
Logan is a relentless and thrilling film, a film that takes things farther than you may imagine...
Rangoon
2017 · Rediff · Feb 2017
Rangoon haunts in unlikely fashion and, while the director's most straightforward picture, holds enough of its own marvels to justify multiple viewings. Like a song-and-dance troupe trampling all over a map of Europe to tell their own fractured, misguided jokes, or an old man cosily swilling wine after having faked his own death, Rangoon may be direct, but it is never obvious.
Hidden Figures
2017 · Rediff · Feb 2017
Hidden Figures tells us a genuinely inspirational story in obvious fashion, and is buoyed by the performances all around...
The Lego Batman Movie
2017 · Rediff · Feb 2017
This is a film about how we all -- Batman included, obviously -- love something about the Batman, and it celebrates all of it. Even the shark-repellent. The magic lies in all those bricks coming together with a profoundly satisfying click.
Dangal
2016 · Rediff · Dec 2016
This is by far the most credible an Indian sport film has ever felt, with even the commentators getting in on the action, giving most of us a tutorial in how to watch the sport. Dangal teaches us where rainbows lie in wrestling, and while it is a celebration of true greats -- and true grit -- this isn't about one sport. India needs to watch this film for the way it puts the 'her' in 'hero.'
La La Land
2016 · Rediff · Dec 2016
This is a sublime cinematic experience, a rare joy that -- to quote a song I always hear in Sinatra's voice -- left me Bewitched, Bothered And Bewildered. It is a film so special I had to watch it twice before writing about it, and you know what, La La Land? Everyone says I love you
Befikre
2016 · Rediff · Dec 2016
It starts out shrill, turns predictable, and ends up chaotic. To use the language of the youth Aditya Chopra is attempting to speak, let's call it Befi-cray-cray.
Kahaani 2
2016 · Rediff · Dec 2016
The actors are good and Sujoy Ghosh is tremendous at creating a textured Bengal setting, but this is a thriller which could have used more twists and smarts...
Dear Zindagi
2016 · Rediff · Nov 2016
Dear Zindagi is a lovely picture, made with finesse and heart, and one that not only takes some stigma off the idea of seeking therapy, but -- in the most natural of ways -- goes a long way in making a viewer think of the people who matter most. The single smartest trick in this film, however, may well be the primary casting decision. Because a good therapist is a superstar.
Force 2
2016 · Rediff · Nov 2016
The fundamental flaw in a film like this -- other than the repetitive wowlessness of it all -- is the fact that by creating too dry and no-nonsense protagonists instead of fleshing them out as characters, you end up failing the genre. There is only one thing a smashing action movie should aim to be: fantastic nonsense.
Rock On 2
2016 · Rediff · Nov 2016
Rock On 2 is a mediocre film. It is far too emo, with a hideous subplot about an aspiring musician rejected by his classical musician father, one who wears a shawl as committedly and constantly as Thakur did in Sholay.
Ae Dil Hai Mushkil
2016 · Rediff · Oct 2016
Ae Dil Hai Mushkil is a film about tedha love -- crooked love, love that refuses to stay straight -- and about the unshared, pure potency of unrequited passion. It is a film about words long and sharp, elaborate and precise, and about the way we muck up and often manage to slip -- inadequately and without definition -- between them and between the lines.
Inferno
2016 · Rediff · Oct 2016
I'm not saying Nicolas Cage could have rescued this film. Far from it. I'm just saying he might have given us some moments to grin at. This one is just a yawn. Should you try it out? I infer: no.
Mirzya
2016 · Rediff · Oct 2016
Neither the intense-because-we-say-it-is romance running through Mirzya or the soft-focus-myth is actually interesting...
Queen of Katwe
2016 · Rediff · Oct 2016
Queen Of Katwe, a film about an underdeveloped Uganda as much as it is about a chess prodigy, is a visually thrilling riot, a hyper-detailed sensory overload that heaps on texture so thickly you'd be forgiven for imagining you've smelt the spice and tasted the porridge.
M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story
2016 · Rediff · Sep 2016
The film doesn't challenge our perception as much as amiably pat it into place, yet -- thanks largely to a remarkably committed performance by the leading man -- the film scores like a champ.
Wah Taj
2016 · Rediff · Sep 2016
Exaggerated faces, clueless extras and cartoonish sound effects set the stage for something that resembles a sloppy sitcom more than an actual feature film
Pink
2016 · Rediff · Sep 2016
This is a solid, terse film that makes its points in mainstream fashion with an appropriate lack of subtlety.
Baar Baar Dekho
2016 · Rediff · Sep 2016
Nothing in this movie adds up...It is all rather excruciating, despite the glossy settings and the casually futuristic detailing, largely because Mehra labours her point endlessly and her tubelight hero never seems to learn a thing.
A Flying Jatt
2016 · Rediff · Aug 2016
It ends poorly, sure, and has some clumsy moments on the way, but as a children's film, A Flying Jatt goes a helluva lot further than those Krrish things...
Pete's Dragon
2016 · Rediff · Aug 2016
This is a giant-sized film which turns out to be a mercifully modest affair, and one must take advantage of cinema that surprises with pleasantry. This is what Lowery's film does, promising a star and delivering but a gleam. The back of that blond head doesn't even belong to Robert Redford.
Rustom
2016 · Rediff · Aug 2016
The uniform might be the most accurate thing about this film, however, a painfully tacky production where all the sets look like over-saturated cardboard and all the taxicabs are gleaming.
Mohenjo Daro
2016 · Rediff · Aug 2016
The film doesn't have much to offer. Historical accuracy be darned, Gowariker has served up a severely amateurish production with a weak script and an abundance of cliche.
Suicide Squad
2016 · Rediff · Aug 2016
Suicide Squad is less an actual movie and more an assemblage of moments, moments mostly to do with popular music appropriated around shots of spectacle, with every single scene trying to hit a crescendo of cool and the film, thus, failing to find any peaks at all.
Dishoom
2016 · Rediff · Jul 2016
The film keeps trying to concentrate on the plot, which is weak, and because the action scenes and chases are long and repetitive, merely changing backgrounds don't help things as much.
Kabali
2016 · Rediff · Jul 2016
Kabali has nothing new to say or offer, besides Rajinikanth playing his age,
Finding Dory
2016 · Rediff · Jun 2016
This is an immensely Disney film, but oh Pixar, like that song about fishbowls (and about going round and round in unending circles), how I wish, how I wish you were here.
Udta Punjab
2016 · Rediff · Jun 2016
Udta Punjab truly soars when being its own madcap beast, profane and powerful and preening.
Te3n
2016 · Rediff · Jun 2016
Overall, like the Calcutta police station that features a library of audio cassettes full of ransom demands -- a shelf of kidnapper mixtapes, if you will -- TE3N feels like it was put together by people who didn't know where things should go. Amitabh Bachchan is excellent, no question.
Warcraft
2016 · Rediff · Jun 2016
Warcraft is, on every level, a disappointment, especially since you see what he's trying to do -- the kind of man-woman parity he's aiming for, mostly unseen in a film of this scale -- but then you see, frustratingly enough, that the film itself is a mediocre casing for any grand idea or deft nuance. It's mostly swallowed up by badly mumbled gibberish, like the villain in the climax chanting what sounds (a lot) like saying Eddie Izzard's name over and over again.
The Nice Guys
2016 · Rediff · Jun 2016
The stakes are high. The Nice Guys may share the vibe of a spoof and, to a large extent it plays out like one, but Black's characters are real and fleshed out -- from March's relationship with his wisecracking daughter to Healy's powerful backstory (which might be best heard with coffee) -- and the plot contrivances may be outrageous but escalate rapidly, like a particularly foulmouthed Hardy Boys story.
Veerappan
2016 · Rediff · May 2016
It may well be a misfire, but Veerappan shows that at least RGV has his eyes open while squeezing the trigger. The dacoit is still at large.
Sarbjit
2016 · Rediff · May 2016
Sarbjit is an irresponsibly sloppy film, a film so focused on artless emotional manipulation and trying to make the audience weep, that it trivialises an important true-life story.
Buddha in a Traffic Jam
2016 · Rediff · May 2016
The plot is preposterous, and by the end of the film, all us critics were laughing in exhausted disbelief. Is this a real movie? Did someone fund this? Is this actually releasing in theatres? In the name of Comrade Jesus, how about a solitary drop of sanity?
