TheReviewMonk
Suparna Sharma

Suparna Sharma

Deccan Chronicle, Asian Age, Rollingstone India

Reviewing since 2013 · Last review Mar 2022

Tough GraderX
105Reviews
4.7Avg scorefrom 102 scored
56%In stepwithin a point of TRM
2013–2022Years

Films

Suparna's highest scores

See all →
Qissa: The Tale of a Lonely Ghost (2015)
Katiyabaaz (2014)
Pataakha (2018)
Gold (2018)

Scoring fingerprint

How Suparna scores

102 scored reviews · 0–10

Most given: 5 (23 reviews)3% of reviews not scored

In step with the room

56%

Within a point of the Monk Score on 56% of 99 films

Closest peer

Manisha Lakhe

Agrees with Suparna on 93% of 23 shared films

Divergence

Where Suparna and the room split

SuparnaMonk Score0 ———— 10

Kinder than the room

Meeruthiya Gangsters

2015 · Suparna 6.0 · TRM 4.2

+1.8

kinder than TRM

Bang Bang!

2014 · Suparna 6.0 · TRM 4.3

+1.7

kinder than TRM

Main Aur Charles

2015 · Suparna 7.0 · TRM 5.4

+1.6

kinder than TRM

Tougher than the room

Shaandaar

2015 · Suparna 1.0 · TRM 4.7

−3.7

tougher than TRM

Tiger Zinda Hai

2017 · Suparna 3.0 · TRM 6.2

−3.2

tougher than TRM

Dhoom 3

2013 · Suparna 3.0 · TRM 6.0

−3.0

tougher than TRM

From the archive

All 105 reviews

Masters of the Universe

2026 · Deccan Chronicle

Director Navdeep Singh's NH10 takes some news reports, the reputation of a city and the state it is in — literally and geographically — and some inspiration from a long lineage of deathly-road trip flicks and delivers a horror-thriller that's as bloody as it is brilliant, as terrifying as it is taut. NH10 is exhausting. It's emotionally sapping and finally cathartic and that's because the film — its screenplay, direction and acting — makes us invest emotionally in its lead pair.

Full review ↗

TRM 6.1+0.9

The Kashmir Files

2022 · Rollingstone India · Mar 2022

The Kashmir Files has a B-grade soul and lust for gore. It has no grace, no aesthetic appeal and no patience for context or complexity. It conjures up a dark period of India history by cherry-picking, pruning and twisting incidents and events to cast a large section of Kashmiris as villains.

Full review ↗

TRM 4.9−2.9

Panipat

2019 · Deccan Chronicle · Dec 2019

Rewriting historical defeats with patriotic fervour...

Full review ↗

TRM 5.1−0.1

The Sky Is Pink

2019 · Deccan Chronicle · Oct 2019

This ploy, of a child's courage to look death in the eyes and talk to us about it, has some power and function at the beginning. But when it goes on and on, it starts to grate. I felt impaled by the film's relentless emotional badgering, constant telling us, and not showing, how terribly tragic it all is.

Full review ↗

TRM 6.2−2.2

Saaho

2019 · Deccan Chronicle · Sept 2019

Given the amount of time devoted to action sequences in Saaho, Prabhas' moves have no smoothness or finesse. As he lumbers, his thighs thunder. And when he's not fighting, he looks pasty, his body is droopy and language languid. Much like I was at the end of Saaho.

Full review ↗

TRM 3.8−0.8

Nakkash

2019 · Deccan Chronicle · Jun 2019

But more than that, Nakkash is important — because it's a good thing when movies refuse to let us slip into complacency. Because it's a good thing when movies remind us that democracy, secularism cannot and must not be taken for granted. Because it's a good thing when movies tell us that our job is not done just by standing proudly and humming along when Jan Gan Man is played on the screen. All we did was take a pledge. Now we must honour those words with our actions, work.

Full review ↗

TRM 5.2

Thugs of Hindostan

2018 · Deccan Chronicle · Nov 2018

If, post-Diwali, you are in desperate need for a deep nap, check yourself into a show of Duds of Hindostan.

Full review ↗

TRM 4.1−1.1

Pataakha

2018 · Deccan Chronicle · Sept 2018

Delightful, with a peppy, folksy punch... Vishal Bhardwaj's direction and writing are superlative.

Full review ↗

TRM 6.5+0.5

Sui Dhaaga

2018 · Deccan Chronicle · Sept 2018

Sui Dhaga, having been rung through a big production house of Bollywood, in this case Yash Raj Productions, suffers the same fate.

