Daayra
'Daayra' gets it right most of the time. It deals with a complex moral issue with scrupulosity and sensibleness. There is no room for humbug in the narration.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 6.6+1.4
Subhash K Jha
Generous GraderSKJBollywoodNews, NDTV, Bollyspice, Firstpost+16 more
Reviewing since 2012 · Last review Sept 2025
Generous Grader
Subhash K. Jha is a Patna-based veteran Indian film critic, journalist, editor, film trade analyst and author of The Essential Guide to Bollywood. He writes for over 45 papers and websites including SKJBollywoodnews.com.
Films
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285 scored reviews · 0–10
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Most given: 8 (77 reviews)7% of reviews not scored
In step with the room
Within a point of the Monk Score on 28% of 275 films
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Srijana Mitra Das
Agrees with Subhash on 89% of 42 shared films
Divergence
Where Subhash and the room split
SubhashMonk Score0 ———— 10
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From the archive
All 307 reviews
Emperor Vs. Sarat Chandra
Srijit's ambitious tale subsumes a plethora of characters from history and literature with audacious endeavour, concentrating on authenticity rather than luscious lavishness. While the film-within-film format raises questions about whether the two tracks might have worked better as separate films, the interiorization of characters' struggles and uniformly engaging performances, particularly Tota Roy Chowdhury's disappearance into Sarat Chandra and Abir Chatterjee's disguises, demonstrate admirable craftsmanship.
Full review ↗TRM 6.8
Vadh 2
Vadh 2 is a first-rate thriller that gambles over the issue of legality versus justice with a steady gaze and an unimpeachable value system. The writing is superior, the prison sequences are shot with deeply affecting dinginess, and the performances are uniformly addictive, reminding us that there is a yawning chasm between legal redress and justice.
Full review ↗TRM 6.1
Vibe
It is a terrible film with tacky production values and zero ingenuity. 'Vibe' — directed, written, acted, etc, etc, by Kunal Kemmu — is as funny as a molar surgery, and as edifying as a plunge into a mound of manure.
Full review ↗3.0
TRM 5.7−2.7
Babita Singh Reporting
Amazon Prime's spindly yet sturdy exploration of a woman, a wife, and a career woman's dangerous leap from submission to self assertion, is not only an engrossing experience, it is also life-changing.
Full review ↗7.0
TRM 6.0+1.0
4.0
TRM 5.1−1.1
Maalik
Maalik emerges as the most riveting gangster epic since Satya, delivering a compelling narrative with strong performances and authentic storytelling that elevates it beyond typical crime dramas.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 5.0+3.0
Inspector Zende
What is so funny about a cop trying to nab a notorious criminal? One would like to ask writer-director Chinmay Mandlekar why he thought it prudent to use the facetious tone of narration for a crime story that shook the world? And why is crime a laughing matter in the first place?
Full review ↗4.0
TRM 5.8−1.8
Dhadak 2
Dhadak 2 emerges as the most moving emotional picture on caste discrimination since Masaan, delivering a powerful and resonant commentary on social inequality through deeply personal storytelling.
Full review ↗9.0
TRM 6.4+2.6
7.0
TRM 6.6+0.4
Bhool Chuk Maaf
Bhool Chuk Maaf is a surprisingly agile comedy that navigates its premise with wit and charm, delivering an entertaining experience despite its unconventional narrative structure.
Full review ↗7.0
TRM 4.8+2.2
Garudan
Arun Verma's Garudan is a legal thriller that delivers a taut, twisty narrative with strong performances from Suresh Gopi and Biju Menon.
Full review ↗7.0
TRM 6.3+0.7
Sam Bahadur
Sam Bahadur is a biographical war drama film based on the life of Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, who led the Indian Army to victory in the 1971 Indo-Pakistan War. Meghna Gulzar's film is a biographical war drama film that picks up where the actors lack depth.
Full review ↗7.0
TRM 6.0+1.0
Journey of Love 18+
This elopement procedural is remarkably shorn of melodrama and violence... the film is deliberately sombre in tone, giving away nothing of the intrinsic tension or humour in the situation. For a film about a recycled Romeo & Juliet, Journey Of Love 18+ is a surprisingly reposeful film.
Full review ↗6.0
TRM 6.00.0
BRO
Pawan, never known to be an actor of subtle skills gives one of his career's laziest performances as God. He seems convinced about his suitability for the part. We remain unconvinced till the end. The idea of a dead man getting a grace period to fix his life before being summoned to Heaven, had the potential of being a terrific satire on the wages of sin and the burden of earthly duties. Bro forfeits the opportunity squanders it in a plot that is a one-note eulogy to a fast-fading star.
Full review ↗3.0
TRM 4.2−1.2
Ram Setu
The trouble is, Akshay Kumar has stopped making any effort. His dedication to his character of an atheist turned believer in Ram Setu is restricted to his frizzy Kangana Ranaut hair and Gandhian spectacles which are supposed to lend credibility to his archaeologist's character. This archaeologist needed to dig deeper.
Full review ↗TRM 4.2
Jabariya Jodi
The climax at a wedding where everyone is shooting at each other seems to go out of control. But otherwise director Prashant Singh does an admirable job of controlling the riot of raucus sounds and flamboyant visuals.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 4.4+3.6
Zero
Zero works . It celebrates incompleteness as no other movie in any language has ever done. Like the film, BauaaSingh isn't afraid to fail. He has the great immortal Sridevi telling him it's okay to fail. I couldn't ask for more. Can you?
Full review ↗9.0
TRM 4.7+4.3
102 Not Out
102 Not Out teaches us to find that one rare moment of truth that binds two people together even if they are not meant to be together for keeps. It's another matter that this father-son pair is for keeps. You will take them home with you. Full guarantee!
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 6.2+1.8
Aiyaary
Neeraj Pandey is no Costa-Gavras. But for our hard-earned bucks this filmmaker drives in a forceful message on subterfuge in the the defence hierarchy better than any Indian filmmaker.One day I hope to see him do a film on Bofors and then the Rafel deal to complete his defence trilogy.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 4.4+3.6
Padmaavat
Padmaavat is a work of illimitable splendor. The 3D format seems quite an unnecessary grandeur-enhancement device. When we already have so much to savour and imbibe why hanker for more? This is a film so inured in irradiance and so steeped in splendor you will come away from the experience exhilarated and satiated. This is a movie so epic in proportion it stands tall among the great films of all time about love and war . In Bhansali, we have our own David Lean.Padmavati proves it.
Full review ↗10.0
TRM 6.2+3.8
Darkest Hour
The Darkest Hour never quite expels the feeling of being a vehicle for Oldman's virtuosity. Yes, he was born to play Churchill. But was Churchill born so that an actor as skilled as Oldman could one day play him ?
Full review ↗5.0
TRM 6.4−1.4
Vodka Diaries
Vodka Diaries is not a great suspense drama when compared with theHitchcockian tradition . God knows, the genre has not been much explored in Bollywood. Still in its infancy the whodunit gets a rather likable shake-up on this occasion . Vodka Diaries stays true to the path of deception and betrayal that the suspense genre adapts and makes some sharp swings into the unexpected towards the end.
Full review ↗6.0
TRM 4.0+2.0
Kaalakaandi
Kaalakaandi assumes many identities and eventually abandons all of them for that one core truth that controls our destiny. Death .This film dares to laugh in face of mortality.That's what makes it so brave and unique.
Full review ↗7.0
TRM 4.8+2.2
Downsizing
Donwsizing tries to elevate the process of shrinking human beings by imbuing a moral edification to the process of shrinking humans physically. Sorry, I saw no joy in becoming smaller to save humanity.How about saving us from having to watch such joyless excursions into La la Land?
Full review ↗4.0
TRM 6.5−2.5
Mukkabaaz
As the narrative progresses it acquires the personality of a tightly-wound entity coiling and recoiling into shapes of tenderness and venom.Mukkabaaz is a different more balanced and less unsettled beast than any film Kashyap has made. While all his recent films portrayed the dark ugly sinister underbelly of mofussil existence this time , just this once, the director has allowed himself to explore the tricky relationship between love and violence with gentle care. This is the director's most sensitive film to date. It hits a hard punch. And not just in the boxing ring.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 6.9+1.1
Pitch Perfect 3
If you have an appetite for blingy blandness served up with dollops of self-deprecatory tongue-in-cheek humid humour,go for it. But be warned. There is nothing here you would want to take home to sleep over with.
Full review ↗4.0
TRM 4.5−0.5
Insidious: The Last Key
The performances are purely functional, with the veteran Lin Shayegrimacing really hard to convey intensity. The rest of the cast doesn't even try. The only serious aspect of this fatigued horror film is the cinematography by Toby Oliver which is sinister and sleek, suffused in dark dystopian hues that the films's mood and tenor just cannot watch.
Full review ↗3.0
TRM 4.6−1.6
The Greatest Showman
Beautiful to behold and possessing a soul to match The Greatest Show reveals the unexpected musical side to Hugh Jackman's talent. Who would have thought he had it in him?! The musical format brings out the best in all the actors in this gem of a movie. Innovative, colourful and clogged with that quality which Barnum invented—showmanship—this big-screen experience is just the way to end the year.
Full review ↗7.0
TRM 6.2+0.8
Tiger Zinda Hai
TZH looks like many other anti-terror films including Baby and NaamShabana. And if you really want to see a taut intensely-felt take on the same plot about the kidnapping of nurses in Iraq, try the Malayam film Take Off.
Full review ↗6.0
TRM 6.2−0.2
Julie 2
It is a little startling to see seasoned actors like Pankaj Tripathy, Rati Agnihotri and RaviKissan pitching in with bombastic performances. But then, bombast is the need of the hour. Julie 2 is an oldfashioned high-pitched melodramatic take on an actress' journey from zero to wow. It has plenty of unexpected twists and turns in the plot,not all of them convincing . The narrative neatly balances the engaging and the corny.
Full review ↗6.0
TRM 2.9+3.1
Tumhari Sulu
Tumhari Sulu is more remarkable for its central performance then for actualizing the performance into a state of durable renewability. Often, the storytelling gets sluggish, and the narrative faces the imminent danger of losing the audience. But then, Vidya Balan takes charge over and over again. And as in life, so in the film, we realize all is not lost.
Full review ↗7.0
TRM 6.6+0.4
Ittefaq
Do yourself a favour. Don't watch this pale inert uninvolving remake. Watch the original.And see why Rajesh Khanna was the greatest star-actor ever.
Full review ↗3.0
TRM 5.5−2.5
Secret Superstar
Secret Superstar is a heartwarming portrayal of girl power. A bit of restrain and some muted melodrama would have taken this film much further.It has long sturdy legs. But chooses not to go far enough.
Full review ↗5.0
TRM 6.8−1.8
Chef
Menon is not impatient to tell Roshan Kalra's story. The narrative's pace in unhurried but never dull.
Full review ↗9.0
TRM 5.7+3.3
Daddy
I would call it a tour de force but for the abject absence of flamboyance in the presentation.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 5.1+2.9
Shubh Mangal Saavdhan
This is an brave and bright film with its heart in the right place and its gaze refreshingly free of a gender bias fixed firmly at the crotch level.