Azhar
2016 · Rediff · May 2016
As a work of fan-fiction, Azhar is a mostly watchable film with a solid lead, but falls far short of being either entertaining, insightful, or worthy of recommendation. Hashmi and D'Souza try hard, and their effort shows. I just wish I could have said the boys played well.
Captain America: Civil War
2016 · Rediff · May 2016
These guys get it, the characters and the spirit of the comics. Captain America: Civil War is a great ride even if you don't read the comics or haven't seen any of the older films.
One Night Stand
2016 · Rediff · May 2016
Contrary to what the film's publicity and songs would have one believe, One Night Stand isn't yet another tawdry skin-flick with exploitative cleavage shots in place of a script.
Fan
2016 · Rediff · Apr 2016
Take a bow, Shah Rukh Khan. Not only for a phenomenal, genuinely groundbreaking performance but for being bold enough to give us the sight of a boy wearing painted-on abs while aping you dancing in a song where you, according to rumour, wore painted-on abs. For a glimpse at a worn out 50-year-old man -- massaging his temples, and stretching at the lines on his face -- before turning on the high-wattage smile and stepping out to market his myth.
The Jungle Book
2016 · Rediff · Apr 2016
Take the kids you know (and the kid within you) and go watch The Jungle Book. Trust in me.
Ki and Ka
2016 · Rediff · Apr 2016
Ki & Ka wants to be important, it wants to be revolutionary, it wants to be a feminist statement of equality. Admirable, sure. But it doesn't know how. It is a film that thinks it knows better, but really -- really -- doesn't.
Kapoor & Sons
2016 · Rediff · Mar 2016
Shakun Batra's sophomore effort is a finely, intelligently crafted film which stumbles because of its eagerness...
Zubaan
2016 · Rediff · Mar 2016
Zubaan emerges, sadly, like one of those ads where you can half-hum the song but you forget what it was for...
The Revenant
2016 · Rediff · Feb 2016
The Revenant is a devastating, visually jawdropping film that, for all its sins of tedium, makes up with scale what it lacks in artfulness. It certainly does the frontier justice.
Neerja
2016 · Rediff · Feb 2016
This movie is many things, certainly, but is also a mother-daughter film for the ages. Madhvani's biggest strength in Neerja may be the way he alternates between letting us relate to the character and making us feel awed by her.
Spotlight
2016 · Rediff · Feb 2016
Spotlight is a powerful film, with a terrific ensemble cast...
Fitoor
2016 · Rediff · Feb 2016
The director casts two attractive people where he ought have chosen a couple of actual actors instead, and thus it becomes hard to care about the protagonists or their sundered hearts, and despite aesthetic appeal, what we end up with is -- at best -- a screensaver...
Deadpool
2016 · Rediff · Feb 2016
This is unmistakably a comic-book film, and some fun new X-Men show up, but you don't need to know any more than the fact that this film really earns its exclamation marks.
Mastizaade
2016 · Rediff · Jan 2016
What people who make movies like Mastizaade need to realise is that the word Adult means more than a movie rating. Even the absolute daftest of sex comedies have room for something sharp and clever and cheeky. Because Austin Powers minus the groovy is just pervy, baby, pervy.
Airlift
2016 · Rediff · Jan 2016
Airlift is compelling, thanks largely to a sterling performance from Akshay Kumar -- who is both suitably weary and suitably level-headed for the part -- enough to anchor the proceedings. The actor is always fine when reined in, and Menon plays to his strengths and Kumar only snaps once, almost reflexively, into Bollywood hero mode, but he is mostly calm and grown-up and holding on.
The Hateful Eight
2016 · Rediff · Jan 2016
The Hateful Eight contains everything we expect from the auteur -- ultra violence and memorable characters and shocks and profanity and long stretches of dialogue -- and yet, while as indulgently Tarantinoey as it can be, this is a rough watch, a film meant to cause discomfort, to repel, even to disgust.
Wazir
2016 · Rediff · Jan 2016
It has competent moments, but is too generic to be memorable, and that's a shame for it could so easily have been a winner. As it stands, Wazir is the one thing a chess player can never afford to be: Obvious.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
2015 · Rediff · Dec 2015
Even to a non Star Wars devotee, however, I must confess the film hits hard. Those scrolling opening credits, set to that John Williams score, does strike right between the ribcage of all us once-children, and it's great to see Williams still masterfully making the film soar. Even if all we're watching is A New New Hope, the franchise indeed awakens. Even if it weighs in a half hour too long.
Bajirao Mastani
2015 · Rediff · Dec 2015
This is a giant film, a magnum opus drunk on its own magnum-ity, and it is perfectly clear early on, as the narrative races out the gate and gauntlets are flung up in the air and shot through with arrows, that a film like this can only work as opera.
Dilwale
2015 · Rediff · Dec 2015
Sure, there is a sparkle here and a gleam there of what could have been -- and Kajol looks beguilingly beautiful, better here than ever -- but Dilwale is an absolute dud. We expect insignificant froth from the director, but this particular can of Rohit Shetty has been lying open too long. The contents are not merely un-fizzy but, unforgivably, flat.
Bachna Ae Haseeno
2008 · Rediff · Nov 2015
Bachna Ae Haseeno is well shot, competently performed and the writing shows glimpses of honest-to-goodness subtext and intelligent character development. It's also a film centering around a lead actor, showing off just how much of 'it' he has -- and he has more than a fair amount. If only the second half wasn't as predictable as it is, the film was an hour shorter and every one-liner wasn't accompanied by a burst of background score acting like a laugh track, we could have had a really good film.
Spectre
2015 · Rediff · Nov 2015
At 148 minutes, I'm not certain Spectre is the longest Bond film of all time, but -- and here's the rub -- it certainly feels like it, and it doesn't help that Mendes exhausts his bag of tricks very early on. The pre-credits scene, the banter with M, the Aston sequence, the villain's reveal, the Monica Bellucci cameo... all those marvellous switches are flicked on in rapid succession, leaving barely anything for the tedious last hour of the film.
Guzaarish
2010 · Rediff · Nov 2015
It is, then, heartbreaking to watch such a defiantly ostentatious director borrow plot-points from foreign films, stultify his characters with ridiculous dialogue, and fall for painfully mainstream trappings, like a hackneyed, obligatory revenge/redemption subplot that makes a most unnecessary appearance towards the film's end.
Love Aaj Kal
2009 · Rediff · Nov 2015
It is only at this, film three, that the director appears to have hit a snag. Love Aaj Kal is watchable, but feels heavily compromised. It's a romantic drama that would have worked wonderfully if it hadn't tried to be funny in the first half, and doesn't work in the second because the laughs dry up. We have poignant moments interrupted by touches of lets-tickle-the-audience humour, as if India can't take a drama straight up.
Titli
2015 · Rediff · Oct 2015
The actors work the scene sincerely but it could have been so much more. Instead, Behl chooses not to look away when a character throws up in a sickeningly long scene, so long it feels gratuitous. Because there's a difference between showing the retching and the wretched.
Main Aur Charles
2015 · Rediff · Oct 2015
A film that tells its tale with calculated intent -- coolly, cleverly, taking its time -- mirroring the dry panache of its self-assured protagonist...
Raajneeti
2010 · Rediff · Oct 2015
The film starts off aggressive, turns into a game of toppling pawns, and ends up a farce as Kunti meets Karan and the audience dissolves into giggles. Jha's films, while often flawed nearing the end, usually provide some sort of grass root insight; this one pretty much dares you to take it seriously. Don't even try.
Shaandaar
2015 · Rediff · Oct 2015
It looks spiffy and there's some gloss to like, but overall Shaandaar is pretty much -- as Alia calls the fourth finger of each hand -- useless.
Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2
2015 · Rediff · Oct 2015
Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2 contains some genuine belly laughs, and would have been perfect were it not for its feature-length running time...
Crimson Peak
2015 · Rediff · Oct 2015
It is the kind of film that several Indian filmmakers, forever mired by convention, should be made to watch in order to understand how the truly gifted can celebrate classicism instead of being trapped by it.
Jazbaa
2015 · Rediff · Oct 2015
Jazbaa is a mercifully brief movie, just about two hours long, but that's about it in terms of the good part...
The Martian
2015 · Rediff · Oct 2015
The Martian proves to be a light, pleasant watch...