Full review ↗

TRM 5.9−0.9

Gold

2018 · Deccan Chronicle · Aug 2018

At least on face value, mining history for past glories seems to be a pathetic exercise in assuaging low-self esteem. But the manthan, churning that India is currently in the throes of is beginning to yield some very interesting, very political stories. That two of these, in 2018 alone, have been helmed so well by women — Raazi by Meghna Gulzar and Kagti's Gold — gives me hope.

Full review ↗

TRM 6.0+1.0

Satyameva Jayate

2018 · Deccan Chronicle · Aug 2018

Satyameva Jayate's plot is twisted to hide some nice surprises, and its killing scenes, though daffy, are bloody and have enough filmy drama to keep us engaged.

Full review ↗

TRM 3.6+0.4

Mulk

2018 · Deccan Chronicle · Aug 2018

And as I walked away from Mulk, marvelling at its crackling drama, high emotional quotient, its gritty appeal, whistle-worthy dialogues and politics, after a long time I doffed my hat to Bollywood. Because when mainstream Bollywood begins to get it right, when it finds the strength to articulate what's right and wrong in a way that sits with audiences for a long time, there is hope.

Full review ↗

TRM 6.5+0.5

Mission: Impossible – Fallout

2018 · Deccan Chronicle · Jul 2018

What doesn't really work here is a somewhat sloppy second half where the plot digresses unnecessarily, with a predictable ending. Also, the character arc of the main antagonist is neither well explained nor deep enough. These shortcomings prevent the movie from being a masterpiece. However, Fallout is a slick action fun with lots to enjoy. And as expected, Tom Cruise really raises the bar of action with this. So if you like thrillers, Fallout is your wet dream.

Full review ↗

TRM 7.3−0.3

Sanju

2018 · Deccan Chronicle · Jul 2018

Ranbir is outstanding in this dishonest film...

Full review ↗

TRM 6.9−2.9

Race 3

2018 · Deccan Chronicle · Jun 2018

It's like he took the story board session to be a master class in direction.  Forget having the ability to create drama, there isn't a decent dialogue or scene. And he wastes the only two talents he has — Anil Kapoor and  Saqib Saleem. Worse, he is unable to create even a single Sallu Magic Moment.

Full review ↗

TRM 3.4−1.4

Kaala

2018 · Deccan Chronicle · Jun 2018

There's not enough Rajini magic...When Rajini Sir arrives, it's as if the screen itself folds from both ends to bend down in a respectful namaskaram.

Full review ↗

TRM 5.9−0.9

Omerta

2018 · Deccan Chronicle · May 2018

Omerta is an honourable film, but it often looses track of itself as it goes off on tangents so obscure and weak.

Full review ↗

TRM 6.1−1.1

Aiyaary

2018 · Deccan Chronicle · May 2018

Aiyya-re aiyya! Ye kya kiya re?...Pretty boy Sidharth Malhotra is good in family dramas, but terrible in other films.

Full review ↗

TRM 4.4−2.4

Pari

2018 · Deccan Chronicle · May 2018

A stylised, witchy tale about the power of love...

Full review ↗

TRM 5.4−0.4

Hichki

2018 · Deccan Chronicle · May 2018

Hichki mainstreams and normalises a condition — a mechanical locha, so to speak — in a way I haven't seen done often.

Full review ↗

TRM 5.7+0.3

Nanu Ki Jaanu

2018 · Deccan Chronicle · May 2018

Manu Rishi, who has written the film, has his heart in the right place, but seems to have misplaced his brain.

Full review ↗

TRM 3.4−1.4

October

2018 · Deccan Chronicle · May 2018

October is about love, of course. But more than that, it's about the inevitable grief that love leads to.

Full review ↗

TRM 6.9+0.1

Blackmail

2018 · Deccan Chronicle · May 2018

Goes cuckoo after a crafty, confident start...Irrfan Khan, of course, is the king of sardonic humour, with snarky lines delivered straight-faced.

Full review ↗

TRM 5.7−1.7

Raid

2018 · Deccan Chronicle · May 2018

Lacerating sanctimony of the honest babu...Raid wants to repair and energise our faith in the Indian sarkar and its attendant babus.

Full review ↗

TRM 6.1−1.1

Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety

2018 · Deccan Chronicle · May 2018

The film's casting is intelligent, and it was a pleasure to watch Alok Nath chug whiskey and throw some gandi gaalis.

Full review ↗

TRM 5.2−0.2

Padman

2018 · Deccan Chronicle · May 2018

Akshay Kumar's well-padded ego trip...Problem is that Akshay Kumar is too obviously driven by the later — egoistic, self-promotion instinct.