Full review ↗7.0
TRM 6.0+1.0
A Gentleman
Our thoughts exactly as we go from a feeling of watching a cleverly constructed film to a sense of over-constructed but nevertheless engaging spry spy comedy.
Full review ↗7.0
TRM 4.7+2.3
Mubarakan
Not every movie experience has to be motivated by a socio-political purpose. Sometimes you just need to have fun at the movies. I had loads of it last night in Mubarakan, one of the craziest homages to airheadeness in recent years.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 5.6+2.4
Tubelight
Ignore the cynical readings of this enchanting excursion into an anti-war film. Just go and watch Salman Khan embracing Gandhism with heartbreaking earnestness . This is filmmaking at the opposite end of what Ram Gopal Varma makes.
Full review ↗7.0
TRM 4.7+2.3
Bank Chor
This is film that THINKS itself incredibly clever and cocky. In actuality it is just a woefully tacky Dhoom ripoff with characters who seem to have watched the dubbed Bhojpuri version of Oceans 11 at least 11 times.
Full review ↗0.0
TRM 3.7−3.7
Raabta
Raabta is fun most of the way.If only Jim had loosened up and had as much as Sushant and Sanon.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 4.1+3.9
Hindi Medium
Hindi Medium is a well-told parable of middleclass aspirations, scattered with moments that every parents would recognize with a combination of pleasure and dread. It is a solid weekend entertainer with a message for every parent who has ever suffered the traumatic jitters of preparing to get a child admitted into school. Hindi Medium has balls and long legs. Should go a long way.
Full review ↗9.0
TRM 6.5+2.5
Half Girlfriend
Half Girlfriend is a gorgeous-looking film with no real relevance beyond its Valentinian boundaries, with plenty of unspoken chemistry between the lead pair. It could have done with less schmaltz and more raw passion, less cuteness and more real emotions. But here is the thing. It delivers exactly the charming confection thatChetan Bhagat's novel attempted to be.
Full review ↗7.0
TRM 4.0+3.0
Sarkar 3
Watch Sarkaar 3 for the way Varma frames the familial feud in flames of fury. The performances are largely effective specially those byRonit Roy and Amit Sadh. The latter comes into his own as Mr Bachchan's uncontrollable grandson. But above all, this is one more triumphant celluloid outing for Amitabh Bachchan who invests his role of the aging tiger-neta with a kind of cosmic resonance that goes way beyond that famous baritone.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 4.0+4.0
Baahubali 2
Yes,Baahubali 2 is much bigger than the first film in every sense. It is far deeper and dreamy,drawing us into its magic and magnificence with a seamless swoosh that sucks us in. We fall into the ravine of ravishing courtly machinations with no desire to pull ourselves out of the hypnotic spell that Rajamouli casts on us.
Full review ↗10.0
TRM 7.1+2.9
Noor
Noor is not one of the best films on journalistic ethics. It doesn't do to the contemporaryMumbai media world what the Paul Newman-Sally Field starrer Absence Of Malice did 30 years ago . It pricks at the conscience in a rather undemanding way. Noor takes sly and slender satirical swipes at sensationalism in journalism , more delectable for its many jibes than the actual prick at the conscience.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 5.1+2.9
Begum Jaan
In creating a world where women rule the roost, the film misses the wood for the trees. Or sex for the sleaze.
Full review ↗7.0
TRM 5.0+2.0
Mukti Bhawan
Though this film tells us why death need not be feared, I came away from it feeling a profound sense of melancholy . It makes us experience the final futility of life without disrespecting the art of living. And that's no small achievement.
Full review ↗10.0
TRM 7.1+2.9
Poorna: Courage Has No Limit
Take a bow, Mr Bose. Poorna is not just a tale of the triumph of the human spirit. We all have a Poorna inside us waiting to conquer our own Everest.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 6.4+1.6
Trapped
It's hard to imagine Trapped working so effectively withoutRajkummar Rao. He lives every second of Shourya's struggle for self-preservation.His journey is so illustrative of a migrant's metropolitan melancholy as to make any attempt to add signboards to the storytelling is akin to shining torchlight to supplement sunlight.
Full review ↗9.0
TRM 6.5+2.5
Logan
Logan humanizes the super-hero to a level of supreme surrender . We have never seen a comicbook hero who is so vulnerable and so challenged by a 9-year old girl who is played by a child who has the ability to project herself as much older than she actually is, without seeming precocious. We've never seen a hero so ready for the fall.We probably never will.
Full review ↗9.0
TRM 7.6+1.4
Hidden Figures
Hidden Figures feels lightweight while saying things about the way women specially of a particular skin-tone, are treated at workplaces.Like the 3 heroines who break the shackles of their destiny to emerge triumphant this film remains happy at heart even when sadness seems constantly around the corner.
Full review ↗7.0
TRM 6.6+0.4
4.0
TRM 5.8−1.8
The Lego Batman Movie
There is plenty here to warm up to. The twists and turns plotted planned and propelled with well-oiled ingenuity, never slacken. The fun never stops. So if you are a sucker for animated super-heroism , this one gets your attention , though in a week marked by Oscar-nominated monuments in the theatres I don't know how far we can go and not Lego of this one.
Full review ↗5.0
TRM 6.9−1.9
Jolly LLB 2
If only Jolly LLB 2 didn't fumble at crucial plot points. Awkwardness sits on the proceedings.
Full review ↗7.0
TRM 6.2+0.8
Alif
For all its faults Alif must be seen for its strong message on the importance of formal education for every child ,even if it means offending some who would rather have the young imprisoned in ignorance. Light, says the film, is life.For this message alone Alif deserves a round of applause.
Full review ↗7.0
TRM 4.8+2.2
Kung Fu Yoga
Kung Fu Yoga is one wild wacky goofy adventure saga . It isn't fodder for the intellect. But it sure as hell is a lot of fun.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 4.1+3.9
The Great Wall
If you are in the mood for Chinese feud try Kung Fu Yoga instead.At least Jackie Chan doesn't take himself seriously.
Full review ↗3.0
TRM 4.9−1.9
8.0
TRM 5.8+2.2
Ok Jaanu
Ok Jaanu is far superior to the original Mani Ratnam film . Visually rich and textured to accommodate words and emotions in beautiful places in the heart, this is a tender and seductive return to form for a director who had lost his way, like Charutala in Ok Jaanu.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 5.0+3.0
Haraamkhor
See Haraamkhor for its original and audacious content and for the way the debutant director extracts a gush of empathy from these bored characters even during their worst moments. Love, we always knew, as redemptive. But lust needn't be all bad either.
Full review ↗7.0
TRM 5.9+1.1
Passengers
Passengers could have been a half-jestful date movie about a pair thrown together as neither has anywhere else to go. If only it had more to say about human nature when faced with such a galactic crisis.
Full review ↗5.0
TRM 5.7−0.7
Wajah Tum Ho
Wish the film's script displayed at least some level of guts and courage in dealing with issues such as excesses on reality television and rape . It hides in too many masked attempts at suspense and finally blows up in a climax that has all the ingredients of a dinner party gone hardly wrong.
Full review ↗2.0
TRM 3.3−1.3
Deepwater Horizon
At the very end when you thank God, Producer & Destiny for liberty from the 2-hour claustrophobic tedium , a display card in the end-titles informs that we've just seen a film based on the worst oil rigging disaster in the history of such disasters.
Full review ↗4.0
TRM 5.7−1.7
Force 2
Force 2 is not a great one for spreading the message of peace. It would rather do its job of giving us stunts that keep us riveted to our seats.But it does bring up the issue of a very disturbing political tragedy whereby those who are caught spying are disowned by their own country. It's a chilling thought on betrayal and loss, not quite the mood that this upbeat fiery and feisty actioner wants to dwell on. But it really can't really help acquiring a conscience while taking a well-aimed shot at giving Hollywood stunts films a run for their money.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 5.2+2.8
Rock On 2
Rock On 2 is pretty much the most engaging and authentic sequel I've seen coming out of Bollywood in recent times. If as Shakespeare volunteered, music is actually the food of love, then this film is a feast.
Full review ↗9.0
TRM 4.5+4.5
Shivaay
Shivaay is not the light fun crackerjack Diwali film you'd like to sit through this festive season. It is laden with an overbearing darkness which eclipses all of the film's efforts to pull us into its embrace.The proceedings get so edgy that they finally topple over.
Full review ↗4.0
TRM 4.6−0.6
Queen of Katwe
This is a film that wears its heart proudly on its sleeve. Shot in glorious splashy colours and rustling up an African soundtrack that makes our hearts twirl and gambol, it sweeps you in its inspirational universe with such earnest intentions , you wouldn't want to say no to even its most manipulative moments when poverty almost becomes a pivotal character in the plot challenging the protagonists for a combat to the finish.
Full review ↗7.0
TRM 6.8+0.2
Mirzya
Mirzya makes us feel with time-stopping stillness when the only sound we hear is that of two hearts beating, that this is only was to feel love, with a ferociousness that precludes options.No wonder we FALL in love. How else would a moviemaker like Mehrabe able to catch the journey down during the fall?
Full review ↗9.0
TRM 4.7+4.3
Parched
Parched celebrates the joie de vivre of shared grief among women who live their wretched lives on the edge and are only too happily to topple over when pushed and provoked. Sometimes, feminism doesn't need a full-blown messianic clarion call.A little tug, a firm push will do.Parched hits us where it hurts at the most. And I don't mean below the waist.
Full review ↗9.0
TRM 6.4+2.6
Banjo
Interesting music pieces(Vishal-Shekhar), a furiously implosive background score(SouravRoy) and a principal cast that believes in the plot's quintessential rags-to-riches logic tends to keep the storytelling afloat.However Banjo is unlikely to set the boxoffice on fire. Its energy remains half-doused by over-statement.
Full review ↗6.0
TRM 4.4+1.6
Raaz Reboot
Raaz Reboot is not quite that scary. No way! We are way too cynical and habituated to the conventions of the horror to be shaken to our core. But yes, Raaz Reboot does have genuine moments of chills to offer , specially mid-way when the film's Big Secret is revealed.
Full review ↗6.0
TRM 3.8+2.2
Pink
Pink grabs our collective biases and age-old notions about permissible boundaries for feminine behaviour by the shoulder and shakes them hard. This a film that can change gender equations in our society.
Full review ↗10.0
TRM 7.8+2.2
Freaky Ali
Seeds of discontent and disorientation are sown in uncomfortable alcoves all across the film. The narration moves roughly and restlessly from one episode to another. The editing is abysmally patchy. The performances, barringAsif Basra as Ali's mentor and caddy, are uneven.
Full review ↗4.0
TRM 4.5−0.5
Baar Baar Dekho
Baar Baar Dekho is about getting a chance of changing the mistakes in life without making them. But really, I can't think of one thing I'd like to see changed in this film. Except maybe Sarika's prosthetics when she plays dead. Someone overdid the mother's wrinkles.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 4.8+3.2
A Flying Jatt
Tiger is a laugh riot in conveying the spellbound bewilderment of an ordinary guy who can suddenly fly….The narrative keeps pace with its sincerely committed hero most of the way, slowing down reverentially for an animation crash–course on Sikh history, as to why and how the adage of Sardarjis losing their equilibrium at the stroke of 12 came about.
