…there is no denying that Talvar is easily among the best Hindi films of the year. It is in equal parts absorbing, heartbreaking, and infuriating, much like the case it’s based on.

The biggest irony, of course, is that the movie is one long meta statement. As the story follows the predictable arc of the girls finding success only to face sexism, misogyny and betrayal at every corner, you realise with growing horror that Calendar Girls is also exactly that: an attempt at chixploitation in the garb of social-message filmmaking.

A Lukewarm Mess …Katti Batti, feels like a manipulated product. There are two different stories at odds here: one that attempts to investigate why a relationship went sour and another about two people dealing with a crisis that affects their relationship. They may sound like similar things, but they aren’t.

Hero is a vacuous and self-indulgent exercise, akin to taking star kids on a field trip in order to show them the ropes. Do it, by all means, but why must you subject an audience to it?

By the time the climax showed up, featuring a not-so-subtle nod to Titanic, the film’s lapses in logic, bad performances, and simplistic understanding of world politics had left me in a stupor. I never thought I’d say this, but it almost made me want to re-watch Bajrangi Bhaijaan.

Almost.

…despite this film’s relatively restrained storytelling, sincere attempt at subtlety, and overwhelmingly wonderful intentions, it falters on a number of levels. Gour Hari Dastaan is a peculiar film — one that attempts to emulate a somewhat dated style of arthouse cinema that works only in bits and parts. The rest of the time, at best, it’s a bit of a snooze-fest; at worst, in some places, it’s so far off the mark that it almost works as parody.

Bangistan looks like it must’ve started as a good enough idea on paper before it got compromised for reasons best known to its makers. There are glimpses of a superior product in the way some shots and sequences are executed, but the overall product is an insult to their own efforts. Wes Anderson and Anees Bazmee is not a combination to aspire to. Ever.

…all said and done, Baahubali: The Beginning is a remarkable achievement. What Rajamouli has pulled off here, despite its flaws, is nothing short of a miracle, especially when you take into account India’s notoriously risk-averse filmmaking environment and when the film ends on a tantalising cliffhanger (paving the way for Baahubali: The Conclusion, due to release next year), once can’t help but applaud his singularly brave vision. As the cliché goes, a journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step, but it doesn’t really matter if that first step is shaky as long as it lands firmly and confidently.

As anybody who is a fan of the first two films directed by James Cameron will tell you, there has never been any reason for any film on this subject to have existed beyond the year 1991, since Judgment Day — an apocalyptic event that wipes out much of humanity — was said to have been averted.

Despite the over-the-top-ness and the general inanity on display, you might even find yourself rooting for ‘India Stunners’ in the movie’s appropriately emotional climax. That’s the surest sign of a genre film having gotten at least the basics right.