Full review ↗

TRM 6.4−2.4

Padmaavat

2018 · Deccan Chronicle · May 2018

Padmaavat is offensively chauvinistic, blatantly right-wing, and quite unabashedly anti-Muslim.

Full review ↗

TRM 6.2−1.2

Vodka Diaries

2018 · Deccan Chronicle · May 2018

Vodka Diaries is a very bad, very poor, often-incoherent and illogical pirated copy of Shutter Island.

Full review ↗

TRM 4.0−2.0

Daas Dev

2018 · Deccan Chronicle · May 2018

Daas Dev is more interested in telling us the story of power, than the story of ishq...

Full review ↗

TRM 5.00.0

Baaghi 2

2018 · Deccan Chronicle · May 2018

Baaghi 2's plot is simple. It's also a copy. And yet three writers were required to collaborate on its screenplay.

Full review ↗

TRM 4.7−0.7

Beyond the Clouds

2018 · Deccan Chronicle · May 2018

Watch Beyond the Clouds for Ishaan, watch it for Sharada, and watch it for those flamingos and Chhotu's little rat.

Full review ↗

TRM 5.9+0.1

Mukkabaaz

2018 · Deccan Chronicle · May 2018

It adds a nice layer to the plot of Mukkabaaz, a film that scores very high on politics, but one that can barely contain the incredible performance of its lead actor, Vineet Kumar Singh.

Full review ↗

TRM 6.9−0.9

Tiger Zinda Hai

2017 · Deccan Chronicle · May 2018

Tiger Zinda Hai is mounted on a mega scale that's impressive. But inside it sits a piddi (a teeny-weeny thing) which can't even pull off a biscuit trick.

Full review ↗

TRM 6.2−3.2

Fukrey Returns

2017 · Deccan Chronicle · May 2018

Fukrey Returns, which arrives four years after Fukrey, sloppily riding the goodwill of the original, has to be endured, not enjoyed.

Full review ↗

TRM 4.8−0.8

My Birthday Song

2018 · Deccan Chronicle · Jan 2018

Soni, who has written and directed My Birthday Song, is so in love with his own creation that he wanted his presence to be felt throughout.

Full review ↗

TRM 4.6−2.6

A Death in the Gunj

2017 · Deccan Chronicle · Dec 2017

A Death in The Gunj ends on a note that fits in well with McCluskiegunj — a place set in the heart of Chhota Nagpur plateau's tribal belt, where Ernest Timothy McCluskie, an Anglo-Indian from Calcutta, carved out a homeland for 400-odd Anglo-Indians in the 1930s, complete with bakeries, hunting trips and picnics under the shade of a tree in Mrs Priscilla Perkins' yard.

Full review ↗

TRM 7.2

Ajji

2017 · Deccan Chronicle · Nov 2017

A standout film with a medieval, moral soul...

Full review ↗

TRM 6.4+0.6

Ittefaq

2017 · Deccan Chronicle · Nov 2017

Ittefaq entrusts all its cracking scenes and lines to an efficient ensemble of actors.

Full review ↗

TRM 5.5+1.5

Judwaa 2

2017 · Deccan Chronicle · Sept 2017

Varun can do action, comedy, romance, dance, look queer, yet in all of these it's also very apparent that he's faking it, pretending.

Full review ↗

TRM 4.7−0.7

Mubarakan

2017 · Deccan Chronicle · Jul 2017

Mubarakan is a very entertaining, enjoyable comedy of bad manners. It is politically incorrect and completely in control of its screwball plot, gags, funny asides, mental lines and sparkling characters.

Full review ↗

TRM 5.6+0.4

Mukti Bhawan

2017 · Deccan Chronicle · Apr 2017

Weaving in this typically Indian absurdity, that we all get and perpetuate, to a rather banal moment is what makes Mukti Bhavan a must watch.

Full review ↗

TRM 7.1−0.1

Kung Fu Yoga

2017 · Deccan Chronicle · Feb 2017

If you are going to pay to watch this film, I beseech you to stay on for the last song. It'll send you off smiling. Jackie Chan is great. Not just as the bumbling, fighting professor, but also as the Bollywood hip-shaking hero. Sonu Sood seemed as misplaced and wasted as the Indian beauties in their dupatta-less ghaghra-cholis.

Full review ↗

TRM 4.1−1.1

Nil Battey Sannata

2016 · Deccan Chronicle · Apr 2016

Nil Battey Sannata is an incredibly moving and emotional film in parts, and thankfully it's more than about chasing one's dreams.

Full review ↗

TRM 7.0−1.0

Ki and Ka

2016 · Deccan Chronicle · Apr 2016

There is too much artifice and very little spontaneity...

