What it does tear open is the question of how ethical it is for film reviewers, who are in the business of commenting on other people’s films, have the power to influence opinion about films, to occasionally cross over to the other side. There is no ban on film reviewers/critics becoming filmmakers. But let us not for a second pretend that to get these assignments their clout, access as film critics was not in play. Often there are no rules. Often it is a personal standard of ethic that we all set for ourselves. These men, sadly, set them low.

Considering how ambitious the intention is, in attempting to diversify the film into various genres and interpretations of love, it is commendable that the present life of K is well tied up with all the other stories set in the past. It just about makes it a watchable, cohesive whole, though not necessarily something that makes sense.

Most Bollywood films are accused of being mind numbing. Brainless and devoid of sense, they attract much of our ire and rightfully so, but sometimes things take a turn for the worse. Every once in a while there appears a film gift wrapped in its own smug air of eccentric madness, dripping with pretentious profundity and pseudo-intellectuality. X-Past is Present is just that.

…a cinematic kaleidoscope full of diverse genres, styles, and cast that all come together to fit perfectly and form a colorful film full of expression.

Perhaps there’ll be those who’ll find something resonant in X, who might be moved to try and figure out the time-travel business teased towards the end. Personally, I doubt I would have thought less or more of the film if K and his friend had come across the DeLorean, travelled back to the start of the film and begun their conversation again. I wouldn’t stick around for the rerun, though. If past is present, my time is all the more precious.

Watching X: Past is Present is like being in a trance or a dream. Some moments remain vivid even after the film gets over, others way too hazy to recollect. There is a big idea here, which gets communicated to the viewer at times and eludes at others. The film moves from moments of instant connect to those which demand that the viewer see things from a distance.

11 filmmakers contributing to a single theme in ‘X Past is Present’ make one big mess…

…simply something that will not connect at all with the non-pseudos who form 98 percent of the audiences for Hindi cinema. The film is also partly in Tamil and predominantly in English. And at 105 minutes, clearly more than a quarter of it is sleep-inducing!