Full review ↗6.0
TRM 4.3+1.7
Missing on a Weekend
Missing On A Weekend is a film in a hurry. Abhishek keeps the weekender plot moving at a brisk, if not breathless, trot.
Full review ↗6.0
TRM 5.5
Mohenjo Daro
See the film for its sincerity and passion the the dedication to recreate an era and aura long gone and irretrievable.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 4.5+3.5
Dishoom
Though I found Dishoom to be way too formulistic to make as strong an impression as Rohit's directorial debut film Desi Boyz , there is virtue in vice. Dishoom proves it.
Full review ↗6.0
TRM 5.5+0.5
Great Grand Masti
Great Great Masti is stuck in a time-warp.Innuendos , comparing penises to bananas and referring to pubic hair asjhaad(bush), are no longer cool even in school back-benches.Shockingly the female actors are shown to participate in scenes where woman's body parts are likened to plots of land and real estate.
Full review ↗0.0
TRM 2.5−2.5
Raman Raghav 2.0
This is film that doesn't flinch from the fearful ugliness of existence. It's also a brutal and haunting reminder of how rapidly the lines dividing the law-makers and law-breakers are disappearing. 'Raman' and 'Raghav' are no longer the archetypal Villain and Hero that we sought in our cinema for moral comfort. They are now the best of friends and our worst of enemies.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 5.9+2.1
Dhanak
No, you really can't pluck holes in Nagesh Kukunoor's enchanting excursion into the heart of innocence and salvation. This is a heartwarming ode to the dying spirit of the human and selfless compassion .Moving funny and memorable, the two child actors are miraculous. Ditto the film.
Full review ↗10.0
TRM 6.7+3.3
Do Lafzon Ki Kahani
With fresher dialogues, more credible situations and a less clunky attitude to that thing called love Do Lafzon Ki Kahani could have been a far more gratifying ode to romantic yearnings.
Full review ↗6.0
TRM 3.8+2.2
Te3n
Te3n grips us from the first frame. It is a thriller with a heart, soul and most exceptionally, a conscience.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 5.8+2.2
Housefull 3
Well Akshay, sorry to say this. But this is the most flaccid comedy of your career.
Full review ↗2.0
TRM 4.3−2.3
Veerappan
This film is certainly not for the squeamish or the weak at heart. But for those who are familiar with Ram GopalVarma's appetite for the abominable, Veerappan is just the beast to grab at your nearest theatre.
Full review ↗6.0
TRM 4.6+1.4
Waiting
Not since Ritesh Batra's The Lunchbox have I seen an Indie film addressing itself to the ageless issue of human desolation and individual grief with such warmth, dignity grace honesty and humour.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 6.5+1.5
Sarbjit
Sarbjit has immense poignancy at its heart. But the execution of the theme of a homesick dying man imprisoned in a hostile country often tends to lean dangerously close to populism.
Full review ↗6.0
TRM 5.1+0.9
Dear Dad
Though this is a film about painful revelations Dear Dad is not a sad film. It doesn't celebrate human frailty. But it tells us it's okay to be what we are, who we are and never mind why we are what we are.
Full review ↗7.0
TRM 5.0+2.0
Azhar
Azhar is not an apologetic bio-pic. It doesn't try too hard to portray the fallen hero as a victim. The director lets the story tell itself out in the hope that the truth will emerge in the process. It does. To a point.
Full review ↗7.0
TRM 5.0+2.0
One Night Stand
One Night Stand is easy on the eye and not heavy on the heart despite the dramatic potential of the plot.This an erotic emotional excursion that makes me curious to see what the debutant direct would attempt next.Hopefully a companion film about a female stalker who won't take no for an answer. It's just not the male prerogative to be predator.
Full review ↗6.0
TRM 4.3+1.7
The Man Who Knew Infinity
Here is a rare film that allows us a lucid glimpse into the anguished heart of a soul that couldn't fathom the depth of its own brilliance. Almost a century after Ramanujan's death this film unravels the mystique of the unschooled maestro who didn't know why numbers meant so much to him.
Full review ↗10.0
TRM 6.3+3.7
Baaghi
Though not unwatchable Baaghi lays way too much stress on optical thrills.Forget feeling for the lovers, you wait for them to stop singing dancing and fighting long enough to give love a chance.This is a narrative so busy having sex it forgets to enjoy the orgasm.
Full review ↗4.0
TRM 4.6−0.6
Laal Rang
Once in while you tend to overlook the glaring aberrations in a story that is so well-intended that it makes you wonder: why didn't someone make this film before?
Full review ↗6.0
TRM 5.1+0.9
Nil Battey Sannata
This morally uplifting inspirational heartwarming fable is a must watch, if only to see how difficult it is to be simple.And how much we miss those simply told tales of life byHrishikesh Mukherjee and Basu Chatterjee.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 7.0+1.0
Santa Banta Pvt Ltd
The comic world of Santa Banta Pvt Ltd is suffused in an exasperating chaos. You want to be amused. You wait for punchlines. There is not one gag here that would evoke even a mild laughter in the audience. But if you appreciate some very accomplished comic actors trying to make sense of a plot that couldn't have made sense even to those who wrote it, this is your film.
Full review ↗3.0
TRM 2.5+0.5
Fan
Director Maneesh Sharma whose garbled take on love sex and live-in relationships inShudh Desi Romance had my mind boggled and my head rattled , lends a lucid heft to the drama in Fan. Though the climax is not as strong as the rest of the film we come away from Fan with far more happy thoughts than we did from Shah Rukh's other recent films.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 6.8+1.2
The Jungle Book
Don't wait. Just go out this weekend with the kids and re-live one of the most cherished children's stories told from an adult perspective and yet miraculously maintaining an artless innocence that makes this film entirely winsome experience. And so what if Priyanka doesn't sing in the Hind version. The film is suffused in the music of the soul.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 7.5+0.5
Rocky Handsome
It is unequivocally evident from the start of this dark gripping thriller about damnation and tentative redemption that Kamat is a director who understands John's physicality as well as his emotional strengths. Kamat uses both the qualities to create a man doddering on the edge of self-destruction.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 4.2+3.8
Kapoor & Sons
Like the family its penetrates , Kapoor & Sons neither purports to be a perfect nor a seamless family drama. It does something far valuable. It takes all the flaws and imperfections of a dysfunctional family and transcreates them into a drama of muted grievances and unspoken recriminations.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 7.2+0.8
Teraa Surroor
Go with zero expectations and I promise you,will surprise you. More than anything else, it's a very good-looking film.And I don't mean the cast where admittedly, we have some suave, dapper and just plain interesting faces lending a gravitas to the Alistair MacLean brand of thrills, you know the sort where one smart-aleck played by the one and only Himesh Reshammiya takes on the entire police force of Dublin and—guess what?—emerges a winner.
Full review ↗TRM 3.5
Zubaan
There are passages in Zubaan where we see the director's vision of an individual held ransom by his ambitions, and we are shaken in a rejuvenating way. Zubaan is an exhilarating journey of self-discovery, and far far more accomplished work that this week's other release Prakash Jha's Jai Gangaajal.
Full review ↗9.0
TRM 5.4+3.6
45 Years
For all its enormous inner strength and its use of nostalgia as a tool of emotional strength 45 Years is a strikingly sterile look at a marriage that has apparently weathered many storms but remains steadfast in its place. If there's any reason you need to watch the film it's to see how casually graceful the lead pair makes the drama of a past betrayal in a marriage.
Full review ↗4.0
TRM 6.6−2.6
Aligarh
Aligarh must be seen for its powerful eschewal of moral judgements of an individual's private activities. It ends on a question mark on how the professor's life ended. We come away haunted and stricken by an inexplicable guilt for what was done to ProfSrinivas Sirus . We come away thinking about the sad sorry life of a good professor who happened to be gay.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 7.3+0.7
5.0
TRM 6.5−1.5
Tere Bin Laden Dead Or Alive
I wish I could say, go have a blast, to stay in the mood of the Osama-Obama war to finish. But really all I can say is, not again please? Thank you.
Full review ↗5.0
TRM 4.4+0.6
Gods of Egypt
Gods Of Egypt stages some of the most spectacular visual effects seen in recent years. It is a simple morality tale well told and executed with enormous breadth and vision. Leave aside all the other films this week.Rush to see Gods Of Egypt.It's a feast for the senses.It's the Baap of Baahubali.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 5.0+3.0
Bollywood Diaries
In Bollywood dreams die first. But such a rare film on the subject must not be allowed to die.
Full review ↗7.0
TRM 5.2+1.8
Loveshhuda
No expense has been spared to ensure that Girish Tairani post-debut vehicle catches the audiences' fancy. But flaunting urban affluence and trying to write dialogues which try hard to sound like the metro-youngsters internet babble gives this film an embarrassing aspirational aura.
Full review ↗4.0
TRM 4.00.0
Spotlight
Spotlight puts the spotlight on the trauma without creating hype or drama. It's an achievement that doesn't call for a standing ovation. It gets it without trying.
Full review ↗TRM 7.7
Neerja
There is not a single artiste or technician in Neerja who has bummed out on the job. A whole lot compassion and conviction have made a miracle of a movie called Neerja happen.
Full review ↗9.0
TRM 7.6+1.4
Fitoor
Fitoor is one of the most disappointing literary adaptations ever attempted in Indian cinema. Director Abhishek Kapoor had earlier done Chetan Bhagat's 3 Mistakes Of My Life (Kai Po Che). This is less Dickens, more Mills & Boon. Kashmir has a lot to be happy about. Wish we could say the same about Charles Dickens.
Full review ↗TRM 5.0
Sanam Teri Kasam
Sanam Teri Kasam moves forward with no lofty aspirations, except to tell a tale of star-crossed lovers with charm, simplicity and sincerity. It succeeds in doing that.
Full review ↗TRM 3.5
Saala Khadoos
Alas, the film itself doesn't match up to the glory of its stunning visual velocity or its leading man's towering performance. This is Madhavan's Raging Bull. By far his career's finest performance. The film could have been better, though. Much better.
Full review ↗TRM 5.4
Airlift
For my money and time, Akshay Kumar is the most watchable star in Bollywood today. See Airlift. You will know why. Unlike the other superstars his growth is constant. Every film—and I include his steady stream of comedy films—finds him touch base with new depths of emotions within himself.
Full review ↗9.0
TRM 7.0+2.0
The Hateful Eight
Tarantino's Western is coldblooded, too calculated to actually be considered chilling. In Tarantino's territory the violence is perpetuated with flippancy. His characters don't care about human life. And frankly, we can't bring ourselves to care whether these characters live or die.
Full review ↗TRM 6.5
Chalk N Duster
Chalk 'N' Duster is not great cinema by any stretch of the imagination. It is often crude and unapologetic in its melodramatic pitch. But its heart is in the right place. It is a decent conscientious attempt to depict the bond between teachers and the taught. Shabana's Vidya and Juhi's Jyoti (vidya and jyoti, get it?) are more aspirational than real. There is irony there. Because the treatment of the subject is more street-play blunt than aspirational.