Full review ↗

TRM 4.8−0.8

Sanam Teri Kasam

2016 · Deccan Chronicle · Feb 2016

All the time weeping — everybody weeps one by one and then they weep in unison and then again they weep some more, solo, till we come to the point where some intense, quivering sort of love happens that makes us want to slip into the final death throes while screaming, "Abe yaar Inder, shaadi kar le na, please. Otherwise we'll marry her and put her out of her misery."

Full review ↗

TRM 3.5−0.5

Ghayal Once Again

2016 · Deccan Chronicle · Feb 2016

Ghayal Once Again uses the dhai kilo ka haath myth, Sunny's goodwill, reputation and moral underpinnings, but, it's a mediocre film. A much lesser film than the original it is leaning on. Director Sunny Deol is not half the director Santoshi still is, but Sunny the angry paaji is still the man he was. Sunny Deol has never been balanced, nuanced, subtle (lol). He only overdoes stuff. Everything. Even now. And I'm eternally grateful for it.

Full review ↗

TRM 4.7+1.3

X: Past Is Present

2015 · Deccan Chronicle · Nov 2015

What it does tear open is the question of how ethical it is for film reviewers, who are in the business of commenting on other people's films, have the power to influence opinion about films, to occasionally cross over to the other side. There is no ban on film reviewers/critics becoming filmmakers. But let us not for a second pretend that to get these assignments their clout, access as film critics was not in play. Often there are no rules. Often it is a personal standard of ethic that we all set for ourselves. These men, sadly, set them low.

Full review ↗

TRM 4.4

Titli

2015 · Deccan Chronicle · Oct 2015

Based on a brilliantly layered script and screenplay by Behl and Sharat Katariya, Titli's plot is linear, but it's made up of merging, giddy spirals of deceit, lies and crime, all of which are devoted to winding down many lives.

Full review ↗

TRM 7.5−0.5

Main Aur Charles

2015 · Deccan Chronicle · Oct 2015

Watch it for not just an incredible performance by Hooda, but also how smart biopics can be made. Not all have to be like Ketan Mehta's Rang Rasiya.

Full review ↗

TRM 5.4+1.6

Singh Is Bling

2015 · Deccan Chronicle · Oct 2015

I watched most Singh is Bling recoiling from the screen despite the fact that Akshay Kumar's comic timing is good and his big boy goofiness adorable. Problem is that he's not a character. He's just a cute composite of buffoonery. Akshay Kumar did Singh is Kinng. And he was very good. Give him a script. Challenge him a bit.

Full review ↗

TRM 4.3−2.3

Meeruthiya Gangsters

2015 · Deccan Chronicle · Sept 2015

Unlike director Sanjay Gupta's Kaante (2002), which was a rather dingy copy of Reservoir Dogs, Quadri's film is a homage to that film. It has a story to tell, its own story that's rooted in the place it is set in — Meerut, a third-tier city, Delhi's second cousin, twice removed. It's an interesting story and it belongs to its characters. But the style it chooses to tell this story is borrowed. Intelligently, yes. And fun. But it's not germane to its story and people.

Full review ↗

TRM 4.2+1.8

Katti Batti

2015 · Deccan Chronicle · Sept 2015

About 10 minutes into Katti Batti, I started having violent thoughts. These thoughts intensified when I recalled photos of Aamir Khan crying phoot-phoot ke after watching Katti Batti a few days ago. Aamir Khan, Imran Khan's mama or chacha or whatever, should have at least tweeted that those were tears of deep frustration. That he was howling because he had been impaled for over two hours by this nonsense. He didn't. And that's partly why my violent thoughts turned into an urge when the film shamelessly went weepy and sentimental.

Full review ↗

TRM 4.0−2.0

Hero

2015 · Deccan Chronicle · Sept 2015

Hero rhymes with zero and it's tempting, for the sake of the headline and because in the first five minutes of the film my hand went lurking about in search of an eject button, to just write off this film as a big, fat zero.

Full review ↗

TRM 3.9+0.1

Phantom

2015 · Deccan Chronicle · Aug 2015

It's all fake fakery and yet the film and its hero and heroine keep their lips pursed in solemn seriousness, making the whole affair dull rather than fun. Some measure of irony would have helped. But it's not there only.

Full review ↗

TRM 5.2−2.2

Manjhi: The Mountain Man

2015 · Deccan Chronicle · Aug 2015

Siddiqui is an amazing actor. And he's in his element as the slightly crazed lover-husband. And though Siddiqui wears the burden of Manjhi Mountain Man lightly, as the stubborn, moody, dogged man who cut his way through a mountain over 22 years, he's just competent. The film has a strong story, but it lacks soul. Like Mehta's earlier attempts, this too is a mediocre attempt at telling an important story.

