The film remains a middling affair because it asks many important questions but answers only a handful with any degree of clarity.

Avengers: Endgame strikes emotional chords more frequently than superhero movies usually do. It is almost as if the passing away of the universe that this remarkable franchise has created and sustained over the past decade is leaving behind a massive void. Mercifully, we know that in endings lie many beginnings. If this is how magnificently one cycle has ended, there is every reason to hope that the ones that are in the works will be worth the wait.

Kalank has unmistakable contemporary resonance because it celebrates the transformative power of love and reconciliation in a time of rampant discord. It is worth a viewing not only for what it says, but also for how it says it.

This entire final episode is as bizarre and as difficult to digest as the weird name he adopts. The final throw of the dice gives India an edge in the war in the fictional account that the film conjures up, but it does little to rescue Romeo Akbar Walter from its dispiriting somnolence.

Rafi tells his customers that it is the sunlight in the Photographs that they will remember long after their visit to the tourist spot. That is true of this film as well. The languid grace and unswerving geniality inherent in the making stand out. They enhance the radiance of the overall cinematic composition and make Photograph a film that will stay etched in our memories awhile.

Badla is a crime thriller that lifts itself out of the limitations of the form by spotlighting questions of guilt and retribution without diluting its edgy quality. The film’s multiple twists and turns will work best if you haven’t seen Contratiempo. But even if you have, the quality of the acting and the technical finesse on show – Avik Mukhopadhyay’s unobtrusive yet effective camerawork is especially noteworthy – make Badla an unmissable film.

Luka Chuppi isn’t without its moments, but its downside overwhelms its strengths by a big margin. It offers shallow entertainment at best. Watch the film only if that is good enough for you.

In a film like Total Dhamaal, the actors are reduced to such chumps that the animals that they run into in the climax – elephants, chimps, tigers, lions, gorillas and other poor creatures who deserve much better – seem to look as askance at them as the paying audience. If nothing else, Total Dhamaal is a great leveller – it reduces all of us, critics included, to dunces, some willing and some not-so-willing. But that would be only if you go anywhere near it. The choice is yours.

In an era of which Bollywood is increasingly passing off pulpy apologies for demagoguery for cinema, Gully Boy could have been a fitting riposte. It just doesn’t go far enough to pose discomfiting questions in keeping with the art of the street rapper. But all said and done, Gully Boy can be whole-heartedly commended for its craft, fascinating characters and RANVEER SINGH. He absolutely kills the slow-burning rapper act. What’s more, he does with a lot of energy to spare.

Ek Ladki Ko Dekha… goads the audience to think differently without trying to deviate from its primary purpose, which is to deliver entertainment. It does the latter well enough and yet does not overly dilute its off-kilter vision. No mean feat that.