Aiyaary wants to be a daring thriller that calls out smarmy politicians and arms dealers. But it only fires blanks. It begins with a disclaimer that its storyline is strictly fictional and that it has the utmost respect for the political class and the military establishment. The film lives up to its word. At the end of all the sound and fury, the purported targets are left unscathed. Only one poor cornered ex-soldier puts a bullet through his throat.

For all that is going for it, Ribbon falls a trifle short of hitting home, but it does provide enough evidence to suggest that Rakhee Sandilya has it in her to be a director to watch.

The only actor who stands out a tad amid the ruins is Rajesh Tailang in the role of Haseena’s defence lawyer Shyam Keswani although he, like everybody else in the cast, is hopelessly trapped in a stilted script. Nothing, therefore, can salvage this insipid biopic from the morass of mediocrity.

One is sure that there will be takers for this piece of cinematic tripe, but the audience deserves better. There can be no two ways about that.

Babumoshai Bandookbaaz hurtles towards an insipid, unintelligible climax, which includes a bout of Russian roulette between two adversaries. It is, in the end, much ado about nothing because the outcome of the life-and-death contest is as predictable as everything else in the film.

The rubble that bust-ups result in resemble the film as a whole. It is pretty while it lasts, but strangely bland overall. A Gentleman is a pileup of little ideas gone haywire. They could have done with more breathing room.

When a Bollywood filmmaker turns cheerleader for a government drive, especially when the jury is still out on its success rate, you know you’ve been had. Unless you believe in this kind of propagandist stuff, Toilet: Ek Prem Katha is as avoidable as what it rightly rails against – open defecation.

in trying to squeeze every ounce of hilarity out of its scrappy screenplay, the film goes overboard with its excessive cheeriness and swerves into the realms of inanity. In the bargain, it loses its way completely after delivering a fairly breezy first half.

It isn’t possible to completely dislike Hindi Medium. So, ignore its hiccups and watch it for the relevance of the questions it poses and the remarkable quality of the acting.

Rajamouli is an exceptional storyteller and craftsman. It is in excess that the strength of Baahubali 2 lies and it makes no bones about it…