Full review ↗TRM 4.2
The Danish Girl
It starts with a stocking and ends with scarf floating into space, portraying freedom. Lily has found her freedom. But she has left us a captive of her tragic tale for all times to come.
Full review ↗TRM 6.3
Chauranga
In debutant director Bikas Ranjan Mishra's Chauranga there are so many scummy characters swimming in the tides of a temporal debauchery and greed that you desperately look for ways to tell yourself, life is worth living after all, like you do in the best morality tales of our times.
Full review ↗7.0
TRM 6.3+0.7
Wazir
This looks like a terrific year ahead for Bollywood. Wazir is a solid start. A gripping thriller anchored by Bachchan and Akhtar's compelling compatibility. Not to be missed.
Full review ↗TRM 5.5
Dilwale
Dilwale is one of those terrible mistakes that superstars like Shah Rukh and Rohit Shetty make in the mistaken belief that they can get away with anything in the name of entertainment.
Full review ↗TRM 5.1
Bajirao Mastani
Bajirao Mastani is a masterpiece that teaches us many important lessons on love and and life. Most of all it shows us that another Mughal-e-Azam is possible in this day and age because there is a filmmaker who possesses the epic vision of K Asif.
Full review ↗10.0
TRM 6.7+3.3
Kajarya
Kajarya is not quite the long-legged social statement that the film's well-researched plot would suggest. But it has its heart in the right place. And its theme of mass gender annihilation makes our blood freeze .
Full review ↗7.0
TRM 5.8
Angry Indian Goddesses
This is a wonderful wonderful film with moments and performances that I will cherish forever. What stays long after the film is its admirable equanimity in portraying gender equations. If men ogle at women as though by birthright, here women to attain orgasmic contentment watching the shirtless boynextdoor wash his car.
Full review ↗9.0
TRM 6.3+2.7
Hate Story 3
Here is every Indians ultimate tolerance test: sit through this film. I dare you.
Full review ↗4.0
TRM 3.8+0.2
Tamasha
Tamasha is not free of glaring drawbacks. The narrative tends to humour itself to the extent of supreme selfindulgence and the pace when Deepika goes missing, is languid. But the heart, the pounding bleeding heart, is always in the right place. This is a haunting fable about two fatally flawed people who think they are in love.Tamasha is a game-changer in the romantic genre.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 6.2+1.8
Dor
Is DOR one of the most poignant films in recent times? Most probably it is. When it comes to portraying a forlorn yet undefeated sisterhood it stands tall and stately right up there with Deepa Mehta's WATER.
Full review ↗TRM 6.1
Socha Na Tha
Socha Na Tha is an endearing effort to give a virgin twist to the boy-meets-girl theme. And though Abhay Deol is not quite the new dude to watch out for he does hint at a talent that could emerge in the future. At a time when the old guard is collapsing in a hysterical heap we can only be thankful for the gift of freshness albeit designer-freshness.
Full review ↗4.0
TRM 5.2
Spectre
Spectre manages to keep our attention on red-alert most of the way, in spite of a subtle subdued storytelling , a background score(Thomas Newman) that refuses to over-punctuate the drama and action, cinematography (Hoyte Van Hoytema) that peers at the most exotic countries with intriguing serenity, and an arch-villain (Christoph Waltz) who has a shared family history of resentment towards Bond but is unable to draw into the drama.
Full review ↗7.0
TRM 6.1+0.9
X: Past Is Present
X Past Is Present is an audacious experimental film that left me craving for more. And I am not too sure if I mean that in a good way.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 4.4+3.6
Band Baaja Baaraat
Bravo, Yashraj for bringing such exceptional new talent to our cinema. Bravo, debutant director Maneesh Sharma for taking us through the organised chaos of traditional weddings in movements of pure pleasure and enjoyment that communicate themselves to the audience. Hours after watching the film, I've still not stopped smiling.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 6.1+1.9
Shootout at Lokhandwala
This is the only gangster film in loving memory with no punctuation marks. No shot in the entire larger-than-strife films on murky morality lasts longer than five seconds. But within that selflimited footage the narrative scans the faces and souls of these ruthless gangsters and cops with savage candour.
Full review ↗4.0
TRM 4.7−0.7
Prem Ratan Dhan Payo
...is solidly grounded in family values. At a time when the joint family is getting fragmented here is a film from two people who would die for their family. For Sooraj and Salman, it's all about loving the family.And we love it...
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 5.1+2.9
Charlie Ke Chakkar Mein
...a spiraling thriller whose film-within-film format doesn't quite make it into the league of the big crime tales of our times like Oye Lucky Lucky Oye and Shaitaan. But the build-up of backstabbing betrayals and bathos is interesting. Shot with hand-held cameras this is the jerks' saga that mines an effective crime subtext out of Mumbai's polished surface.
Full review ↗6.0
TRM 4.5+1.5
Guddu Ki Gun
Finally though you come away from the film wondering what our cinema is coming to and where is it heading. Guddu Ki Gun is a one-line joke carried too far. Guddu can't keep it down. This film just can't keep it up.
Full review ↗4.0
TRM 4.2−0.2
Once Upon A Time In Bihar
Though the film flounders in the over-dramatic pauses in the plot it manages to hold its precarious narrative in place almost all the way.
Full review ↗6.0
TRM 4.8
Main Aur Charles
Charles Sobhraj gets an unexpectedly arresting lease of life in this gutsy lucid and robust bio-pic . Director Prawaal Raman sweeps us into Sobhraj's exploits .Once in, there's no way out. Suffer the seduction.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 5.4+2.6
Titli
A word about the absolutely technique-less technique applied to the film. No fancy framing of the shots, none of characters caught in the 'right' light….It all unfolds as though Siddharth Dhawan's camera doesn't exist and Namrata Rao's editing was done so quietly the characters didn't even know portions of their lives had gone missing . An absolutely unforgettable film.
Full review ↗10.0
TRM 7.5+2.5
Raajneeti
...is not just a film that opens up the tattered edges of Indian politics. It dares to walk right into the muck with restraint, vigour and some sensitivity. The film has some outstanding cinematography by Sachin Kumar Krishnan. The camera seems to be looking into places in the characters' psyche that perhaps even the screenplay isn't aware of.
Full review ↗6.0
TRM 5.7+0.3
Shaandaar
Shaandaar is awfully written and indifferently directed enough to put you off destination weddings forever.
Full review ↗4.0
TRM 4.7−0.7
Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2
Once again writer-director Luv Ranjan walks dangerously close to misogyny , and comes up trumps. The tightly wound script once again wraps itself around the minds hearts and thighs of three girls and guys who can't see that love is nothing but self-interest in disguise.
Full review ↗9.0
TRM 5.2+3.8
Rudhramadevi
Gunashekar has recreated the 13th century with magnificent dexterity. This is a milestone of a film with a powerful message on women's empowerment. No matter what your mother tongue doesn't miss this opulent ode to the power of the feminine spirit to make war and babies.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 5.5+2.5
Jazbaa
It's a hardhitting unconstitutional message, packaged and projected with a precarious panache peculiar to Sanjay Gupta's cinema. If you've ever wondered what edge-of-the-seat thriller meant, here's your chance to find out.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 5.6+2.4
Puli
Puli walks on the wild side and doesn't seem to care about getting crushed. Don't look for Baahubali here. You will be better off .
Full review ↗6.0
TRM 4.1+1.9
Singh Is Bling
For that infectious grin that lights up the screen every time Akshay's Rafaar is happy –and he is happy most of the time—Singh Is Bling is worth a dekko.Rowdier than RathodAkshay's Raftaar Singh is gloriously goofy and a great deal of fun to watch.Never mind the logistics. The fun never wanes.
Full review ↗7.0
TRM 4.3+2.7
Kis Kisko Pyaar Karu
Off and on Abbas Mustan's purported comedy will remind you of the Govinda comedies directed by David Dhawan and Anees Bazmi's Sandwich. To his credit Kapil carries off the lighter moments with elan. But he is disastrous doing conventional romantic songs and other heroic stuff.
Full review ↗6.0
TRM 4.4+1.6
Katti Batti
Katti Batti is not a great film. But it's done with a lot of heart. There are many limp episodes in the plot, and marginal actors who come and go preteding to be more important to the plot than they really are. But it all holds together at the end. Because love, you see, conquers all . Specially when it comes from a sincere place in the heart.
Full review ↗7.0
TRM 4.0+3.0
Hero
Oldfashioned? Yes. But this Hero conveys all the charm of the original, plus the newly-acquired swagger of the modern times.
Full review ↗TRM 3.9
Kaun Kitne Paani Mein
...the film works largely because the director injects tenability into his four main characters . Kaun Kitne PaaniMein is a heartwarming satire on the water scarcity executed with care and compassion. The film is shot in rural areas of Odisha where we can actually sense the parched mood of the famished humanity. This a small film with a big heart. Not devoid of flaws but none of them fatal.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 5.0+3.0
Phantom
The creative zest to tell a rock-solid story in a language that is both virile and sensitive comes from director Kabir Khan himself who films S Hussain Zaidi's fantasy novel with a reliable quotient of compelling scenes and characters. Dark sinister and utterly riveting, Phantom is a brave ballsy thriller that yanks Kabir Khan aeons away from the arcadian idealism of Bajrangi Bhaijaan.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 5.2+2.8
Manjhi: The Mountain Man
Words of praise seem hollow when it comes to a film that describes a life so inspirational.
Full review ↗10.0
TRM 5.8+4.2
Brothers
Brothers may not appeal to those who look for laughter in times of despair.There is barely room for a whiff of a smile in this dark sanguinary and seductive tale of destruction and redemption told in a free-wheeling style that accommodates derivations and innovations without apology or awkwardness. Definitely one of Akshay Kumar's glorious achievements.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 4.7+3.3
Gour Hari Dastaan
As you watch the talented but largely anchorless actor Vinay Pathak slip easily into the part of the real-life freedom fighter Gaur Hari Das , you feel he is holding back when he could easily let go. The same is true of Ananth Narayan Mahadevan's noble bio-pic.
Full review ↗7.0
TRM 5.5+1.5
Bangistan
Go , laugh a while at the engaging antics of our two suicide bomber heroes. They are a riot. No pun intended.
Full review ↗7.0
TRM 3.9+3.1
Sulemani Keeda
Eccentric in its own write–and that is not a typo–Dulal and Mainak, as played with unconditional fluency by Naveen Kasturia and MayankTiwari ,are what Jai and Veeru would have been if Sholay had been a film about Salim and Javed search for success in blunder-land. In Sulemani Keeda , debutant director Amit Masurkar is so easy-going in his storytelling you fear what success would do to him.
Full review ↗7.0
TRM 6.0+1.0
Drishyam
Drishyam is the fourth remarkable film this July. The story of an ordinary family under extraordinary stress, Kamat puts his finger on the pulse of the original Malayalam film to convert into into an all-new gripping thriller.