Full review ↗

TRM 5.8−1.8

Gour Hari Dastaan

2015 · Deccan Chronicle · Aug 2015

Gour Hari Dastaan: The Freedom File is a very solemn, very onerous, very sanctimonious harangue about many, many things. All things, in fact. But at its core it's a film about director Anant Mahadevan and writer C.P. Surendran (a senior journalist) desperately wanting to burnish and shove their credentials as people with a conscience, as people who care and worry about important things in our faces.

Full review ↗

TRM 5.5−2.5

Brothers

2015 · Deccan Chronicle · Aug 2015

Oho! But we've done this before. Many times. So many times. Family. Bichde bhai... Same-to-same. Ok-ok. Let's do different. Make them Christian. Boxers. Ya! But how will audience samjho? Tattoos. Many. Very many. And Cross. Everywhere.

Full review ↗

TRM 4.7−1.7

Masaan

2015 · Deccan Chronicle · Jul 2015

Masaan is beautifully written in all its aspects — story, characters, dialogue, songs. And all together give us a pulsating snapshot of life. Shot mostly on location in the small town of Benaras, cinematographer Avinash Arun Dhaware very intelligently uses Gangaji, the film's protagonist, to lend the film and the people it's about an expansiveness — of life, and its possibilities.

Full review ↗

TRM 7.7−0.7

Bāhubali: The Beginning

2015 · Deccan Chronicle · Jul 2015

Rajamouli has reserved all the grander and grandstanding for later, after interval. That's when the film stands up and begins to strut like an epic. The battle scenes are monumental in scale and accomplished in detail, but lacked urgency and tension. Prabhas has some fun scenes, like when he literally slaps a sharp sword, and the fighting is rather convincing. But the acting, especially of Prabhas and Rana Daggubati, is very action-man like — grimace, clench, flex… But then, what are burly men to do when they have to slit, slash, slit, slash… Here's hoping that part two will have the emotional drama that was missing here.

Full review ↗

TRM 7.2−1.2

Guddu Rangeela

2015 · Deccan Chronicle · Jul 2015

A review of Guddu Rangeela in its own tone and style would simply say, with a smilie: GR is neither rangeela, nor very guddu-guddu. And for this the satisfied team of Subhash Kapoor and Arshad Warsi are to blame.

Full review ↗

TRM 5.1−1.1

Welcome to Karachi

2015 · Deccan Chronicle · May 2015

...tries to be dark and comic, but it's mostly a ha-ha-he-he satire where the joke is on all things — men and nations — macho and flexed. This description makes the film sound sublime. It's not. It's plain ridiculous and fun. It has the sort of jokes that you know are going to be dragged till our sides split.

Full review ↗

TRM 3.9+1.1

Piku

2015 · Deccan Chronicle · May 2015

The characters, though etched with firm, bold outlines, have just a shade or two inside. They are defined by but are also restricted to just their idiosyncrasies. For a film whose plot and progression depends almost entirely on its characters, they are limited. They needed to be illuminated by stories, anecdotes, to be constructed in layers that would have given them dimensions. They are not, especially Bhashkor Banerjee.

Full review ↗

TRM 7.3−2.3

Gabbar is Back

2015 · Deccan Chronicle · May 2015

Director Krish and superstar Akshay's GIB is a hectic, loud film that skids from one episode to another introducing characters — all prefabricated, one-dimensional ones necessary for simulating a vigilante melodrama — and pushing the story to its inevitable end.

Full review ↗

TRM 4.8−1.8

Ek Paheli Leela

2015 · Deccan Chronicle · Apr 2015

My only humble request is that the next director who gets to sign Ms Leone in a title role and the film is certified A, no time must be wasted in telling a story. All efforts must be devoted to making sure that her orgasmic shenanigans are of the quality and quantity that merit the A certification.

Full review ↗

TRM 3.6+0.4

Hunterrr

2015 · Deccan Chronicle · Mar 2015

Barring a few brief peccadilloes, the film is now homage to the redeeming powers of love and the institution of marriage. It's all about how love, like the Hindus' Ganga shanan, Muslims' wuzoo, Christians' baptism, washes away our sins, birthing a new, pure, righteous marriageable one. This morality play, dragging us down since the Elizabethan times, is, well, again, fun interrupts.

