Babita Singh Reporting

“Nimisha Sajayan shines, but weak murder mystery holds it back. A small town woman, and the small town cop, sometimes one playing the other, are in the danger of becoming tropes, if they haven't already.”

“Nimisha Sajayan is fantastic as a Bhopal-based cop named Babita Singh, aka Baby.”

“What is impressive about Barun Sobti is that, main character or not, his commitment to the craft shows and glows in his limited screen time.”

“Workforce liberation has long been a myth for the Indian bahu. You step out of domesticity into the workforce, but — conveniently enough — no one picks up their share of the work back home.”

“A quiet, thoughtful investigation into patriarchy and self-worth”

“Babita Singh Reporting goes past the messy homes and humming markets to reflect the daredevilry of a protagonist coming into her own. What ensues is a raw and thrilling marriage of momentum and meltdown across awkward inquiries made within junkie hideouts, suspicious relatives, battered classmates and Ravan's effigy.”

“Babita Singh Reporting is ultimately about the crime of making women feel small and the dangerous moment when one of them decides she has had enough. Nimisha Sajayan doesn't just solve a murder. She solves herself. It is not as devastating as The Great Indian Kitchen, but it shares that film's understanding that patriarchy rarely needs a villain.”

“Directed by Ambiecka Pandit, the film is engaging as much as it is enraging. The rooted nature of the film is what works for it the best, with the makers diving deep into the shackles women are tied to in the name of traditions.”

“Amazon Prime's spindly yet sturdy exploration of a woman, a wife, and a career woman's dangerous leap from submission to self assertion, is not only an engrossing experience, it is also life-changing.”

“Babita Singh Reporting works better as a coming-of-rage origin story than as a thoughtful crime drama. While the film doesn't quite join the ranks of the Hindi streaming crime drama hall of fame, its protagonist certainly does.”

“Babita Singh Reporting enters the same crowded space. But when the template is this familiar, the question is whether there is anything new to investigate.”

“The film tackles patriarchy and self-worth but misses its full potential.”

“Nimisha Sajayan delivers a powerful performance in this simple crime drama”

“The first thing that strikes you about Babita Singh Reporting is how familiar its world feels. Baby Singh (Nimisha Sajayan) is a newly posted police officer, but at home she is still expected to be the accommodating wife who takes care of everyone else.”

“Babita Singh Reporting is a below-average movie about patriarchy and a terrible investigative drama. Babita Singh Reporting is a perfect example of how not to solve a "murder" case.”

“Unfortunately, while the critique on patriarchy lands well, Babita Singh Reporting fumbles on the police procedural part. Some red herrings do not quite hold up. The final act leaves some questions unanswered, and a tighter mystery could have made the film considerably stronger.”

“It is a gripping crime drama that not only focuses on the mystery and investigation but also on the struggles of a female cop.”

“The slow-burn mystery works best as a story of self-worth, with Baby gradually learning to stop pleasing everyone. Babita Singh Reporting has a cop who can't even get leave from work without creating a whole new problem for herself.”

“Babita Singh reports with a quiet yet telling subversion. The biting social critique tells us how our society tolerates a woman's professional ambition only on the condition of absolute domestic continuity. While the film succeeds as a visceral social dissection, it eventually fumbles as an investigative thriller in its final leg.”

“A compelling whodunnit which goes deep to find the real cost of patriarchy”

“Babita Singh Reporting, which is out on Prime Video, is excellent at posing the questions that matter. First-time feature director Ambiecka Pandit dexterously directs a script by Amita Vyas that deftly sets up Babita's situation, but fumbles when it comes to producing the key that unlocks the mystery around Bansi. While the latest movie doesn't have a compelling enough pay-off, it fulfils its chief purpose: a close examination of a typical middle-class existence that conceals micro-aggressions and macro-conflicts targetted at women.”

“Babita Singh Reporting is both an anomaly and a new direction forward for police procedurals, which have come to follow a formulaic pattern. The film serves as an effective character study of female subservience within the system.”

“Ambiecka Pandit’s crime thriller stars a peerless Nimisha Sajayan as an underconfident cop torn between domesticity and duty”

“The film’s central idea is that Baby is investigating more than a murder. The case gradually becomes a way for her to examine the relationships, expectations and everyday humiliations that have kept her from asserting herself. In that sense, Babita Singh Reporting works as much as a character-driven domestic drama as it does a crime story. The film is easily one of the best Indian crime dramas of this year.”