Love aaj kal, flowers, chocolates, kisses, Pritam, Deepika. Vijan lays out all his trump cards and tried-and-tested elements of his ouevre, but nothing can save Raabta.

Baywatch is that lazy, cheesy summer tentpole film which sticks to a template and doesn’t even try to be nifty. When there aren’t drugs and dead bodies landing up on the shore, there is a person or two who needs to be rescued. Gordon rests entirely on Efron and Johnson’s repartee which results only a few moments of mirth. Everyone’s a loser in Baywatch but the biggest of them all is Pamela Anderson. Age has not been kind on the popular model and the filmmakers devote more time on her hair than her actual face.

Neither a compelling tearjerker nor an epic contemporary romance, Half Girlfriend is definitely not the film to celebrate modern love.

This film about the eternalness of first love has its moments – the nifty use of a few old hits such as Meri Pyaari Bindu and Sapno Ki Rani – and is laden with nostalgia (Dear old Rs 500 note, how we miss you) but unlike those songs in the mix-tape, Meri Pyaari Bindu fails to be an all-time classic.

Baahubali: The Beginning ended with the question that left everyone perplexed. Bahaubali: The Conclusions leaves you with another: How long before viewers are treated to another Rajamouli film? Is Bollywood the next stop? Will it be another magnum opus? How does he top this gargantuan effort? The wait will be a while, but then Rajamouli through Baahubali movies has proven that patience has its rewards and that those who dream and dare can succeed.

Maatr despite the gravity of the theme is a subpar drama. The film would have been more effective if the mawkish, flashback-heavy songs were skipped. Maatr is a missed opportunity to make a powerful statement against India’s poor track record in dispensing justice and tackling violence against women. Revenge is a dish best served cold; in Maatr it’s crass and oddly flat too.

The only thing that Noor gets right about journalism today is that it takes little to go viral. We still can’t make sense of what Noor has done to become a sensation but by the looks of it recording a “Mumbai, You’re Killing Me” rant, which will make Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation turn red, and uploading it on Facebook is all it takes.

Instead of being a story about looking at historical from a lesser-seen perspective, we get a tacky movie which soon seems like an exploitation flick.  The move to weave in a contemporary sexual assault attack reeks of emotional manipulation and lacks coherence. What is meant to be an act of valour in the filmmaker’s eyes comes across as a crude gimmick. Begum Jaan for all its good intent is a misfire of epic proportions.

Badrinath isn’t always successful in its continuous attempt to tickle and touch the heart. There are set-pieces that never quite work such as a scene where a man’s molestation by a gang of men is supposedly a source of amusement and a superfluous audition to find a groom. Despite a share of dull moments, Khaitan does manage to give some tropes refreshing spins and does well by emphasising on the significance of respect in a relationship. He doesn’t shy away from highlighting Badri’s and Vaidehi’s imperfections. The biggest takeaway from Badrinath is that a woman leads the way and saves the day. She alters the hero’s mindset and makes him a more considerate man. A better title would have been Vaidehi Ka Dulha.

The boy-meets-girl story of the first half hour is a cloying affair. Rajesh Roshan’s dated soundtrack consists songs that drag the proceedings. It doesn’t help that Gupta, who hearts item numbers in clubs, throws in a terrible one in “Saara Zamaana”. The sudden mawkish tone in between the action furthermore disrupts Kaabil. Much like Mohenjo Daro, which showed that one man alone cannot save a civilisation, Hrithik Roshan alone cannot save the film.