Full review ↗

TRM 4.7+0.3

Dum Laga Ke Haisha

2015 · Deccan Chronicle · Mar 2015

Though the film is emotionally unsure, it manages to extract some lovely performances from its sturdy ensemble of supporting actors. Ayushmann Khurrana as Prem, eventually the only keeper of the film's artifice — a fat heroine — delivers an exceptionally astute performance, reminding us once again of Vicky, the delightful donor.

Full review ↗

TRM 6.8−0.8

Qissa: The Tale of a Lonely Ghost

2015 · Deccan Chronicle · Feb 2015

Rarely do we get to watch films where we are constantly reading faces minutely, searching for answers, for clues. We do so here and they all remain dazzlingly ambiguous. None more so than the ever fabulous Irrfan Khan who inhabits the persona of a Sikh, a father, a husband, a soul with incredibly lyrical sagacity. Traumatised and desperate, he possesses and exudes spookiness that's fundamental to connecting with this qissa.

Full review ↗

TRM 7.1+0.9

Roy

2015 · Deccan Chronicle · Feb 2015

Arjun Rampal is channelling his inner angsty hippie here. He gets the slumped demeanour right. The stubble and even the dandruff-hair work. But all's lost in that exquisite but stony face. Is something the matter with Ranbir Kapoor? First hyper-stupidity in Besharam and now sleep-walking through this cuckoo? Should we worry about Bombay Velvet? Fernandez is, well, easy on the eye and charming. Now for some acting and diction lessons, please.

Full review ↗

TRM 4.1−1.1

Baby

2015 · Deccan Chronicle · Jan 2015

...for the last 10 or 15 minutes of 'Baby', it keeps you on the edge and sends you off feeling happy. But, too little, too late Pandey has written the story, script and directed 'Baby'. Sometimes another pair of eye, another brain isn't such a bad idea.

Full review ↗

TRM 6.3−1.3

PK

2014 · Deccan Chronicle · Dec 2014

What's also very disturbing here is that even when the film is saying something important, it's surrounded by conventional and corny stuff. Weighted down by cliches, the film often feels tiresome. I don't enjoy watching Aamir Khan very much. His smugness, didactic finger-wagging irritates me. But here he sheds the moral weight he's been carrying since Tare Zameen Pe and Satyamev Jayate. There's a lightness and playfulness to his character that's touching. In the raw state, as a clean slate, his PK is convincing and charming.

Full review ↗

TRM 7.4−2.4

Badlapur Boys

2014 · Deccan Chronicle · Dec 2014

There are interesting aerial shots, and the camera is always in motion. The kabaddi playing boys are not bad either. Only trouble is that all they mutter "kabaddi, kabaddi" in a decidedly third-rate story where the moral victory is, well, a dud.

Full review ↗

TRM 4.3−1.3

Bhopal: A Prayer for Rain

2014 · Deccan Chronicle · Dec 2014

Bhopal: A Prayer for Rain tells the story of the worst of times with some needless "cinematic liberties" that make it a lesser movie, but, perhaps, a more palatable one. It begs a sequel a film about how our legal luminaries, led by Fali S. Nariman and Nani Palkiwala, argued in courts for several billable hours paid for by the Union Carbide Corporation, and ensured that Union Carbide had to cough up just $1,000 for every death it caused. It could be titled, Bhopal: A Courtroom Tragedy.

Full review ↗

TRM 5.7

Kill Dil

2014 · Deccan Chronicle · Nov 2014

'Kill/Dil' flirts with the idea of having rotten men as its lead pair. It even seems to enjoy their bloody bonhomie. But it chickens out. What a shame! And what a waste! Imagine if Yash Chopra had chickened out and made Vijay sign up to become an LIC agent?

Full review ↗

TRM 4.4−0.4

Rang Rasiya

2014 · Deccan Chronicle · Nov 2014

The film's high point is seeing Ravi Varma's paintings. It establishes that the painter-artist's life is a powerful story that needs to be told by a better, more accomplished director and actors.

Full review ↗

TRM 6.0−1.0

Sonali Cable

2014 · Deccan Chronicle · Oct 2014

Though Charudutt Acharya's characters in Sonali Cable have stories and context, his film flails about, unable to decide what it is. That's partly because Rhea Chakraborty's Sonali is completely unbelievable, and because the film's bigotry keeps overtaking its socialist spirit.

Full review ↗

TRM 3.8+0.2

The World Before Her

2014 · Deccan Chronicle · Oct 2014

As cinema it is absolutely flat. Talking heads talk and they are often repetitive. Director Nisha Pahuja seems to have no sense of the visual medium that is cinema and that makes her rather informative film boring very soon.

Full review ↗

TRM 6.8−0.8

Bang Bang!