Full review ↗9.0
TRM 6.5+2.5
Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!
...is a sly, shimmering mirror of a dysfunctional society always craving for more... not knowing where the greed to be upwardly mobile finally ends.
Full review ↗6.0
TRM 6.1−0.1
Masaan
Masaan is a film that takes more away from viewers than perhaps we we are willing to give away. It leaves us with no choice but to surrender our soul to its vision of a world where grief and bereavement are the incontrovertible home truths. The rest is transitory. Masaan is great great great film. Not to be missed.
Full review ↗10.0
TRM 7.7+2.3
Bajrangi Bhaijaan
This Eid, go and spend 2 ½ hours with this amazing character called Bajrangi Bhaijaan. Rest assured, you'll never again peer across the barbed fence with suspicion again.
Full review ↗9.0
TRM 6.6+2.4
Second Hand Husband
Second Hand Husband is an impatient film. It wants to cramp the destinies of all its characters into one range of vision and quickly get them to sort out the marital mess that surrounds the storytelling like excessive topping in a pizza determined to have its fill. This is a filling but not quite fulfilling comedy remarkable for keeping the situations in the script funny without resorting to cheap attention-grabbing tactics.
Full review ↗6.0
TRM 4.3
Guddu Rangeela
The duo does nothing without seeking backslapping punchlines in their violent arguments. It's almost as if they're two stand-up comedians seeking an audience.
Full review ↗5.0
TRM 5.1−0.1
Uvaa
Some effective acting by Rajit Kapoor as the disciplinarian principal who crumbles when faced with a domestic crisis ,and Jimmy Sheirgil as a cop who changes colours faster than the film's loose-limbed script can register, and a powerfully sung anti-rape song are the saving grace in this film over-populated by cardboard characters mouthing overzealous dialogues.
Full review ↗4.0
TRM 3.8+0.2
Spy
The film is a delightful mix of madness and mirth, of happening parties and rippling repartees.And the Martinis, if James Bond is curious to know, are sternly dry in contrast to the sticky situations that Susan gets herself into.
Full review ↗7.0
TRM 6.6+0.4
ABCD 2
ABCD2 is the happiest film of the year. Remo's coming-of-'edge' dance-and-drama razzmatazz is suffused with a steep quotient of what the French call joie de vivre and what we down here refer to ascheez badi mast mast.Despite its patchy portions the storytelling is so infectiously endearing you'd be seriously tempted to spring out of your seat and groove with the onscreen revellers . There is never a dull moment here.Even when the characters are bored and tired of dancing, we are are not.
Full review ↗9.0
TRM 5.4+3.6
Hamari Adhuri Kahani
There are bad films. Then there are bad films masquerading as works of art. Hamari Adhuri Kahani exposes Mohit Suri to be a shallow and superficial director who scratches the glossy surface of living-room relationships to reveal more of the creator's own spiritual emptiness rather than the angst of his troubled characters.
Full review ↗4.0
TRM 3.3+0.7
Dil Dhadakne Do
... is a film that could have been noisy messy and crowded. It ends up being just the opposite . As Aamir Khan would say for the Mehras' canine Pluto, "Bow wow!" Yup, we bow to the wow.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 6.3+1.7
Welcome to Karachi
It's not easy to make a non-stupid film with two stupid characters at its helm. Welcome 2 Karachi pulls off that daring feat without falling flat on its face. For that alone this film deserves a bit of our attention.
Full review ↗4.0
TRM 3.9+0.1
Khosla Ka Ghosla
On the journey to Khosla's happy ending we encounter characters who seem like our next-door neighbours… Khosla's Sardarji friend, the cunning tout who cheats Khosla, the actor who 'plays' Navin Nishchol's PA, the stage actress who smokes her way though the plot to hoodwink Boman… every character seems like someone you've met in that long and cumbersome journey of life which we all have to go through. Thank God for stopovers like KHOSLA KA GHOSLA.
Full review ↗TRM 6.0
Veer-Zaara
Old yet passionate, frail yet sublime, the estranged lovers in Yash Chopra's film are no ordinary love birds. Their body language, demeanour, speech and attitude hark back to an era when emotions were hallmarks of human nature, not designer things to be used as and when required in bubblegum concoctions that masquerade as romantic musicals in our wretched times.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 6.2
Tanu Weds Manu: Returns
TanuWeds Manu Returns sparkles and dazzles with its delectable synthesis of the scintillating and the sassy.With his third winner in a hat-trick of triumphant films(after Tanu Weds Manu and Raanjhanaa)Aanand Rai asserts his place among the most astute original and culturally sensitized filmmakers we have today.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 7.1+0.9
Rang De Basanti
The free-flowing enchantment induced by this film about the simmering discontent of a nation and a generation hurling into damnation is so real and yet so surreal, you wonder if there can ever be a film so filled with indignant ideas and yet so calm and spacious in its storytelling.
Full review ↗9.0
TRM 7.1
Bombay Velvet
Bombay Velvet for all its sins of excesses, is the gangster epic that Bollywood was waiting to unleash. Tactile, smokey, powerful, passionate and pulsating with periodicity…this movie is an experience that's more remarkable for what it attempts than what it actually achieves.
Full review ↗9.0
TRM 5.5+3.5
Piku
Piku is an exceptionally intimate character study.The three principal characters bare their frailties on camera as though they were part of a reality show that had no cameras. The emotions are raw and unabashed. The three principal actors sink into their roles like monks bathing in the holiest water on this side of the Ganga.
Full review ↗10.0
TRM 7.3+2.7
Gabbar is Back
Gabbar Is Back knocks the bottom off the action genre with a breathless ode to Swach Bharat. The film may appear louder-than-life to the dainty-hearted. But the tone is unapologetic massy.You can't change the disintegrating social order by being subtle. Miraculously Akshay Kumar does exactly that.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 4.8+3.2
Jai Ho Democracy
In Jai Hai Democracy the enormously accomplished actors struggle against the tedium of repetitive jokes about the banality of parliamentarian exchanges. Ranjit Kapoor is a brilliant writer, no doubt. As a filmmaker he is not too successful in extracting thatstagey quality from the material which most of us refer to to see as the rang-manch of life.
Full review ↗4.0
TRM 3.6+0.4
Margarita, with a Straw
The film's emotional affluence is matched by its technical finesse. The art work and locational detailing unfussy and matter-of-fact , as well as the casting of every character is so correct, you wonder how the director got it so right with so little self-congratulations.
Full review ↗10.0
TRM 6.7+3.3
Dharam Sankat Mein
...has some lucid moments of self-questioning where the religious divide is pungently scrutinized and satirized. Hilarity at the cost of organized religion is not an easy target to achieve for any filmmaker. This films achieves a remarkable threshold of thoughtful humour.Though a lot of it is gradually eroded by over-punctuated satire, this is that rare film which takes potshots at the religious divide without offending anyone.
Full review ↗6.0
TRM 4.6+1.4
Ek Paheli Leela
It may not be revolutionary in concept or path-breaking in execution. But make no mistake. Ek Paheli Leela is the surprise of the year.
Full review ↗7.0
TRM 3.6+3.4
Detective Byomkesh Bakshy
A scintillating synthesis of the cerebral and the sensual, Detective Byomkesh Bakshy is a rare Bollywood whodunit cooked on the slow burner at a tantalizing temperature.Dibakar Banerjee's Calcutta of the 1940s pulsates with heart soul body and nerves of steel.Sushant Singh lives the role of the 1940s' detective. With due respects to Rajit Kapoor,Sushant is now officially the face of Byomkesh.He owns the part as much as Kingsley owns Gandhi.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 6.5+1.5
Barkhaa
Barkhaa rains down a rhapsody of drama and romance. A heartwarming at times touching tale of an innocent girl's journey into the world of deceit, compromise and corruption, it echoes Raj Kapoor's Ram Teri Ganga Maili and Kamal Anrohi'sPakeezah in the way the respectable genteel upper class is shown to exploit women of meager means. Sara Loren is no Meena Kumari. But she kills the part much better than Mandakiniin Raj Kapoor's fevered fable.
Full review ↗6.0
TRM 3.6+2.4
Cinderella
Somehow everything turns out just right for this film, the way it does for its heroine Cinderella. It is significant that this airy blithe flight into fantasy comes to us during a year when Bollywood films have gone into distinct shades of darkness. Heaven know,we need some sunshine. Cinderella covers the clouds . It unveils the joy of unadulterated fantasy.
Full review ↗7.0
TRM 6.1+0.9
Hunterrr
A disarmingly frank sex comedy that knocks the pants off all moral policing and strips the holier-than-thou brigade to the bare essentials.Gulshan Devaiah is delightful as the guy who just cant keep it in his pants.
Full review ↗6.0
TRM 4.7+1.3
NH10
There is much to commend in this dark tale of a woman's night out with psychotic killers. Most of all , it coils its serpentine narrative around its character with such sinewy charm that your come away from the experience shaken, stirred and sobered down.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 6.8+1.2
Dirty Politics
Nothing that we see in Dirty Politics justifies the presence of these talented actors. A very poorly executed film which makes you feel sorry for the body-politic of the nation. Surely things are not so bad in politics?
Full review ↗3.0
TRM 2.5+0.5
Badmashiyaan
Badmaashiyan revels in an innocuous irreverence. It's an original and frequently funny comedy of ongoing errors where various characters including a wholesome conscience-stricken girl (Gunjan Malhotra) , a hilariously over-the-top Sardarji and a clueless gangster's right-hand-man(played with fantastic fervor by Nitin Goswami) meet and collide creative a crackling hissing humour. Most of all, the female protagonist is wickedly duplicitous to the last.
Full review ↗6.0
TRM 3.4+2.6
Coffee Bloom
Instead of trying so desperately to weave the landscape into a plot, the director should have made a documentary on the coffee plantations of Coorg. For now, I am off coffee.
Full review ↗4.0
TRM 4.9−0.9
Ab Tak Chhappan 2
...may lack the subtle cynicism and insinuated acrimony of Shimit Amin's original. It is nonetheless a gripping gaatha dunked in gore and violence about the blurred line between the law and lawlessness.
Full review ↗5.0
TRM 3.4+1.6
Dum Laga Ke Haisha
DLKH is a heartwarming charmer suffused with that lived-in feeling which seemed to have vanished in the run to that glitzy shallowness where a dhoom or a bang-bang were seen as viewer-friendly explosions. Here is a big-hearted shout for a bygone era and arranged marriage where love happens later crammed with episodes and moments that add up to an invaluable and cherishable experience.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 6.8+1.2
Badlapur
Badlapur takes the cinema of eye for an eye to a new high. The feral ferocious face-offs between Varun and Nawazuddin captured in the colour of wrath and doom by cinematographer Anil Mehta, confer a vital visceral velocity to the virile vendetta saga. At the end the darkness of despair gets to you. I am not sure why I felt cheated and betrayed.
Full review ↗7.0
TRM 6.9+0.1
Qissa: The Tale of a Lonely Ghost
There are elemental images in Qissa that will stay with you for as long as cinema exists Standing tall at the centre of the this towering achievement,illuminating every corner of director Anup Singh's poignant parable on perverse parenthood, is Irrfan Khan. Set aside the badla that beckons at the boxoffice this week. Qissa is a killer.
