I doubt if I will be able to forget the stunning visuals which dot the film, but the sum is never more than its terrific parts. The craggy old gravediggers in a scene that soars, and the truest character of the film, Haider’s father ( played by Jha), channel the continuing tragedy that is Kashmir. As do the lovely `kani’ shawls flung over the shoulders of the characters, the wispy steam rising from the `kahwa’ cups, the conflicted tears that flow out of Tabu’s eyes . If only they had a film to match.

The point of this kind of film is to be completely male-centric, guns-as-phallus, mine-is-bigger-than-yours.

Does any kind of logic or reasoning go into making these kinds of films? Putting a spotlight on the ills of child marriage– and the other things– can never be a bad thing.

As Gullu’s straight-laced but loving father, Anupam Kher gives the film its only moments of honesty. The rest is an unpalatable snoozefest.

…the film is patchily quirky. An undelivered love letter comes back to the sender, more than four decades after the fact, and it sets into motion this little tale, which leaves you both smiling, when the whimsy is just right, and impatient, when it turns flatly prosaic.

The plot is unintentionally hilarious, involving an intrepid young woman who turns up in the forest to start a lodge, loads of extras playing chefs and petrified guests, and an alleged award-winning writer. The coming of the creature leaves a trail of dead bodies, but instead of running, our heroine declares ‘I am not going’. Drum roll.

Priyanka Chopra does a good job…What it gets right is the kind of churlishness and mean-minded partisanship Indian sporting federations are beset by : the men ( and they are overwhelmingly men) who run it are not oriented towards the benefit of the players.

You go in hoping for a fun ride. What you get is a limp con job.

The display of the ‘trafficked’ girls teeters on the voyeuristic. The resolution, showcasing bloody vigilante-ism, is problematic. Is that the only definition of ‘mardaani’, and is that something to be celebrated? Something more pragmatic, and yes, more real, would have served its consistently watchable leading lady, better.

The sequel to ‘Singham’ is chock-full of the usual car-on-jeep action. Explosions go off at regular intervals. Shoot-outs—one really well-shot– occur frequently.