A whole lot of time is wasted setting up the story; far less is assigned to unravelling the mystery or providing adequate backstory to all the characters. It feels like misdirection to bring you into the world of Malang through Advait and Sara’s superficial, chemically assisted love story but place greater emphasis on the twisted minds of the cops in charge.

Singh, the director, had all the pieces to craft an effectual Indian western: the terrain, the long-suffering sadhu, an age of flux, elements of magic realism, and touches of Shakespearean tragedy. But Laal Kaptaan falters on an over-written script and visually over-told story.

The style of the film veers from domestic soap opera to dramatic crime and action stitched together by political drama. Structured like a Shakespearean tragedy, Prassthanam is built on countless conflicts, awash with textbook characters and dated in its story-telling.

John Abraham’s dramatic film seems burdened by its patriotic ambitions…

Vidyut Jammwal’s action-adventure film is well-intentioned but lazily executed

Utekar directs what can best be defined as an overwritten dummies guide to live-in relationships. There is so much drag in this 126-minute film that even the occasional build-up of momentum is punctured by the next chapter of humourless nonsense, such as a bizarre dream sequence with a child getting married and a scene at a temple.

…the film attempts to deliver a mixed message about how animals living in captivity need to be saved from avaricious developers. In the process, as they set aside their selfishness, this collective of crazies finds their conscience and we find a quick exit from the cinema.

The timeline of Thackeray is conveniently engineered to delete the unflattering, the sensitive and the problematic mandate. What remains are elements that buoy up the founder of the Shiv Sena and paint him in resplendent saffron. The colour-agnostic are likely to find this portrait as fascinating as it is disturbing.

Emraan Hashmi plays conman with flair but is bogged down by convoluted screenplay

I came away with Akshaye Khanna’s smug smile and his jaunty walk. He is conspiratorial throughout, occasionally pensive and seemingly having the last laugh in an inelegant adaptation.