Full review ↗9.0
TRM 7.1+1.9
MSG: The Messenger of God
No miracle can equal the one that this film represents. Having sat open-mouthed through MSG I can hardly wait for the further adventures of Guruji.
Full review ↗TRM 1.6
Roy
'Roy is an interesting-shaded in pastel colours and a tender timbre the debutant director Vikramjit Singh undertakes an intriguing journey where the real mocks the reel and the creator merges into his creation.But finally the film leaves us with a sense of betrayal and dissatisfaction. Perhaps the director should have attempted the complexities of this theme after making 5 other films.
Full review ↗6.0
TRM 4.1+1.9
Shamitabh
Shamitabh is not just a homage to the great Bachchan baritone it is also a magnificent ode to the theme of human mortality . The love of Bollywood (sorry, Mr Bachchan) runs across the plot in frenzied rhythms. The two principal actors play out their conjoined karmaswith a passion that burns your soul.
Full review ↗10.0
TRM 5.7+4.3
Rahasya
This is not film about a neat denouement. Messy lives, sordid relationships, betrayal and revenge run through the veins of the film. Barbara Cartland would have frowned. But Agatha Christie would have assuredly approved.
Full review ↗7.0
TRM 5.3+1.7
Khamoshiyan
How long can you watch three good-looking people doing the dumbest of things in the misguided hope that they would scare you with their propensity to think with their private parts in public places. After a while you just wish they would keep it in their pants.
Full review ↗4.0
TRM 3.5+0.5
Hawaizaada
Going back in time is never an easy task in cinema. Many have failed to court periodicity convincingly. Hawaizaada gets away with its flight into the mind of the man who dared to fly. This miniature masterpiece leaves us exhilarated and exultant. Thank God for the dreamers, past and present.
Full review ↗9.0
TRM 4.3+4.7
9.0
TRM 6.3+2.7
I
More brilliant than the film is Vikram's multi-personality performance which holds the film together, loopholes and all.Vikramembraces the grotesque as possessively as the glorious.It doesn't matter which language you speak or think in. Just go for I.It speaks the language of cinema.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 5.6+2.4
Alone
Bipasha Basu tries hard to infuse life in the inert plot. She fails,though we can't blame her.Even the stunning Kerala locales look listless when weighed against the cartoonish terror and lust of a pair which knows they are getting into the wrong train. Forget horror. This is a comedy.
Full review ↗4.0
TRM 3.6+0.4
Crazy Cukkad Family
Sadly the humour is decidedly more dead in Crazy Kukkad Family than the patriarch who just refuses to die. The writing could have done with less lungs and more brains. This is one crazy family we don't want to run into .
Full review ↗4.0
TRM 4.1−0.1
Sharafat Gayi Tel Lene
The film takes on the theme of greed and covetousness and turns it into a pleasant satire. A saucy comedy about a commoner's brush with the 'D' gang, this is an original smile-inducing romp into the realm of comedy where errors define the mood ,and the characters are not as interesting as the situations that the script tries to create for them. This is certainly funnier film than any other comedy this week.
Full review ↗6.0
TRM 4.2+1.8
Tevar
This is a love story where most of the playing-time is devoted to the protagonists locked in a scuffle of the most physical and violent kind. And yet, there is a core of tenderness in the film manifested in Sonakshi Sinha's melting pleading eyes as she makes a run away from the city's arch-goon Gajender Singh (Manoj Bajpai, bang-on ) who has taken a shine to her.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 4.6+3.4
Dedh Ishqiya
It constructs the dynamics of love and redemption from the rubble of a lost world . It gets its indomitable storytelling power from the writing and dialogues. The four principal actors, as well as Vijay Raaz and Manoj Pahwa, imbue broad and bright shades to their fey characters. Here's a world of poetry and parody that never co-existed anywhere else.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 7.4+0.6
2 States
Two world, two cultures, two families, one love story...2 States re-defines and rejuvenates the love-marriage space.Simple and yet striking,gorgeous and graceful, this is a film where we come away hankering to know what happens to the couple after the film is over.
Full review ↗TRM 6.0
Ugly
This is a thriller which leaves us with a sense of utter futility about the quality of life that we lead. Anurag Kashyap's most incisive exploration of human relationships Ugly boasts of some of the most skilled performances in recent times, so skilled that they do not seem to be performances at all. These are actors who must be seen more often. Or their souls would be broken beyond repair… just like the characters that they play so well they don't seem to be playing them at all.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 7.2+0.8
PK
Even though PK left me underwhelmed at times, there is no denying its utter sincerity of purpose.That feeling when you're effortlessly floating in the air….In PK director Raj Kumar Hirani makes us feel good about life. And that, in these troubled times , is not short of a miracle.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 7.4+0.6
Badlapur Boys
Badlapur Boys mixes the newly-revived thrill of the game of kabbaddi with an old fashioned melodramatic plot. The authentic locations and a deep affinity with the grassroot level add to the rugged sporting spirit.
Full review ↗7.0
TRM 4.3+2.7
Dr. Cabbie
Dr Cabbie is a full-on melodrama marathon with lights camera action and reaction….all lined in in one chic range of vision to suggest a sparkling celebration of desi glee in a firangi setting.
Full review ↗TRM 5.2
Bhopal: A Prayer for Rain
...leaves us with feeling of a deep longing for the victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy, and for the victims of imperialism anywhere at any time. Come to think of it, while the victims of the tragedy in Bhopal await justice, the only good thing to come out of the tragedy is this haunting dramatic film. Not to be missed.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 5.7+2.3
Zed Plus
You may not agree with the cheeky politics of Zed Plus. But you can't deny its integrity warmth and humour.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 5.9+2.1
Happy Ending
At times Happy Ending is a savagely wicked ,sinfully irreverent smart and sassy rom-com. At other times, it just doesn't move. And because the co-directors know how to hold our attention even when his protagonist is stricken by ennui, we can safely assume that some sharp writing skills are at work here even when there isn't much happening on the surface.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 5.3+2.7
Kill Dil
I have to admit Kill/Dil is a smaller disaster than Gunday.Ranveer who played one of the two buddies in the earlier films as well, is far more entertaining here. He's still way over the top.But here he is hammy in a pleasant way. Trouble starts and the killings for him end, when Ranveer's character Dev falls in love with the neighbourhood femme fatale, a weirdly freelancing heiress played by the forciblyglammed-up Parineeti Chopra, who seems to have her hands in every single pie that she can lay her manicured fingers on.
Full review ↗5.0
TRM 4.4+0.6
A Decent Arrangement
For a large part of this brief film nothing seems to be happening.At least, nothing that we can consider dramatic enough to be considered cinematic in the acceptable sense. As I watched Sarovar Banka's understated dialectic on the dynamics of the diasporic dilemma I wondered how he convinced his actors to do the film!
Full review ↗6.0
TRM 5.6
Garm Hava
Garm Hawa is not just a cinematic experience. It is much more. It is a treatise on life's most precious emotions. Unfiltered, raw and still hurting. These are wounds that never healed. And never will.
Full review ↗10.0
TRM 6.7
Tere Bin Laden
While "Tere Bin Laden" is many notches above the run-of-the-mill satire, as a spectral swipe at Osama-phobia, Bush-bashing and global terrorism, this one doesn't quite make the cut.
Full review ↗5.0
TRM 6.2−1.2
The Shaukeens
The Shaukeens is a rib-tickling rumbustious sleaze-less comedy that Basu Chatterjee is likely to smile at.It's bound to make you laugh out loud . Unless you are Jackky Bhagnani.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 4.9+3.1
Rang Rasiya
If you love art and cinema, and cinema as art, then don't miss this one. The best film of the year.
Full review ↗10.0
TRM 6.0+4.0
Fireflies
Fireflies is an imperfect film about flawed characters who disguise their spiritual ennui in tailored postures of sophistication.It's not a great film. But it's sincere and a largely well-crafted piece of cinema about fractured lives frozen in compromised relationships.
Full review ↗7.0
TRM 4.5+2.5
Roar
You may not think much of the characters' shallow shindigs during the time of exceptional stress. But one thing is for sure. You've never seen anything like this in Hindi cinema.
Full review ↗6.0
TRM 4.0+2.0
Happy New Year
For all its sins of excesses HNY is a full-on paisa-vasool experience. It is a rollicking rumbustious ode to the spirit of whopping howling shrieking and bantering camaraderie. Filled with tongue-in-cheek episodes of hip-swaying audacity the all-pervasive madness is infectious.
Full review ↗7.0
TRM 5.4+1.6
Jab We Met
Heart-warming in its sincerity and utterly wedded to the feeling of romantic integrity, "Jab We Met" is the kind of cinematic experience that is hard to come by in this day and age of smoky cynicism and borrowed rage.
Full review ↗7.0
TRM 7.00.0
Swades
"Swades" is a unique experiment with grassroots realism. It is so politically correct in its propagandist message that initially you wonder if the government of India funded the director's dream.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 7.0
Sonali Cable
Ignore the malicious comments on the film. Go see Sonali Cable. It is a very original and intelligent script, deftly edited and performed. Yes , debutant Charudutt Acharya is a better writer than a director.His characters are must have appeared far more interesting on paper. But then, cinema is not about the written word only. It's a lot more.
Full review ↗7.0
TRM 3.8+3.2
Tamanchey
Wild and wacky Tamanchey is an enjoyable rollercoaster rider about two mismatched criminals on the run who fall hopelessly in love. You know where this reckless couple is hurling to. But that doesn't stop this bang-bang affair from being a fun ride .
Full review ↗6.0
TRM 3.7+2.3
Ekkees Toppon Ki Salaami
Ekkess Topon Ki Salaami deserves a 21-gun salute. It has a heart and it doesn't hesitate in letting it show.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 5.8+2.2
Jigariyaa
Jigariyaa is splashy flamboyant colourful earthy take on Romeo & Juliet. The film gives us an impressively intuitive debutant Harsh Vardhan who seems to know more about love in Agra than tragedy in Shakespeare. Star-crossed love against the backdrop of the Taj Mahal played out a high octave… Yes, it works.
Full review ↗6.0
TRM 4.8+1.2
Bang Bang!
Bang Bang gets the boredom quotient bang-on. The rest is all noise and fury about a diamond, Kohinoor no less, stolen from a British museum. The way the thief carries the precious 'diamond'(which looks like a paperweight) around in his pocket goes to show how little a certain group of filmmakers respect the audiences' intellect.
Full review ↗4.0
TRM 4.3−0.3
Haider
Vishal Bhardawaj's third Shakespearean sojourn is his best yet.Haider is like a painting viewed from the road inside an art gallery…distant yet vivid,unforgettable layered lifelike and yet exquisitely poetic.
Full review ↗10.0
TRM 7.1+2.9
Desi Kattey
Earthy robust and virile Desi Kattey is the macho gun gaan that fans of Anurag Kashyap and SanjayGupta's cinema would identify with. If you like stories about boys on a rampage this one will make your heart swell with manly pride.