2014 · Deccan Chronicle · Oct 2014

Bang Bang! is pure Hrithik porn. A star as big and stunning as Hrithik needs grand outings. So the script of K&D was bought, a gorgeous woman signed, locations short-listed and extras handed out a page each detailing their expressions and lines.

Full review ↗

TRM 4.3+1.7

Chaarfutiya Chhokare

2014 · Deccan Chronicle · Sept 2014

'Chaarfutiya Chhokare' is built around a mildly interesting germ of an idea, 12-13 year old boys taking to crime because of human trafficking. But this idea gets lost in its soporific maze of a story where silly characters run around but get nowhere. The film has a few nice frames and exactly two interesting moments, but they are spoilt by inept acting and lines that should never have been written.

Full review ↗

TRM 3.9−0.9

Daawat-e-Ishq

2014 · Deccan Chronicle · Sept 2014

In the film's dull menu the only item of interest is Aditya Roy Kapoor. Despite the complete lack of reciprocity from Parineeti, he is able to get intimate with her and turn the screen into a pool of feelings. He makes you want to be in love. Parineeti is a charming and competent actress but now she's getting repetitive and boring. And here she isn't even invested in her role. Her Hyderabadi accent comes and goes, like the fluctuating talent of Anupam Kher.

Full review ↗

TRM 5.0−2.0

Mardaani

2014 · Deccan Chronicle · Aug 2014

...despite its Adults Only certification, doesn't spend much time in dingy bedrooms, or with the girls. Though it lectures and breathes heavy sometimes, it's more interested in the men who run these rackets — men you may see hanging out at a coffee shop, or jogging in your colony park.

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TRM 5.8+0.2

Katiyabaaz

2014 · Deccan Chronicle · Aug 2014

Katiyabaaz is a funny, moving and very well-researched documentary that's definitely worth watch. It's also deeply reassuring. As the wires of bureaucracy cross with political live-wires, a bulb goes off — Ritu Maheshwari. But that we have such officers gives us some hope.

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TRM 7.1+0.9

Hate Story 2

2014 · Deccan Chronicle · Jul 2014

Hate Story 2's story is the barest-minimum required for a revenge saga. It has none of the layers, substance of the original. And its characters are like chess pieces programmed to play single-line roles: bad man, bruised girl. He moves one square, she moves one square.

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TRM 4.2−0.2

Pizza

2014 · Deccan Chronicle · Jul 2014

Pizza has all the horror paraphernalia -- dead bodies with axe embedded in their heads, little girls with dark circles calling out papa, chaabi-waale eerie toys, doors that slam shut, phones that are dead. Even a red doll. But it's all restrained, controlled and not hysterical. All of Pizza's scary stuff is spiked with humour, and it's easy on special effects.

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TRM 4.7+1.3

Kya Dilli Kya Lahore

2014 · Deccan Chronicle · May 2014

The entire film is a conversation between the two men, with just two more characters appearing. It is beautifully sparse and keeps us more than just interested. We are involved. We begin the viewing cautiously, watching carefully to see if the Indian is a bad guy, or the Pakistani. The film allows our prejudice to take its course and then shows us our own idiocy, through the two other characters who appear.

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TRM 5.5+1.5

Purani Jeans

2014 · Deccan Chronicle · May 2014

The listlessness then is evenly spread. There's a certain decrepit feel to almost every scene, interaction and character that's not easy to accomplish when you have young boys fist-bumping each other. Yet it's strong, this stench of been here, seen this.

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TRM 3.5−0.5

Bhoothnath Returns

2014 · Deccan Chronicle · Apr 2014

Bhoothnath Returns tries to strike a high moral tone in its social messaging, but creatively it doesn't flinch from being crassly exploitative. It made me cringe so often that I wished this clever concept had been handed over to a director with a light touch.

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TRM 5.8−0.8

Jal

2014 · Deccan Chronicle · Apr 2014

Though Jal's story is earthbound, it takes occasional flight, like a good, compelling dastan. But the film has an intermittently sparse and jam-packed screenplay and it tells its story in a style that's a mix of documentary and theatre -- an affected, stylised narrative borrowing both form and spirit from various folk dance traditions. The film is marred by an uneven screenplay that rises and dips a lot initially. But once the story picks up, after interval, it's a delight to watch Purab Kohli.

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TRM 5.3−0.3

Main Tera Hero

2014 · Deccan Chronicle · Apr 2014

It is a sure-shot test: The more you laugh during this film, the lower your IQ. The most interesting thing about Main Tera Hero is its music, from its foot-tapping songs to the background music most of which is stolen, including from James Bond.