Talvar
2015 · Rediff · Oct 2015
A tightly-coiled procedural made with such dryness that it seems, in parts, documentarian -- resembling a reenactment more than a feature film -- Talvar is one of those rare films that remains constantly aware of what it is doing and what buttons it is pushing.
Puli
2015 · Rediff · Oct 2015
Puli wastes Sridevi on a silly, boring fantasy...
Calendar Girls
2015 · Rediff · Sep 2015
It's hard to believe Calendar Girls has been made by someone who makes films...
Katti Batti
2015 · Rediff · Sep 2015
Katti Batti is an imbecilic, cliche-ridden embarrassment that made me want to punch it in the mouth...
MSG-2 The Messenger
2015 · Rediff · Sep 2015
MSG 2 is a bizarre experience, and while definitely one that would make me want to ask Rediff.com for a raise, it's mercifully an hour shorter than the unending first release and may also prove to be a daftly enjoyable release for those partaking in the substances Mr Insan is so vehemently opposed to. (Or is he?)
Hero
2015 · Rediff · Sep 2015
The new Hero is a mess; the new kids are too dull ...Nikhil Advani's Hero remake follows the template of the original, which may not have been the wisest course of action...
Welcome Back
2015 · Rediff · Sep 2015
If only this were shorter, crisper, a bit smarter, with just a touch more… um, control, Mr Bazmee, control.
Phantom
2015 · Rediff · Aug 2015
All this talk of intelligence, but no smarts anywhere in sight. Stay away from Phantom. It gives audiences a raw deal.
The Gift
2015 · Rediff · Aug 2015
The Gift is much more than a boilerplate Hollywood horror film...
All Is Well
2015 · Rediff · Aug 2015
All Is Well spends two hours desperately tickling the audience but the overall impact is one of torture...
Brothers
2015 · Rediff · Aug 2015
Weighing 158 unbearable minutes, Brothers is nearly 600-times as long as the Rousey win -- and not one-millionth as thrilling.
Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
2015 · Rediff · Aug 2015
It's hard not to be awestruck. The 53-year-old leading man hasn't self-destructed in five films, and I, for one, can't wait to see Cruise lunge forth a sixth time.
Drishyam
2015 · Rediff · Jul 2015
... several parts of the film work and, for the most part, Drishyam motors along far more efficiently than most Hindi films -- but isn't that too low a bar?
Love Sex aur Dhokha
2010 · Rediff · Jul 2015
It's bleak, bittersweet, funny and markedly unglamorous, and yet you come out humming the theme tune, your head blown clear off your shoulders. Hell yeah. Welcome to adulthood, Bollywood, can we get you another beer?
Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!
2008 · Rediff · Jul 2015
...after very gratefully handing it four and a half stars, in case you asked -- that this is a movie to love. And one that makes the audience feel just like the hero: really, really lucky.
Masaan
2015 · Rediff · Jul 2015
Masaan is an immense achievement for a first-time filmmaker and must be applauded...
Ant-Man
2015 · Rediff · Jul 2015
It's a pretty watchable light movie, but ah, it could have been a Wright movie.
Bajrangi Bhaijaan
2015 · Rediff · Jul 2015
Bajrangi Bhaijaan is an overearnest, oversimplified, sweet and frequently schlocky film, which works because of a finely picked supporting cast, some sharp lines of dialogue and, most crucially, its overall heart.
Guddu Rangeela
2015 · Rediff · Jul 2015
The ingredients are all there and there are times it's all good and rollicking, but a lot of it seems slapped hurriedly together. The fact that Guddu and Rangeela are a couple of weary dogsbodies who, according to their theme song, 'drink down their own tears, neat' is never shown to us, only told. Still, it's a decent ride. It's no Ishqiya, but at least it has some heart.
Killa
2015 · Rediff · Jun 2015
Killa is a deep film with lofty ambitions, and there are parts -- like the unpredictability of a moment that ends in a bite of fish -- where the film soars jawdroppingly high. Yet, I suspect the scenes that leave you awestruck aren't the point of Killa. This is even better. This is a film you should watch for its lovely, lovely lulls.
Inside Out
2015 · Rediff · Jun 2015
There has quite frankly never been anything like it before, and it is an essential film for lovers of the movies, children, parents and inner-children everywhere. It is insightful, intoxicating and incredible, and when I was done with it, scrubbed and sobbed and sated, I felt I'd been scribbled on by Pixar crayons.
Hamari Adhuri Kahani
2015 · Rediff · Jun 2015
...a film where three fine actors all play idiots. The film is a dreadful drag, with godawful dialogue.
Jurassic World
2015 · Rediff · Jun 2015
...is a perfectly passable blockbuster with a B-movie heart -- but why on earth would you want to watch something so unremarkable when Mad Max: Fury Road is still in theatres and gets better on each viewing?
Saawariya
2007 · Rediff · Jun 2015
The problem lies with their puppeteer, the all-conquering badshah of bluster. Sanjay Leela Bhansali [Images] takes Fyodor Dostoevsky's White Nights -- a stark, lovely story about romance born and rekindled over four nights -- and, picking out its barest heart, proceeds to smother it in mixed-up layers of trite melodrama. And money. And so this soft core, this tender tale, is hidden -- under several reams of indiscriminately wrapped silk and velvet, of loud noise and harsh light, of bewildering backdrops and the colour blue -- so deep beneath smug self-indulgence and a bizarre budget that you can't even hear the heartbeat anymore.
Dil Dhadakne Do
2015 · Rediff · Jun 2015
Despite its flaws, I find myself looking back at Dil Dhadakne Do and smiling. Dil Dhadakne Do translates to let the heart beat. The heart, it wants what it wants, and that's all very well, especially if it wants the kind of watery climaxes where hugs solve everything. But ah, how I wish this film hadn't gone doggystyle.
Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani
2009 · Rediff · Jun 2015
Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani might be laden with faults in the conventional sense of the word, but if you give yourself over to the madness, you emerge having a pretty good time. Watch it through 80s-tinted glasses and you'll have an absolute ball.
Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year
2009 · Rediff · Jun 2015
Shimit Amin's film is an unspectacular one. And it's quite hard to express just how bloody refreshing that is. Comfortable in its own skin, the film never tries too hard, and while it takes a little while to really get going, it completely eschews glitz and bling.
Billu
2009 · Rediff · May 2015
...the story of a poor man and God has been turned into the story of a poor man and a movie star. I'm not denying it accuracy, for in this world without towering figures in politics and sports, the stars are the ones who bestow the nation with wonderment -- it's just as valid as America now calling superheroes the new Greek Gods. And while the analogy may be correct -- and no offense to Mr Khan -- isn't it at least a little disturbing?
Om Shanti Om
2007 · Rediff · May 2015
Om Shanti Om is an exultant, heady, joyous film reveling in Bollywood, and as at most parties where the bubbly flows free, there is much silly giggling and tremendous immaturity. You'd do well do breathe in the filmi fumes, lift your own collar-tips upwards, and leave sense out of the equation. More cameos are written in than dialogues, so sit back and play spot-the-celeb. Or watch the Khan have a blast on screen.
Bheja Fry
2007 · Rediff · May 2015
It's always tragic when young directors start off their careers with scripts originating out of foreign DVDs. It's not a smart move, inviting comparison and critical condescension, while just trying to make a movie they assume few have seen. Still, go. Despite everything, see this film. Watch it for Vinay.
Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna
2006 · Rediff · May 2015
A tense romantic drama between two married couples -- and the most compelling character in the film is a dad who dresses like a pimp? The film is working from a fundamentally flawed script, and our four (okay, two) main leads aren't really fleshed out at all. Khan is perpetually pissed, an angry man too busy grumbling about his limp to care about his marriage. Mukerji's character is strangely unreceptive of Abhishek's advances. Preity's Rhea echoes Bollywood cliché of careerwomen being ruthless and uncaring. Abhi, while a bit of an upstart, is the most believably written of the bunch. But never once do you feel concern for any of them, nice New York cinematography or not.
Paheli
2005 · Rediff · May 2015
Watching Paheli is quite an experience, and it's from the very opening shot of the film that its sheer, magical palette overwhelms us. It is so easy to mess a film like this up, but Amol Palekar does remarkably well with Paheli. It's a leisurely told and naïve dream, and could simply descend into caricature at any point, but never crosses that line. It's a charming, warm romance capable of gifting the most sceptical of us a big, beaming smile. Children will love it, and the affection involved in the film's creation is infectiously visible to the audience. And the twist at the end raises astonishingly dark questions about fairytale metaphors, and sends you home thinking. Smiling, but thinking.