Full review ↗6.0
TRM 2.8+3.2
3AM
3 AM is a sharp slick scare-fest. It delivers the fear quotient without resorting to cheap gimmicks or excessive gore.This pyara para-normal experience may take you by surprise during a week when Hollywood unleashes a big-budget fear fest like Deliver Us From Evil.
Full review ↗6.0
TRM 4.0+2.0
Daawat-e-Ishq
I came away with the baap-beti relationship rather than the love story. As for food, I craved for more. Burp re burp.
Full review ↗5.0
TRM 5.00.0
Khoobsurat
Hrishida won't recognize this as his Khubsoorat. But he won't disapprove of what has been done to his work.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 5.5+2.5
Finding Fanny
This is Zindagi Milegi Na Dobaara of the Goan world where aspirations are so low you would have felt embarrassed for the characters if they hadn't decided to preserve a core of dignity during times of tumult and stress.
Full review ↗7.0
TRM 6.8+0.2
Creature
Creature is bigger scarier than Raaz and Raaz 3. If you like your scares to be anything but scarce this is just what the doctor ordered….unless you're weak-hearted.
Full review ↗6.0
TRM 3.9+2.1
Chal Bhaag
To come across a film with so many talented actors all under one roof is a delightful experience. Chal Bhaag is one of those hectically plotted adventure stories where the fast flowing fund of ideas and words indicate the presence of minds that understand the grammar of commercial cinema.
Full review ↗5.0
TRM 3.4+1.6
Mary Kom
Mary Kom is a motivational masterpiece. From first frame to last it grips your senses and irrigates the parched corridors of your heart like very few bio-pics in recent times. Debutant director Omang Kumarweaves seamlessly in and out of Ms Kom's remarkable life creating a work that is as dramatic as Mehboob's Mother India and as inspiring as Attenborough's Gandhi. Priyanka Chopra's powerhouse performance knocks the breath out of our solar plexus .She yet again proves herself the best actress of her generation.
Full review ↗10.0
TRM 6.1+3.9
Identity Card
In a film swathed in the aura of a doom there are flashes of tremendous humour and warmth. A brave bold thought provoking sensitive thriller . Strongly recommended.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 4.4+3.6
Raja Natwarlal
Sassy and slick, Raja Natwarwal is a con caper done up in playful shades and mischievous flavour. It's enjoyable while it lasts. But you don't come away with anything besides the feeling that the material should have carried for heft. If only everyone was not busy being someone they are not.
Full review ↗6.0
TRM 4.5+1.5
Mardaani
A stellar cast only adds to this accomplished film's sense of creative propriety. Mardaani is a film that makes all the correct noises about child trafficking. And by "correct noises" I do mean the soundtrack which is among the most evocative provocative and satisfying in recent times.
Full review ↗4.0
TRM 5.8−1.8
Singham Returns
The self-awarded 4 stars on its poster notwithstanding Singham Returns delivers quite punch-filled sequel to the cops-and-politicians game plan Shetty and Devgn had assembled in the original Singhammovie. Everything is brighter bouncier and more urgent. There are speeding vehicles and hurling invectives, seedy politicians and morally ambivalent mediapersons who may or may not be the nation's conscience-keepers of the nation.
Full review ↗7.0
TRM 5.3+1.7
Entertainment
Entertainment takes on the tripe that our cinema enjoys dishing out and turns it into some kind of a queasy crap-convention that knows it is making little sense most of the time and is not apologetic about its lowbrow aspirations.
Full review ↗3.0
TRM 4.0−1.0
The Hundred-Foot Journey
Here is a film that is not apologetic about its obsession with aesthetics. If in cooking presentation is paramount then so be it in movie-making too. This film celebrates the art of looking good.
Full review ↗5.0
TRM 5.9−0.9
Kick
Kick toh banta hai, boss! The number of times the word 'kick' kicks into this heady cocktail of comedy and action, you'd think there's no word in the dictionary that gives our hero a greater kick than…well, kick.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 5.5+2.5
Amit Sahni Ki List
Luckily the film never needs to run into any mortifying roadblocks.It's a smooth ride all the way . FromAmit Sharma's Ms Perfect(Anindita Nayar, tres chic ) to his Miss Imperfect's pet dog, every character here has a mind of its own. Ditto the film. It has a heart and brains. Go for it.
Full review ↗7.0
TRM 5.2+1.8
Pizza
Pizza is a fear fest with a yummy twist at the tale's end. Unlike other films of the horror genre this one doesn't depend on excessive gore to send shivers up our spine. Director Akshay Akkineni creates an eerie aura in one specific house of horror and ramshackle havelis being passé, this one unfolds in a spanking upmarket bungalow. And then Akkineni turns around and mocks our response of horror and fear. The premise is interesting and intriguing. Yup, Pizza delivers.
Full review ↗7.0
TRM 4.7+2.3
Lekar Hum Deewana Dil
Since its protagonists are largely loathsome in their self serving attitude, this is not an easy film to like . But ultimately it is a satisfying blithe and breezy slice-of-life experience with dialogues and scenes that ring true most of the time. The film marks the confident debut of its lead pair and director. Their time starts now.
Full review ↗4.0
TRM 3.7+0.3
Ek Villain
In trying for a merger of mayhem and emotions the film finally falls apart like the shattered pieces of a broken heart. We expect so much and get so little. That's life.
Full review ↗3.0
TRM 4.9−1.9
Transformers: Age of Extinction
This is by far the most spectacular of the Transformers films that you are likely to see. It has heart and it has balls. It has a grip and nerves of steels and yet it melts into disarming chunks of storytelling that read like episodes from American sitcoms from the 1960s. The world never seemed more compelling in its chaos.
Full review ↗4.0
TRM 5.0−1.0
Fugly
Light on top and substantial underneath, this is the Rang De Basanti of the post-Modi era. Thoughtful and at times brilliant, it tells us a great deal about the state of a culture and people searching for reasons to keep the spirit of nationalism alive as self-serving corruption grown all around us.
Full review ↗4.0
TRM 3.4+0.6
Machhli Jal Ki Rani Hai
If you enjoy watching watching films about ghostly possessions in normal households then Machhli Jal Ki... might of some interest to you. But the horror genre in Bollywood needs a revamp
Full review ↗TRM 4.0
Fukrey
Let's first get the picture right. Contrary to what the trailers and promotional images tell is Fugly is not a Fukrey-friendly flick about four friends having a ball in life. This film means business. Light on top and substantial underneath, this is the Rang De Basanti of the post-Modi era. Thoughtful and at times brilliant, it tells us a great deal about the state of a culture and people searching for reasons to keep the spirit of nationalism alive as self-serving corruption grown all around us.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 5.7+2.3
Filmistaan
This quirky charmer from first-time director Nitin Kakkar is fresh in vision and enchanting in execution.The only happy outcome of the cross-border divide is a heartwarming film such as this.As we often say about the Wagah border, this you gotta see.
Full review ↗9.0
TRM 7.2+1.8
Holiday - A Soldier Is Never Off Duty
This , then, is that entertainer which tells you that cinema about terrorism need not be dark and grim. Murugadoss keeps the going light-hearted, and yet the undercurrents of tension jump out of the screen to relentlessly claim our attention . Akshay's character's basic argument that terrorism can only be countered when the counter-terrorists are as fearless about losing their lives as the terrorists, is put forward with such gusto and conviction,we really can't argue with the plot premise.
Full review ↗9.0
TRM 5.1+3.9
CityLights
Citylights would remain with me for a long time. Gripping glorious and unforgettable, it is a shattering life-changing experience.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 6.8+1.2
Heropanti
Hero-panti is a full-on paisa vasool Sajid Nadiadwala entertainer. It doesn't quite measure up to the requirements of the theme of honour killing that it so valiantly puts forward. But as a masala entertainer that has more to say than one would expect from a film of this nature Hero-panti gets its fundas right.
Full review ↗7.0
TRM 4.2+2.8
The Xposé
So who said the world of the makebelieve had to follow any rules? Yup, there is no business like show business. This whodunit means business.The suspense drama is bright, bouncy,believable and entertaining.
Full review ↗7.0
TRM 3.9+3.1
Children of War
It is impossible to believe that this war epic has been directed by a first-time filmmaker.How can a virgin artiste conceive such a vivid portrait of the rape of a civilization? This isn't really a film. It's a work of art, tempestuous and terrific. Yes, this is a masterpiece.
Full review ↗9.0
TRM 5.6+3.4
Koyelaanchal
This could not have been an easy film to make. Applaud the director for flavouring the Indian heartland with a plot that reads like pulp fiction but feels like a slice of ugly Indian history.
Full review ↗7.0
TRM 3.4+3.6
Hawaa Hawaai
Hawaa Hawaii is an extraordinary saga of ordinary lives, the kind we often pass by at traffic signals .Amole Gupte penetrates the heart mind soul and dreams of those unsung lives. This is the most moving film on street kids since Mira Nair's Salaam Bombay. Take a bow, Mr Gupte. This is a not-to-be-missed life-changing experience.
Full review ↗9.0
TRM 6.7+2.3
Yeh Hai Bakrapur
You may not be overwhelmed by Vishwanathan's satire. But you won't come away without a smile and smirk in this sly look-see at rural India where every second citizen is a certifiable attention-seeker.
Full review ↗6.0
TRM 5.0+1.0
Manjunath
Once a while there comes along a man who genuinely wants to change the world we live in. Manjunath is the hard hitting conscientious story of one one braveheart who tried to make a difference. And paid with his life. Manjunath's valorous story had to be told. The director pieces together Manjunath's story like Orson Welles' Citizen Kane.
Full review ↗7.0
TRM 6.2+0.8
The Amazing Spider-Man 2
It doesn't matter how shallow the take on the life and times of Spiderman this time might be. The audience is given a huge dose of visual effects to lull the senses into a feeling of an impending storm.They will love it. Although the final impression is that of a super-hero who lost his relevance. Better luck next time.
Full review ↗3.0
TRM 5.9−2.9
Kya Dilli Kya Lahore
As an actor Vijay Raaz seldom lets down a film. Here he takes on the added responsibility of direction. He keeps the proceedings even-paced and free of techno-generated upheavals. The two actors are mostly left to their own devices. The end-result is a film of tremendous warmth and wisdom.