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TRM 5.5−2.5

Lakshmi

2014 · Deccan Chronicle · Mar 2014

It is both a terrifying and inspiring story and Kukunoor tells it with almost a schizophrenic cinematic narrative that is grim, claustrophobic and gory one moment, and the next breezy, airy and luminous.

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TRM 6.0+1.0

Ragini MMS 2

2014 · Deccan Chronicle · Mar 2014

Ragini MMS 2 has the standard plot of film within a film. But it's been used to great effect and impact here. Has just the right amount of mambo-jambo to carry the conceit of horror films forward.

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TRM 4.4+1.6

Gulaab Gang

2014 · Deccan Chronicle · Mar 2014

Visually the film is seductive – pink saris in sepia dehaat — but its message is scary. While I had severe problems with its glorification of vigilante justice, there were a few moments when I was both thrilled and moved. I am ashamed.

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TRM 4.5+0.5

Queen

2014 · Deccan Chronicle · Mar 2014

Queen is a well-meaning, well-mannered film that's funny and packs in small, elevating, but palatable messages. It challenges nothing. It just shows an Indian girl slowly, gently renegotiating life while remaining true to who she is.

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TRM 7.8−0.8

Shaadi Ke Side Effects

2014 · Deccan Chronicle · Mar 2014

Shaadi Ke Side Effects is a greater film on screen than it is on paper because it has the talented Mr Akhtar and Ms Balan. Both bring warmth and a mature, knowing naughtiness to their interactions. They are fun to be with.

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TRM 5.6−0.6

Dhoom 3

2013 · Asian Age · Dec 2013

Aamir Khan and the film's director have Robert Downey Jr's Sherlock on their mind. They believe that some exaggerated posturing and a bowler's hat will get the job done. It's doesn't. The film Dhoom 3's producers paid for was meant to be a grand, seductive, dizzy journey. Unfortunately, our travel companions on this journey are old fogies who have seen and shown us better days.

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TRM 6.0−3.0

R... Rajkumar

2013 · Deccan Chronicle · Dec 2013

...is stretched, dragged and pulled in all sorts of irrelevant directions just so it covers the remainder time. Prabhu Dheva's films are infantile fantasies that seek to gratify the fragile male ego and libido. Any further analysis of this imbecility would be a waste of time.

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TRM 3.1−0.1

D-Day

2013 · Deccan Chronicle · Dec 2013

Till Dawood Ibrahim dies of old age, or is claimed by one of his own, we'll keep dreaming of catharsis. But director Nikhil Advani feels differently. He thinks that if Americans can extract revenge and experience catharsis via Operation Neptune Spear, Indians deserve to exhale as well. So what if the Indian government and its unintelligent intelligence officers only offer the most dreary script? A fictitious one can be scripted.

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TRM 6.7−0.7

Krrish 3

2013 · Deccan Chronicle · Nov 2013

...Krrish 3 doesn't soar. In fact, Krrish doesn't even fly about a lot. And so he doesn't scoop us up either, and lets us off a bit disappointed after promising an exciting, thrilling ride.

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TRM 5.7+0.3

Mickey Virus

2013 · Deccan Chronicle · Nov 2013

Mickey Virus is an okay film that's powered by its first half, when it is with Dilli ke bachche who wear funny T-shirts, speak sadak-chaap language, but are accomplished and cool. Varma's Mickey Virus is the latest in a long line of films set in saddi Dilli. The film's dialogue writers have very creatively used Dilli ki patent Hindi-Punjabi, and kept it funny and crisp. But for those not in Dilli state of mind, some topline words/phrases require translation:

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TRM 4.8+0.2

Phata Poster Nikla Hero

2013 · Deccan Chronicle · Sept 2013

'Phata Poster Nikla Hero' has several themes that are similar to 'Andaz Apna Apna', but its slapstick is not as sharp. 'Phata Poster...' misplaces its funny bone and begins to wobble when it's barely half way, and though it tries to resume the gag, it's just not up for the task. Which is not to say that 'Phata Poster...' is not fun or funny. It is. In parts.

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TRM 4.8+0.2

Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani

2013 · Asian Age · May 2013

This narrative — which zigzags through a landscape of clichés, powered only by cuteness and populated by only nice people — is Bollywood's new coming of aged formula.

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TRM 5.9+0.1

Hum Hai Raahi Car Ke

2013 · Deccan Chronicle · May 2013

There is no reason for 'Hum Hai Raahi Car Ke' to exist except that producer-director Jyotin Goel's son, Dev Goel, is now of kissable age and has acquired muscles — feats that daddy dear thinks deserve a public audience.

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TRM 3.1