Bombay Velvet
2015 · Rediff · May 2015
Bombay Velvet is an obviously shallow film, an all-out retro masala-movie with homage on the rocks and cocktail-shakers brimming with cliche...
Piku
2015 · Rediff · May 2015
It is a film with tremendous heart -- one that made me guffaw and made me weep and is making sure I'm smiling wide just thinking about it now -- but also a sharp film, with nuanced details showing off wit, progressive thought and insightful writing. Take a bow, Juhi Chaturvedi, this is some of the best, most fearless writing I've seen in Hindi cinema in a while.
While We're Young
2015 · Rediff · May 2015
This is the first truly great film of 2015. It is a film worth watching and recommending and loving, like a novel you can't wait to lend to friends you care about. And as the end-credits rolled with Golden Years playing, I realised even David Bowie's older now, too. And that doesn't seem so bad. Just look at Woody Allen.
Gabbar is Back
2015 · Rediff · May 2015
Even as an exploitative gimmick, it could have been used more cleverly, but here we have a full-length cinematic equivalent of Bali Brahmbhatt's Gabbar Mix. Using the very name of the most fearsome villain in our cinema should mean something, but here it just gives the filmmakers an excuse to cast a dark-skinned actor as an executioner just so Akshay can tease him (even though he's just an innocent fellow doing his job) with the "Tera kya hoga Kaaliya?" line. Ugh. Stay away from theatres, I'd say. 50-kos away, even.
Avengers: Age of Ultron
2015 · Rediff · Apr 2015
...may well be a mainstream milkshake of a film, but it is one of those madly indulgent shakes — featuring Snickers bars and dark chocolate sauce and gourmet coffee and spiked with a few swallows of something decidedly adult. Something that'll keep you giggling and energised and awake far longer than it should. As Tony Stark would say about thousand-year-old whiskeys, drink up.
Court
2015 · Rediff · Apr 2015
Court -- a singularly strong directorial debut -- gives us stunning snapshots which should work sensationally well for a festival audience, but, to the Indian viewer, are not truly new or holding any strikingly original thought. We know this, all of this. But perhaps the point Tamhane is trying to make is that it isn't important that we should know, but that we know better.
Detective Byomkesh Bakshy
2015 · Rediff · Apr 2015
The multiple Byomkesh adaptations Bengal keeps churning out might not make for great cinema, but, based as they mostly are rather slavishly on Saradindu's work, enthrall new audiences regardless. Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! is the best looking and least captivating of the current lot.
Chak De! India
2007 · Rediff · Mar 2015
Sure, you know what's going to happen, but it's a good ride -- and especially satisfying to see Swiss flower-fields replaced by Australian stadiums. Not to mention the return of the King.
Hunterrr
2015 · Rediff · Mar 2015
Hunterrr is a deeply problematic film, and fails rather miserably...
NH10
2015 · Rediff · Mar 2015
Well shot and featuring mostly minimal background music, NH10 is starkly different from what we are routinely served up at the movies. It is a scary, compelling ride featuring an actress who surpasses herself.
Dum Laga Ke Haisha
2015 · Rediff · Feb 2015
Dum Laga Ke Haisha is so simple that it never gives you a single moment of unpredictability...
Whiplash
2015 · Rediff · Feb 2015
Whiplash is a film that captivates right from the start and reels in the viewer in that seductive way only the finest jazz can...
Badlapur
2015 · Rediff · Feb 2015
As the curtain falls on Badlapur, any argument on rightness feels both moot and muddy. This is a noir world, its aftertaste like chocolate with 85% cocoa, and the answer is deceptively simple: Who gets right of way? The one in a greater hurry.
MSG: The Messenger of God
2015 · Rediff · Feb 2015
MSG The Messenger is a feature-length advertisement you'd be best advised to forego...
Shamitabh
2015 · Rediff · Feb 2015
That, in essence, is the problem with Shamitabh: it spends all its time explaining its own jokes. And that never sounds right, no matter the voice.
Foxcatcher
2015 · Rediff · Jan 2015
In the name of seriousness, Foxcatcher is deathly dull and far too graceless. When all it needed was a director light on his feet.
The Imitation Game
2015 · Rediff · Jan 2015
If you do end up watching The Imitation Game and rightfully applauding its performances, do so with gusto but do also look up the facts of Turing's life. As for this critic who expected more from yet another obvious biopic-shaped piece of Oscar-bait, well, as that feeble Floyd album sang, High Hopes.
Tevar
2015 · Rediff · Jan 2015
Tevar emerges an overdone, underwhelming film with zero charm...Stay away.
Ugly
2014 · Rediff · Dec 2014
Ugly is a tale of torment, masterfully woven around the universally urgent trigger of a disappearing minor — and yet where, in the larger scheme of things, that kidnapping itself becomes, I daresay, a minor detail. Genius.
PK
2014 · Rediff · Dec 2014
PK is no satire -- it's a bit too toothless for that -- but it is a rollicking mainstream entertainer with ambition to evoke some introspection, one with compelling moments and some genuine surprises.
Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi
2008 · Rediff · Dec 2014
The first half of the film seems somewhat alright, though I'd love an explanation on how a woman besotted with a certain man not just imagines him on screen in a romantic medley, but sees him dance with a string of Bollywood heroines instead of herself. The second half of the film sees a lot of the aforementioned Rab-invoking, with much talk of divinity and love. And as you yawn through the last half hour -- wherein lies the Rab -- you realise that the entire makeover device, which masquerades as the plot of the film, was completely unnecessary, and all the hero needed to do was take her to the temple a few more times. And a redundant plot is as unforgivable as it gets.
Lingaa
2014 · Rediff · Dec 2014
Lingaa can get tiresome, especially with the too-long fight scenes, but remains constantly watchable because of the miraculously light way in which Rajinikanth continues to wear his megastardom around him...
Action Jackson
2014 · Rediff · Dec 2014
Action Jackson is a drinking game of a film, one well over the so-bad-it's-good line, its main merit being that in a sea of superstar-massaging vehicles, it holds some genuine surprises -- and makes sure its hero looks like a jackass.
Boyhood
2014 · Rediff · Nov 2014
Go, get to know Boyhood. Soak it in and let it enrich you, amuse you, hold you close. Let it open your mind a little bit more toward the possibilities great cinema holds. Live it. Let this film be your jam. To paraphrase John Lennon, life is what happens when you're busy watching other films.
Rang Rasiya
2014 · Rediff · Nov 2014
Rang Rasiya is not a consistent film, but one that tells a story of a pioneering artist and visionary, a story decidedly worth telling..
Big Hero 6
2014 · Rediff · Nov 2014
It's a film with cool female characters (I wish the gawky Honey Lemon got her own comic book, for example) and one that is besotted with technology the same way you'd expect kids reared on iOS devices to be. It's all detail, with parts of the film even reminiscent of HBO's fantastic (but decidedly grown-up) comedy, Silicon Valley.
Interstellar
2014 · Rediff · Nov 2014
Interstellar is an incredible ride, a film that will scare and stupefy and drop jaws and make us weep, the kind of film that makes our hearts thump against our ribs for forty straight-minutes and makes us believe in the glory of the movies...
Gone Girl
2014 · Rediff · Nov 2014
For those who have read the book, all you really need to know is that Fincher criminally sucks the life out of the 'Cool Girl' monologue. For the rest, this is a solid mystery film that falls short of greatness. In a nutshell, to quote Nick's magazine-writerly complaint about Amy's diary, it rests on too convenient an endnote.
Happy New Year
2014 · Rediff · Oct 2014
It's all about Indiawaale, and while Sonu Sood stays consistent and Deepika inevitably dazzles, it is Shah Rukh himself who appears the most out of place -- in a movie made to rest on his shoulders. Perhaps they piled too much onto him; perhaps the decades of raising those arms into that iconic pose have taken their toll... Either way, Happy New Year never gets to soar.
