‘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?

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.

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.

‘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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.