Full review ↗7.0
TRM 5.5+1.5
Dekh Tamasha Dekh
This is a film that addresses itself to ideas and thoughts buried away from human consideration. We don`t want to consider to what depth human nature can fall if pushed against a dirty wall. To record the dirt on the wall and the blood on the floor with such clarity and honesty is not within the creative powers of every filmmaker. This is an important treatise of our times, and it should not be missed by any Indian.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 6.2+1.8
Jal
Jal is a work of remarkable resonance. The sheer visual mastery of Malik's directorial debut takes your breath away. The sheer velocity and spatial harmony of the intrinsically disturbed desertscape, the incredibly nuanced sound design and the powerhouse performances by actors who forget the camera is watching them, make this a work whipped into eternity by vast stretches of unchained artistry.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 5.3+2.7
Youngistaan
Writer-director Syed Ahmad Afzal has told a story that seems destined to be put on screen. The politics of our disembodied democracy is sexily sketched. In this season of the Lok Sabha election, Youngistaan raises pertinent questions on the quality of leadership in our country. While it gets its political fundas right, the plot also accommodates the central romantic conflict into its structure.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 4.8+3.2
Lakshmi
...not a film for the weak hearted and the squeamish. Lakshmi is a powerfully told inspirational tale that doesn't brush the brutal reality of sexual exploitation under the rug. It pulls out uncomfortable home truths. There are portions of the narrative in the brothel involving Kukunoor and Shefali as the pimp and the madame that get unbearably violent and gruesome. Both come up with superlative fearless performances.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 6.0+2.0
Total Siyapaa
Total Siyapaa is total madness. An audacious comedy that dares to poke fun at a border issue, the film is stylised and is attentively staged.
Full review ↗6.0
TRM 3.6+2.4
Queen
If you miss "Queen", you may never get a chance to know how Rani journeyed into self-actualization. And that would be your loss entirely.
Full review ↗9.0
TRM 7.8+1.2
Darr @The Mall
Darr@The Mall is done with less stress on savagery than the genre favours. Though the head count does multiply alarmingly as the story progresses, we are pulled into the supernatural mayhem more by intelligent forces that grisly gimmicks. The characters get into the bloody mess without swimming in a tide of hysterical terror.
Full review ↗6.0
TRM 4.1+1.9
Highway
...a deeply dissatisfying film whose very incompleteness lends a sense of beauty to the narrative. Highway is a sprawling stretch of splendour, created by a director who shoots every frame in a painter's vein. Layered, luminous and evocative this is a world that M.F Hussain would have created if he were a filmmaker.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 6.3+1.7
Heartless
...all said and done Heartless works within its ambitious realm of love, betrayal and mortality. It makes an endearing departure from routine romances about broken hearts and mended morale. Director Shekhar Suman doesn't quite manage to hold the audience's attention in that spellbinding grip which the plot suggests. But the drama never sags.
Full review ↗6.0
TRM 4.1+1.9
Hasee Toh Phasee
No matter how you look at it, the film and every rich resplendent moment in it, belongs to Parineeti Chopra. She irons out all the rough spots in the storytelling, hides all the wrinkles in the jaded plot and makes her character seem far more empathetic than it would have been in a lesser actress' hands.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 6.1+1.9
One By Two
There is a warm lived-in feeling to Bhagat`s directorial debut. It may not win your heart as unconditionally as Farhan Akhtar`s directorial debut `Dil Chahta Hai`. But there`s a winsome, bubbly bouncy and ebullient quality to this take on urban aspirations.
Full review ↗7.0
TRM 3.5+3.5
Jai Ho
It's all a vehicle to enhance Salman's image as the messiah of the downtrodden. He is one helluva angry man who's not just anti-establishment but anti-antipathy. He implores the public to rise and revolt against humbug. Coming from a star with so much clout, that's quite a hard-hitting message. Regrettably, the episodes to show the superstar-hero's concern for humanity are text-bookish and illustrative.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 5.2+2.8
Mahabharat 3D
There is a laboured attempt here to prove that animation has come to animated life in Indian cinema. Sadly, it ends up proving only the opposite. We've a long way to go. If you want to see a credible dramatically deft adaptation of the Mahabharat, check out B R Chopra's televised version. As for animation, Indian cinema should leave it alone.
Full review ↗4.0
TRM 4.5−0.5
Jackpot
Sadly the stylish packaging and striking cinematography remain unsupported by the plot and characters. Neither are interesting or dangerous enough to be endearing in their immorality. Sorry, it just doesn't add up.
Full review ↗TRM 3.1
Ship of Theseus
This is a somber, meditative, profound and yet weightless work of unfettered beauty. A life-changing experience. No less. Anand Gandhi defines life's mysteries in mysterious ways, showing a command over his mammoth philosophical world that Mani Kaul and Jean-Luc Godard would have envied.
Full review ↗10.0
TRM 8.0+2.0
Bullett Raja
Guns, girls, grime and glory come together in a layered tale of corruption, politics and kinetic camaraderie.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 5.1+2.9
Singh Saab the Great
There is a virility and fluency to the storytelling. Singh Saab The Great is a homage to the cinema of the 1980s when Sunny was the daredevil determined to bring on a social reform. Somewhere, that hero lost his way. It's good to have him back.
Full review ↗7.0
TRM 4.7+2.3
8.0
TRM 5.7+2.3
Boss
This is a fast-paced, zany, full-on masala fare. There is a tempting swagger to Akshay`s performance matched by the narration`s tidal tempo. Irresistible energy and endearing gusto underline the show`s voracious appetite for a comic kill.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 4.9+3.1
War Chhod Na Yaar
This film gives a nimble twinkle-eyed satirical slant to the scourge of war. Warm and well-packaged with intelligent performances, War Chodd Na Yaar flounders when it abandons the human aspect to get into the nuclear zone.
Full review ↗6.0
TRM 4.6+1.4
John Day
For a film about losers "John Day" proves to be a paradoxically profitable movie-viewing experience for the audience.
Full review ↗6.0
TRM 4.2+1.8
Zanjeer
This is one remake that stands tall and lithe. It is manned by a manful supply of action and yet manages to keep the machismo understated. Breakneck-paced, adrenaline-pumping, pulse-pounding -- Lakhia's deconstructed version of the Prakash Mehra film is a full-on pacy paisa-vasool entertainer with brio and balls.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 3.9+4.1
Madras Cafe
This is arguably the best political thriller that Bollywood has so far given us.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 6.8+1.2
B.A. Pass
It would be erroneous to treat this film as only a serious noire effort. It is that,yes. But it's also a film that makes an impact in unexpectedly blithe ways, creeping up into our conscience when we least expect an intrusion and lodging itself cosily in a corner.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 6.3+1.7
Chor Chor Super Chor
This enjoyable film is a surprise. It sparkles with original wit directed at lives that would have been truly sad if they weren`t so funny.
Full review ↗6.0
TRM 4.8+1.2
Luv U Soniyo
The journey here is absolutely bereft of drama, excitement, surprise and ultimate satisfaction. One doesn`t know if debutant director Joe Rajan meant the central romance to be so linear, languorous and shockproof. But that`s the way it is.
Full review ↗TRM 4.1
D-Day
Nikhil Advani's sixth feature film is an acutely accomplished work of art. It's a thriller, yes. About the enforced extradition of a Dawood-like gangster. But what I came away with was a haunting love story between a mysterious Indian intelligence agent and a Pakistani sex worker, both wounded and scarred for life.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 6.7+1.3
Bhaag Milkha Bhaag
I recommend a national holiday for the entire nation to go and see this movie. It makes the other recent high-profile acclaimed films look hopelessly inadequate.
Full review ↗10.0
TRM 6.6+3.4
Policegiri
It is all fun to watch-loud, rumbustious, over the top, ear-splitting fun provided you are a Singham-Dabangg aficionado, and a Sanjay Dutt fan.
Full review ↗6.0
TRM 3.7+2.3
Damadamm!
It is the underused Purbi Joshi as Himesh's overbearing girlfriend who steals the show. She imparts a sense of lived-in authenticity to her role, almost at times going beyond the script in search of her character's lost soul. Why don't we get to see more of this pretty talented girl in our films?
Full review ↗6.0
TRM 4.3+1.7
Miley Naa Miley Hum
It's all too pretty, too predictable and too soft and gentle to make a lasting impact.
Full review ↗5.0
TRM 3.7+1.3
Not a Love Story
You leave the film with the painful sound of crashing dreams reverberating in your ears.
Full review ↗7.0
TRM 4.9+2.1
Loot
If only we knew what was so funny. Loot is a hoot. And a painful reminder of the collapse of the comic caper in Bollywood in a heap of inadequacy. The writing reaches a stalemate even before the actors warm up to their roles.
Full review ↗3.0
TRM 2.7+0.3
Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster
Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster creates a world far removed from Guru Dutt's classic, and yet the two works are miraculously joined at the hip. Almost every character from the Guru Dutt film is replicated if not parodied in Dhulia's film.
Full review ↗6.0
TRM 6.2−0.2
Sahi Dhandhe Galat Bande
Sahi Dhande Galat Bande is a kind of unique effort. It teases the conscience awake. It's a warm and honest film that looks with unblinking directness at issues which are more relevant now than ever. If Anna Hazare were to see this film he would surely smile.
Full review ↗6.0
TRM 5.0+1.0
Khap
Khap should be commended for attempting a socially-relevant theme with some amount of detachment and equanimity. Should love between cousins or people from within one family be sternly discouraged just because the village panchayat feels it is damaging to the social framework?
Full review ↗6.0
TRM 3.9+2.1
Shagird
Shagird is not devoid of merit. The Patekar characters affinity to vintage film songs gives a centre to an otherwise-doddering tale of desperate corruption.
Full review ↗5.0
TRM 4.7+0.3
Zokkomon
One wouldn't like to see Zokkomon as a wasted effort. It pushes the envelope a little towards the right direction in providing entertainment for kids. Through Darsheel's endearing screen presence the plot is able to overcome its inherent deficiencies and connect with young minds.
Full review ↗4.0
TRM 4.1−0.1
3.0
TRM 3.4−0.4
Chittagong
Chittagong doesn't portray the Britishers as only ogres and sadists. Thank Goodness for some restraint in the conflict. For cinema to accommodate history, there must be a sense of balance between drama and authenticity. Chittagong manages that balance quite well. One misses the sharp high points of drama that constitute the historical epics in Holywood by, say, David Lean. Bedabrata Pain. I suspect, doesn't strive to create history, he recreates it.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 7.3+0.7
Raaz 3
You wait for the horror to get sexy. Instead the sex gets progressively horrific. No Satan or its messenger can be as scary as Emraan Hashmi chewing on his two heroines' lips as though he has just relinquished vegetarianism.
Full review ↗4.0
TRM 4.1−0.1
Kahaani
"Kahaani" is one of those rare films that can easily lay claim to being a game-changer. And yet the narrative makes no claims. The destiny of the protagonist is charted in a breathless sweep of urgently persuasive episodes that tumble out as though God wrote Vidya Bagchi's screenplay. Enthralling, absorbing and engaging the narrative never resorts to italicized emotions to get our attention. We are hooked unconditionally from scene one. We surrender to Vidya's journey. She gives us no choice.
Full review ↗8.0
TRM 7.3+0.7
Gali Gali Chor Hai
While credit must be given to writer-director Rumy Jaffery for focusing on the issue of corruption noble intentions don't necessarily make a notable work of art. Certainly Gali Gali Chor Hai(GGCH) must have sounded amusing and topical on paper.It is a savagely stinging satire on the harassment of the average law-abiding middleclass man, played with arresting earnestness by Akshaye Khanna, in the hands of various touts, middlemen, law enforcers, goons and politicians all of whom infest the tranquil city of Bhopal with the destructive determination of termites eating into a 'system' that has long ceased to be if any consequence , moral or ethical.
Full review ↗5.0
TRM 4.8+0.2