3 Idiots
2009 · Rediff · Oct 2014
This isn't a bad film, though. By which I mean it conjures up a few moments, it will doubtless make some people cry, and every now and then we glimpse some heart. Yet it hurts to see that this is traditional Bollywood masala schlock, with scenes calculated to tickle and to evoke sympathy. It's not awful at all, but since when did 'not bad' become good? Dr Feelgood doesn't make the cut this time, and we need to measure him by the high bar his previous excellence has set -- by which degree this is a whopper of a disappointment.
Kaminey
2009 · Rediff · Oct 2014
And while films of this ilk are full of disposable-bodies and corpses-in-waiting, one discovers that Vishal has -- sneakily, stealthily, surreptitiously -- kept the sentiments so darned real that by the time the climax rolls around, you do actually give a damn about these characters. Wow. Now if that isn't kameenapan, I don't know what is. Awefome.
Sonali Cable
2014 · Rediff · Oct 2014
Sonali Cable starts off as an intriguing story but disconnects itself from the point of the film incredibly fast...
Sex Tape
2014 · Rediff · Oct 2014
It isn't awful, there are laughs, but it's nothing you'd remember or recommend. Then again, since when do we recommend sex tapes in the first place?
Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge
1995 · Rediff · Oct 2014
Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge is, by sheer dint of originality, one of the best Hindi films made in the last 20 years...We all have our favourite moments from the film -- Raj's valiant AlPacino-AlPacino attempt at Europeanese; Anupam Kher's befuddled attempts at engineering marital bliss, unaware of the bride in question; Tujhe dekha to jaana sanam, when Lata Mangeshkar sang as gloriously as gold; an alarmed Raj stammering 'beer' instead of lassi to Amrish Puri; and there are women, I kid you not, who actually swoon each time Shah Rukh, driving a convertible during Ho gaya hai tujhko to pyaar sajna, runs a hand through his windswept hair.
Bang Bang!
2014 · Rediff · Oct 2014
This is a stupid, stupid film trying to be slick, a B-grade film made on an A-list budget.
Haider
2014 · Rediff · Oct 2014
Haider is one of the most powerful political films we've ever made, a bonafide masterpiece that throbs with intensity and purpose
Khoobsurat
2014 · Rediff · Sep 2014
Khoobsurat offers up the expected -- only it does so with a smirk...
Finding Fanny
2014 · Rediff · Sep 2014
Finding Fanny is wickedly fantastic... made in a land of Hindi genre movies and starring one of Bollywood's glitziest girls, Finding Fanny is bold enough already. It gives us much, much to smile pleasantly at, to guffaw at, and one moment that will make the theatre gasp -- before it brings the house down.
Raja Natwarlal
2014 · Rediff · Aug 2014
Raja Natwarlal has some smarts but tragically lacks the skill or the sleight-of-hand. When we sit down to a con movie, we shouldn't be able to see what will happen next -- we want to be finessed into the con. We're already watching closely, you see.
Singham Returns
2014 · Rediff · Aug 2014
The action is daft-but-enjoyable in the beginning but soon gets repetitive, no thanks to the audience forced to plug up ears with their fingers.
Taare Zameen Par
2007 · Rediff · Aug 2014
Taare Zameen Par is, above all else, an earnest film. Aamir brings us the debut of both a great child actor and a budding director with a fine eye, though he seems slightly Ashutosh'd in terms of pace. Economy is the one thing this film cries out for. Crisper, tighter, and less repetitive, and we'd have a very good movie on our hands. For now, we have a director with clear potential for solid work. And we need as many of those as we can get.
Guardians of the Galaxy
2014 · Rediff · Aug 2014
Guardians Of The Galaxy takes place in a remarkable world drawn lovingly and beautifully by imaginative folks low on skin-coloured crayons. A world that holds not merely quirks but nuances. These are worth beholding, worth gawking at. These are… marvels.
Kick
2014 · Rediff · Jul 2014
Kick, therefore, is the Dhoom 2 of the Salmaniverse. It looks good, moves fast, shows off its superstar. In the world of harebrained Bhai films -- Dabanng included -- Kick is the best made and the most fun. If you're a fan, you just hit the jackpot.
Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania
2014 · Rediff · Jul 2014
This is confoundingly enough a film which follows a tremendously predictable graph -- one channeling not just that Raj-Simran movie but also Maine Pyar Kiya, Pyar Kiya Toh Darna Kya and several of those charming Genelia D'Souza films from the South, like Bommarillu -- and yet a film that manages to stay captivating and current. The strength of Khaitan's film lies in how it's not trying too hard, it's not trying at reinventing the wheel, and instead being honest to two characters who, it becomes gradually apparent, aren't who they said they were -- or, more importantly, they aren't who they thought they were.
Ek Villain
2014 · Rediff · Jun 2014
If I were to review it in one word, I'd say Ek Villain is... Unnecessary. Given free tickets, sure, you could escape Humshakals in theatres this weekend with this mediocre effort, but I say do yourself a favour and seek out the Korean DVD. (Uncover it, even.) Now that's bloody special.
Humshakals
2014 · Rediff · Jun 2014
Humshakals couples its crude farce with a certain aggression, as if daring the audience to stay in their seats while it repeatedly spits at them. This is not filmmaking, this is sadism.
Fugly
2014 · Rediff · Jun 2014
Fugly can't, in all good conscience, be called an actual movie -- but it is the most appropriately titled mess of all time.
Holiday - A Soldier Is Never Off Duty
2014 · Rediff · Jun 2014
Holiday is about the brave men and women fearlessly serving the nation and making sure you rest easy. The men and women who take on unthinkable odds, waking up and rushing to theatres first thing in the morning to catch a movie starring the hero and heroine from Joker and made by the guy who made Ghajini. We watch, and we warn, so you may not have to. Because a critic is never off duty.
Kochadaiiyaan
2014 · Rediff · May 2014
Kochadaiiyaan, alas, is a fundamentally flawed dud, one without anything to applaud besides grand (if self-glorifying) ambition. And little is as heartbreaking to witness as utterly failed ambition.
X-Men: Days of Future Past
2014 · Rediff · May 2014
X-Men: Days Of Future Past crams so, so much plot into its two-hour running time that there isn't room to get bored.
Fading Gigolo
2014 · Rediff · May 2014
It is a film with simple ambition and one that gives lovers of smaller movies hope: At a time when indie movies are increasingly taking pride in their verbal and grammatical incoherence, Fading Gigolo is evidence that a movie doesn't have to mumble to be modest.
Hawaa Hawaai
2014 · Rediff · May 2014
Hawaa Hawaai is an earnest, important and evocative film. It's a well-textured and etched film, one refreshingly lacking in villains -- even the richest, chubbiest kid isn't a meanie -- and one that heartbreakingly but smilingly illustrates the disparity between the kids shown in the film and the kids who can afford to buy theatre tickets to watch this film.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2
2014 · Rediff · Apr 2014
The new Spider-Man film gets everything wrong except the girl. For now we can go home, turn up the real Spider-Man 2 and watch Peter Parker try to deliver pizza.
Bhoothnath Returns
2014 · Rediff · Apr 2014
Bhoothnath Returns has a few laughs but it ignores the basics. Despite the hiccups, the film is relatively strong up until midway, when suddenly, without warning, it turns into a poor-people montage, a bewildering collection of moments showing poverty and riots -- set to song, no less -- and ending in a bunch of stills of people pushing carts and pulling rickshaws and looking perfectly happy with their lives, if a trifle puzzled by the photographers.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
2014 · Rediff · Apr 2014
All in all, this is a crackling ride -- and one helluva Chevrolet commercial, it must be said. It's genuinely surprising, it's just jingoistic enough to not hurt, it moves the Marvel cinematic universe forward a great deal, it has a solid ensemble cast, it has many an in-joke (Community fans who prefer Troy over Abed might learn that the biggest lesson is to stay in school) and it finally gives us a Captain America worth celebrating.
O Teri
2014 · Rediff · Mar 2014
O Teri, despite being loud enough to jolt any laash alive, targets the right scumbags and has more than a couple of fun ideas, not least a soothsaying dog who -- like Paul the Octopus, or a particularly cute magic 8-ball -- predicts the future. Now if only they'd kept the pooch around during the edit.
Zero Dark Thirty
2012 · Rediff · Mar 2014
As an action movie it completely rocks. Just not as what it pretends to be. It's a wailing guitar-riff of a movie, with an incessantly climactic drummer. Shake your head to it good, but don't try and listen to the words.
