A little more consistency with the writing, and a re-upping of the fun-meter would have made Jawaani Jaaneman super. As it is, it is fun while it lasts.

I enjoyed Saif Ali Khan’s maniacal bad guy, which comes off as yet another variant (Ranveer Singh, Sanjay Dutt) of the flesh-devouring, diabolical, ruthless enemy that Bollywood currently delights in.

Dabangg 3, which has a long back-story of how Chulbul came to be called Chulbul, is not just a dreary mish-mash of the previous ones; it’s also a cringe-fest.

Ashutosh Gowariker has the right to creative license, and he has chosen the line which bends both fact and credulity. But did Panipat, which clocks in nearly three hours run time, need to be quite such a drudge?

There are flashes when you feel the film will finally say something important, but then it lapses back into stodgy set-pieces which go on and on.

Occasionally, the combined charm of the star cast does lift the film, especially when they are goofing off in their fancy farmhouse-type home, keeping in sync with the family’s rise in fortunes.

The chief trouble with War is that all the space is divvied up between Hrithik Roshan and Tiger Shroff, that the poor baddies don’t really get a chance.

…the film feels somewhat dated. Here a rape-and-murder, there a club dancer shimmying; here a Haji Ali song sequence, there a funeral-dressed-in-white-kurta-pajamas. Of the ensemble, in which Panday gets to wear a bad wig and vamp it up most enjoyably, Ali Fazal is the most impressive: as the young ‘waaris’ of his father’s legacy, and someone who has a head on his shoulders, Fazal holds this thing together.

For a rom-com which needs to be light on its feet, hitting fours and sixes as it goes along, the writing is not as supple as it should have been. Too many slog overs here.

You stay watching Dream Girl for Ayushmann Khurrana. He plays Karam/Pooja with grace and conviction, and makes this thing sing.