“As a movie, there is nothing particularly wrong with Filmistaan. It’s a nice story with decent acting, good characterizations and overall it’s comparable to your typical Hollywood “feel good” dramedy in the way it handles itself. Of course, the melodrama and slow-motion sequences meant to evoke empathy for the Indian’s plight goes a bit too far over the line and reminds us that this is after all, a Bollywood film about the love of Bollywood films. Can cinema really change the world? Can it really bring a mutual understanding between Indians and Muslim extremists in Pakistan? This “amaan ki aasha” film makes the case that yes, it can.”

FULL REVIEW: https://extrasensoryfilms.wordpress.com/2014/08/25/filmistaan/

“What is hard to come to terms with in the film is absolutism with which Bauji prescribes to his views… at first you think “good for him!” when he says he refuses to follow all the rules and regulations society has set for religion (Hinduism in this case) because there is no evidence of God even existing. But then, he also starts to doubt the existence of gravity and that the world is round, and your thoughts automatically become “ok, never mind, this guy is a complete idiot”. He is at once, Socrates(“the only thing I know is, I know nothing”) and a senile old fool.”

FULL REVIEW: https://extrasensoryfilms.wordpress.com/2014/06/11/aankhon-dekhi/

“Part of what made Raam Reddy’s debut film THITHI so compelling is its ability to give a real account of village life ongoings and procedures through a fully unfiltered lens. Yes, there have been other “village” films to come out, particularly those from Bollywood such as PEEPLI LIVE, but the forced media-eye encounter of that film was still a bit decorated and polished. Here, we get Karnataka in its utter primal state.”

FULL REVIEW: https://extrasensoryfilms.wordpress.com/2016/12/09/three-stories-from-indias-rural-heartland/

“Prashant Nair’s Umrika, like many independent Hindi features from India had an incredibly difficult time finding distribution because of the over-saturation of mainstream garbage cinema Bollywood continues to pump out like a vomiting gutter-pipe. Yet, thanks to the revelation of online-streaming media and the newly sprouting avenues as well as rave reviews from the Sundance Film Festival, Nair’s little film found a home in Netflix. God bless.”

FULL REVIEW: https://extrasensoryfilms.wordpress.com/2016/12/09/three-stories-from-indias-rural-heartland/

“While as a thriller, Trapped doesn’t render much interest, the film’s social undertones are what keep it afloat as at least an acknowledgeable piece of filmmaking. The social realities of being ‘trapped’ in India are much easier to construct as plausible than in more developed countries, and Motwane has that to his advantage.”

FULL REVIEW: https://extrasensoryfilms.wordpress.com/2017/06/26/trapped-middle-class-india-in-a-high-class-city/