Looper
2012 · Rediff · Mar 2014
Looper has a mixed bag of influences -- as diverse as Memento, The Terminator and The Omen -- but proves to be sharper, smarter and more ambitious than even those unforgettable ones. There are minor plotholes, but the film bounds over them with swift, self-assured grace, climaxing ultimately with a finely foreshadowed finale that ties everything up shrewdly and masterfully: a rarity for the science-fiction genre, and a tremendous narrative achievement that makes me want to watch it again right now.
Queen
2014 · Rediff · Mar 2014
Queen is a good entertainer, sure, but, more critically, it is a showcase for an actress poised to reign. This is one of those monumental moments when you feel the movies shift, and nothing remains the same. I've seen the future, baby, and it's Kangana.
Nebraska
2014 · Rediff · Feb 2014
The hint lies in the choice of colour. Nebraska is not merely a black comedy, but one laced with light, with hope, with brightness. Black and White, then. Sometimes they do make 'em like they used to.
Dallas Buyers Club
2014 · Rediff · Feb 2014
This is a stirring, touching film but -- unlike say its fellow Oscar nominee, the well-crafted 12 Years A Slave -- it stays impressively away from overt manipulation. Dallas Buyers Club is a film about smarts.
The Monuments Men
2014 · Rediff · Feb 2014
It seems exasperating that with this amazing story -- and, indeed, these stakes -- Clooney couldn't bring about a rousing, breast-beating, educative motion picture. Such paintings, such sculptures, such little art.
Gunday
2014 · Rediff · Feb 2014
Director Ali Abbas Zafar has directed a monstrous film, one with a repellent 70s-set storyline that makes no sense whatsoever, and a cast who should all hang their heads and offer up a minute's silence for assaulting their respective filmographies.
Her
2014 · Rediff · Feb 2014
Her is, by far, the best picture of the year, and miles ahead of the other Oscar nominated films, but those comparisons don't seem at all relevant when I sit back and smile (stupidly wide) at the impressions the film has left. For all its conceptual highs, Her is not a film about technology, though it is partly a cautionary fable. This is a film about love. A film to love.
Saving Mr. Banks
2014 · Rediff · Feb 2014
...too long, too sentimental, too hacky in bits, but, ultimately, it's truly chipper in a way most films have forgotten how to be. It might not be supercalafragilisticexpialidocious, sure, but at least it points us in that direction.
12 Years a Slave
2014 · Rediff · Jan 2014
Steve McQueen's relentless motion picture captures it all, from the bodies to the trees, from the pastoral scenes to the twisted mouths. 12 Years A Slave is an admittedly rough watch, but it is a conventional one, an old-fashioned swallow of bitter cinematic tonic for audiences too used to their spoonfuls of silver-screen sugar.
One By Two
2014 · Rediff · Jan 2014
Abhay Deol shoots himself in the foot by acting in (and, inexplicably, producing) this monstrosity that sucks all the goodwill out of an actor we usually like, and his apparent girlfriend Preeti Desai hands in the kind of atrocious performance that makes vintage Katrina look like Juhi Chawla. True to its name, this is half a film. It's half-written, half-digested, half-witted.
Jai Ho
2014 · Rediff · Jan 2014
Despite the hamfisted direction (at one point Suniel Shetty shows up on a highway and starts shooting people with a goddamned tank), the film's main problem is that Jai Ho isn't about being a samaritan or paying it forward; it's about a man who can smash the system all by himself. Not entirely relatable, nope.
American Hustle
2014 · Rediff · Jan 2014
A movie where the killer ensemble cast unmistakably looks to be having a better time than the audience. Their buoyant energy -- and the look-at-me style the movie is soaked in -- comes at us hard and fast and it's best to grin through it.
Inside Llewyn Davis
2014 · Rediff · Jan 2014
Joel and Ethan and Llewyn never let up, and we watch and smirk and commiserate and feel the despondent stupor descend upon us, sliced occasionally by the music, shining in like sun streaming into a dank attic. The thing to remember about Inside Llewyn Davis is that while it might not be new, it never gets old.
Dedh Ishqiya
2014 · Rediff · Jan 2014
This is a rare joy. It's a genuinely smart film. It's beautifully, lovingly shot. The music aids the narrative instead of distractingly taking it hostage. It's the most quotable Hindi movie in years. It's a sequel that leaves even a highly original first-part far behind. And, for a film so accessible, it's armed with the most cunning, most delicious twist. It's terrific — and a half. Dedhriffic, then.
Sholay 3D
2014 · Rediff · Jan 2014
Who dareth review Sholay? Sholay, that one Hindi film each and every one of us looks up to. Sholay, the film that casts a shadow that envelops filmmakers, academics, fans and leaves them awestruck. Sholay, the film we love and revere in equal measure. The Sholay which belongs to us and the Sholay we belong to. What would be truly, truly grand would be a 70mm re-release celebrating this cinematic giant. Watch Sholay for a taste of how good the Indian entertainer can truly be, and revel in the magic you already know. But don't 3D it.
Dhoom 3
2013 · Rediff · Dec 2013
Dhoom 3 is a children's film made for children who've never seen a film.
What The Fish
2013 · Rediff · Dec 2013
There could have been some truly vicious invective here, instead of which we're merely given many an accent, all in the name of quirk. It's one thing for moronic characters to take a fish for granted, but entirely -- and unforgivably -- another for a director to do the same with this audience.
Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram Leela
2013 · Rediff · Nov 2013
...is a monstrously excessive film with a riot of colours, a girl who looks very pretty indeed and a daft hero, but despite that being the warning on the tin whenever you attempt (foolhardily) to buy into a Bhansali product, this can't be what you bargained for. GKRR is an overplotted, bloody mess.
Thor: The Dark World
2013 · Rediff · Nov 2013
You'll be hard pressed to find another hero so totally, awesomely Super.
Krrish 3
2013 · Rediff · Nov 2013
...the only superpower Krrish has is that of boring the audience. Just stay away, will you? It's the responsible thing to do. An empty wrist will serve you best.
Rush
2013 · Rediff · Sep 2013
For the Formula One fan, this is a film worthy of a magnum of Mumm's finest champagne -- if only for the chance to hear those massive V12 engines explode across the big screen. VrrrRRRRRRooom.
Dabba (The Lunchbox)
2013 · Rediff · Sep 2013
It is a film of multiple pleasures -- small ones and overwhelming ones and exquisitely crafted ones -- layered one on top of the other, with something for everyone, and so, so much for the cinematic glutton. Like the dabbawalas he loves, this director delivers.
Kick-Ass 2
2013 · Rediff · Aug 2013
If you liked the first, go ahead and pretend this one doesn't exist. It's what Big Daddy would do.
Once Upon Ay Time in Mumbai Dobaara
2013 · Rediff · Aug 2013
The film is constantly predictable -- just like the first film in the series -- but leans too heavily on a very hackneyed romantic angle. It isn't often one gets to say this about a Bollywood actioner, but a few more gunshots could have been nice. Kumar more than makes up for the lack of Devgn, but despite having a similar first name, Imran really can't match up to Emraan.
Chennai Express
2013 · Rediff · Aug 2013
Chennai Express is, in a way, full circle for Deepika Padukone as she — enervated by box-office success and increasingly self-aware as an actress — holds up her end of the film far better, and more consistently than her leading man. She makes an effort; he makes faces. And he's never seemed more at sea.
B.A. Pass
2013 · Rediff · Aug 2013
BA Pass, for the most part as taut as piano wire, feels like a chokehold. And that's a very good thing.
The Wolverine
2013 · Rediff · Aug 2013
It is better than the truly daft film before it, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but that just means one can tolerably sit -- or sleep -- through it. There are a couple of strong moments and two very interesting female characters, but on the whole this film, like the protagonist, mostly just grunts.
Chor Chor Super Chor
2013 · Rediff · Aug 2013
A script like this, finessed into something sharp, would make for a fine film. This one will please Dobriyal fans, but its annoying need to act like a farce with a laugh-track is what ironically dashes its chances.
Issaq
2013 · Rediff · Jul 2013
Issaq is a shoddily written film with a cringeworthy performance from its leading man Prateik Babbar
Lootera
2013 · Rediff · Jul 2013
A film, then, about life, love and leaves. And in the end it comes down to the sort of snow-surrounded tree that you can draw even if you've always had trouble drawing leaves. Magnificent.
Ghanchakkar
2013 · Rediff · Jun 2013
I was loving this film till it turned the tables and cheated me. Maybe, like the television-addicted Sanju, we're all better off watching these films on Zee Cinema. At least we can change channels or fall asleep midway.
Man of Steel
2013 · Rediff · Jun 2013
It looks good and is populated by fine actors (and we get a peek at trucks belonging to a bald man this movie could have used but doesn't have), but the clunky Superman-as-Jesus imagery running through it all symptomises the problem with this narrative: too much steel, not enough man.
Fast & Furious 6
2013 · Rediff · Jun 2013
There's lunacy. And there's energy. And while this is an utterly stupid film that seems almost proud of being unmemorable, it mostly amuses. Oh, and Gina Carano is awesome.
Now You See Me
2013 · Rediff · Jun 2013
There's a lot of Hey and too little Presto, and seeing the trailer on the big-screen is more fulfilling than grabbing the whole. There are patches of fun, but Now You See Me ends up a wasted mess populated with good actors.
Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani
2013 · Rediff · May 2013
When the songs aren't playing, this is a daftly childish film, one where most actors act half their age and the narrative stumbles forward inanely and gracelessly.
Ishkq in Paris
2013 · Rediff · May 2013
"This is a rubbish love story," Zinta says in the film's most honest, self-aware moment. "I need a drink." Ditto, miss. And you best be buying.
Iron Man 3
2013 · Rediff · May 2013
From one True Believer to another, thank you, Shane Black. Iron Man has never soared higher.
The Great Gatsby
2013 · Rediff · May 2013
And yet it all comes across as a pale Moulin Rouge imitation, as if that eye-poppingly original director was being reined in, perhaps by the very source material many have called unfilmable. The result is trite, a mess of restless marionettes -- characters made wooden and visibly dying to burst into song but never allowed to -- peopled by very fine actors forced to ham it up.
Ek Thi Daayan
2013 · Rediff · Apr 2013
Ek Thi Daayan, therefore, isn't the scariest of horror films. It is, though, smartly crafted, highly original in its approach and a strikingly ambitious effort for the genre. The end is a let-down, but the film remains a fine directorial debut for Iyer. As Bobo tells Misha while giving her a glimpse into subterranean hell, 'don't be scared, look.' "Daro nahin, dekho."
Commando
2013 · Rediff · Apr 2013
Make no mistake, Commando is a poor film. The thrills are never quite there and, all of Janwal's eagerness and leapfrog-skills aside, it must be remembered that a Bowie knife does not Rambo make. Especially when he gives it away to a stupid girl.
Mere Dad Ki Maruti
2013 · Rediff · Apr 2013
Give it a whirl. Like a Rado wristwatch that a character automatically dismisses for fake, this film may not look it but happens to be the real thing.
Jolly LLB
2013 · Rediff · Apr 2013
Jolly LLB is funny in parts but preachiness and the need to flaunt the film's sincerity and heart get in the way
Talaash
2012 · Rediff · Mar 2013
It's a somber, well-assembled film in contrast to the quick and flashy schlock that would have been doled out by the aforementioned merchants of middlebrow masala, and while the film's craft -- and the acting chops shared by its considerable cast -- can't at all be denied, it must also be said that perhaps the trashier approach may have worked better for this material. Or, at the very least, made for more fun.
Dabangg 2
2012 · Rediff · Mar 2013
It's evident these movies aren't about anything but the person starring in them, and all that matters are punches and punchlines, both sadly unmemorable.
Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster Returns
2013 · Rediff · Mar 2013
It is this anything-goes approach that carries itself on to the opening credits -- with oddly tacky graphics of tossed coins and guns, as if to rub the film's lack of finesse in our faces -- and to the characters, who are introduced with no subtlety whatsoever: the word Gangster shows up with a funny gong sound, the Biwi appears to wailing B-movie siren sounds in the background.
Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola
2013 · Rediff · Mar 2013
This is a film that goes far out on a limb, and gives us both bedlam and nuances, enough to warrant repeated viewings. And more than enough to love. Oh boy oh boy indeed.
10ml Love
2012 · Rediff · Dec 2012
It isn't a well-shot, crisply edited, intelligently staged piece of cinema, but is warmly enough made to allow the legendary play to shine through.
The Dirty Picture
2011 · Rediff · Nov 2012
The film too is defiant, but in more juvenile fashion. Director Milan Luthria's approach to this heroic harlot is a masala one, and in its urge to please crowds, forsakes much potential nuance that could have made this a great film instead of merely a film with a great lead character.
Ladies vs Ricky Bahl
2011 · Rediff · Nov 2012
A very predictable con-versus-con film can be made enjoyable, but it needs to be breezy and engaging. We need to want to take sides and we need to care about the twists, and by the time Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl winds down in extremely simplistic fashion, we just don't care anymore. If this were a better-made film, we might have been justifiably outraged by the lame sexism meted out at the climax, but for now yawning seems reaction enough.
Desi Boyz
2011 · Rediff · Nov 2012
Walk away from this disaster and try harder next time. (Is it okay if we don't hold our breath just yet?)
Mausam
2011 · Rediff · Nov 2012
Finally, giving you opinion about a film called Mausam turn us critics into weathermen, so here goes: Bright and cheerful day, hit by a predictable, gloomy downpour and turned into a damp, middling mess. Perfect one-day cricket conditions, as the English would say.
Not a Love Story
2011 · Rediff · Nov 2012
This is a film made in bad taste, and -- with apologies to Mr Capote -- in old blood.
Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara
2011 · Rediff · Nov 2012
So fixated is the film on trying to appear 'cool', even 'minty-fresh,' that the emotional connects all seem like afterthoughts. Especially the flashback each boy has, and their subsequent, convenient epiphany. It's all so surfacial and unnecessary, even when well-performed, like the moment between Naseeruddin Shah and Farhan, when the latter is finally allowed to drop the forced grin and cry like he does best.
Singham
2011 · Rediff · Nov 2012
All I can personally say about this trend of remaking one-note Southern hits as a viewer is that it's an exhausting one. It is in the tiny victories that we must seek refuge after a film like this: I'm just glad the hero, so eager to peel off his uniform, left his pants on.
Always Kabhi Kabhi
2011 · Rediff · Nov 2012
The first half is dull as can be, merely loud, and while the emotionally-laden second half begins to mildly resemble something sweet, it explodes into a flashy climax that ruins everything.
Shaitan
2011 · Rediff · Nov 2012
In the end, it's all flash. This Shaitan is more SprayTan than Satan, staring us down and daring us to look away. Who blinks first? We do. Several times over.
Ready
2011 · Rediff · Nov 2012
Those who are clapping for this film almost got the phrase right, only it's more extortionate than value for money: the accurate term is "paisa vasooli." Pay up.
Shagird
2011 · Rediff · Nov 2012
Lines soaked with gallows-humour are all well and good, but a cat and mouse game can never work as well if the mouse isn't any fun at all.
Stanley Ka Dabba
2011 · Rediff · Nov 2012
The best, purest film to come out of Hindi cinema in a while, this. Take a bow, Man With No Tiffin. Take a bow while we take off our hats.
Murder 2
2011 · Rediff · Nov 2012
Murder 2 is flat, boring and not worth talking about. Even Emraan, sporting less stubble than usual, seems babyfaced as he goes through the motions. It might be inspired by some obscure film, but I don't even care enough to look for its name. By now, I've come to accept that the Bhatts have a bigger DVD collection than me. I do wish they'd stop flaunting it, though.
Delhi Belly
2011 · Rediff · Nov 2012
What Delhi Belly has, unlike many of its young slick contemporaries, is a plot. A nice, tight, pacy little plot which has lots of satisfying little set-ups and pay-offs, and where everything comes together very well indeed.
Bbuddah Hoga Terra Baap
2011 · Rediff · Nov 2012
There's a cop, an ex-wife, a groupie, assorted mafioso, the cop's girl, a nosy landlady, a bizarrely brutal father, yadda yadda yadda. It's all utterly unnecessary, except to give the viewer a mild respite from Bachchan-gazing.
Turning 30!!!
2011 · Rediff · Nov 2012
A laughable mess, this Turning 30!!!. Maybe if it wasn't in English, it could perhaps have salvaged some credibility. Then again, the only thing it shows us is that Gul can curse a helluva lot better than Rani Mukerji [ Images ] did last week.
Dum Maaro Dum
2011 · Rediff · Nov 2012
Sippy obviously knows his flash, but after a point there needs to be more. Dum Maaro Dum is a very watchable film, but squanders tremendous potential in a puff of white smoke. As can be said the morning after a party with too much cocaine, all that eventually remains are a couple of good lines.
Teen Thay Bhai
2011 · Rediff · Nov 2012
Loud and inert at the same time, Teen Thay Bhai is a film to be shunned simply because of how cruelly it treats three actors we should treasure.
7 Khoon Maaf
2011 · Rediff · Nov 2012
I exit the theatre tiptoeing gingerly through treacley blood, past the fallen corpse of my expectations. That, ladies and gents, is Susanna's seventh casualty. And it's the only one that hurts.
Yamla Pagla Deewana
2011 · Rediff · Nov 2012
To be fair, the film's second half does rustle up a few scenes of momentum, but this is a nearly three-hour film and we all deserve better. As do the Deols.
Dhobi Ghat
2010 · Rediff · Nov 2012
Dhobi Ghat is a middling debut, watchable due to its nuances but simply not interesting enough to recommend. Yet Rao seems assured of her craft, and worth looking out for in the future.
Chittagong
2012 · Rediff · Nov 2012
And while Chittagong falls well short of being a great film, it can't help but be an important one. And Pain keeps it honest.
Jab Tak Hai Jaan
2012 · Rediff · Nov 2012
As a swan-song for the master director, Jab Tak Hai Jaan might only be a middling effort. But then, sometimes, all we need is a Khan-song.
English Vinglish
2012 · Rediff · Nov 2012
Go watch English Vinglish, and take your mothers along. As shown by one great scene which has Shashi speaking furiously in Hindi to her chef friend Laurent, who replies back in thoughtful-sounding French, it isn't about language.
Joker
2012 · Rediff · Nov 2012
Does Joker hold up, then, as a children's film? Not a chance. It's clean, sure, bereft of swearing or innuendo (yet with a sultry item song) but it's also daft.
Heroine
2012 · Rediff · Nov 2012
Heroine is quite stupendously glossy, with every actress soaked in bronzer, and much flattering lighting. And the actors really aren't the problem here, each of them -- even the disastrous ones -- earning more than their fare share just for keeping straight faces through this malarkey.
Gangs of Wasseypur - Part 2
2012 · Rediff · Nov 2012
Backstories and complicated genealogies are frankly rather extraneous in this bloody, bullet-riddled Anurag Kashyap world, where we choose our allegiances to characters based on the movie stars they idolise and the songs they hum. Who shot first isn't as important as whose shot looked sexier.
Kyaa Super Kool Hain Hum
2012 · Rediff · Nov 2012
The film wants to be racy, but has television-friendliness forced onto its very being: which explains actors dropping their jaws at the (suggested) mention of genitalia and constantly hiding behind clumsy innuendo. Even a man reading Playboy isn't allowed to open the pages of the magazine, but flip it over entirely to reach the cover of the next issue. The covers, you see, are safe-for-Hindi-film-work.
Cocktail
2012 · Rediff · Nov 2012
It's a pity, and not just because this could have been the great unconventional cinematic threesome we so desperately need. Cocktail has a handful of moments and a few genuine sparks, but finally crashes and burns so spectacularly that it's hard to focus on the positives. We must thank it, thus, for Diana Penty.
Jannat 2
2012 · Rediff · Nov 2012
A lot would have been forgiven -- as it often is with these producers -- if the film had either a meatier plot or a more gripping narrative, but this one's just tiresome as the obvious story drags on. A couple of chase sequences, particularly one through the arteries of a Dargah, are slickly shot, but even these lose their charm as they get needlessly long-winded. And finally, telling a bad actress she looks like Angelina Jolie is just cruel -- to both her and to the audience forced to sit there while she tries to smile coyly through a silly pout.
Maximum
2012 · Rediff · Nov 2012
In the end, almost like an afterthought, Kaushik realises he's left too many guns unfired, and things come to a head in a pointless hail of bullets, rivals trading fatal gunshots in turn, like polite ping-pong players.
Gangs of Wasseypur - Part 1
2012 · Rediff · Nov 2012
Yet it is the excess that suffocates all the magic, originality dying out for lack of room to breathe. Kashyap gets flavour, setting and character right, but the lack of economy cripples the film. There is a lot of gunfire, but like the fine actors populating its sets, Wasseypur fires too many blanks.
Shanghai
2012 · Rediff · Nov 2012
Shanghai is all Dibakar, who we must lift on our shoulders with grateful pride. And we must exult in the fact that this D is never silent.
Rowdy Rathore
2012 · Rediff · Nov 2012
Nothing justifies a 139-minute length, but Akshay Kumar carries both moustache and cop uniform better than his peers -- yes, I include Salman Khan in that comparison, the one whose clothes refuse to stay on -- and while both Khan and Ajay Devgn can competently scowl and maim (and make Lady Gaga claws, if need be), Kumar's way better at playing the fool.
Department
2012 · Rediff · Nov 2012
If Ram Gopal Varma were to film me writing this review, I assume he'd start with a tight close-up. First of my eyes watering from his new film's assault, then a series of jump-cuts showing me massaging temples, yawning, cringing in my seat, then -- abruptly -- a slow-motion walk to my writing desk.
Ishaqzaade
2012 · Rediff · Nov 2012
There is much craft on display, and some lovely moments, but the immense promise shown by the first half turns out as hollow as a politician's. Soaked in sloppy sexism, the second half has the heroine repeatedly tortured -- cheated, slapped, bound, gagged, shot at and abused -- and yet the film decrees that she forgive. In the heartlands the film is set in, maafi is an all-absolving concept, an irretractable token of instant forgiveness, like a church confessional. Ishaqzaade, despite its artistry, deserves no pardon.
Fatso!
2012 · Rediff · Nov 2012
The film doesn't stick to the guns the concept inherently offers. The basic idea is a fine one, offering both room for smart humour and murky moral ambiguity, but while Kapoor and his (mostly) competent cast sharply enough conjure up some smiling moments, the film squanders the most potentially thrilling aspects of the idea and leaves us with something half-baked. It goes from fantastical to formulaic, and, to be honest, there isn't even a relevant reason for the hero to be fat -- that decision ending up as ignobly as a movie poster gimmick.
Hate Story
2012 · Rediff · Nov 2012
Hate Story doesn't do either of these, and instead moans a lot. Literally. There is so much audible huffing, grunting, puffing, sighing, groaning and wheezing in this film that it feels like watching Rafa Nadal play Maria Sharapova with Monica Seles [ Images ] occasionally swinging by to show them how to achieve proper volume from the baseline. All these sounds are punctuated by ludicrous dialogue delivered so poorly (and loudly) that it fails even to achieve so-bad-its-good status. Pity, that.
Agent Vinod
2012 · Rediff · Nov 2012
Agent Vinod wants to be funny, and while there is the occasional burst of wit, it's exhaustingly rare. Sriram Raghavan is, first and foremost, a film fanboy, and sure this film has references sprinkled through it - the greatest salutes being to the 1978 Don, with a mention of that immortal character's dislike of a person's shoes, and with inconveniently dead Iftekhaars who are the only ones aware of a protagonist's true allegiance - it doesn't make the cut.
Bittoo Boss
2012 · Rediff · Nov 2012
A sweet but slapdash effort, this is, all in all, quite like watching a wedding video. Just not shot by someone with as much panache as Bittoo. And a shaadi video -- one without folks you care about -- always, invariably feels groanfully long.
Housefull 2
2012 · Rediff · Nov 2012
Housefull 2 is shamefully bad. So bad that Ranjeet - the rapey villain of yore - who appears in one scene, is the most dignified thing about the film.
Barfi!
2012 · Rediff · Nov 2012
A well-crafted script with an intriguing back-and-forth narrative -- set in the present day, 1978 and 1972 -- Barfi! intrigues, right to the point somewhere down the middle, when it becomes more than apparent exactly what the film's story is, after which all goes south. And yet so impressive and earnest are most parts of Barfi! that one is inclined even to forgive its flawed centre; we want badly to overlook the film's peach-seed heart, and concentrate on the rest of its juicy joys. And these it provides in abundance.