For the fans of sci-fi and fantasy films, this one particularly could be a must-watch. For the skeptics of this genre (this critic included), however, a word of advice for potential viewers-go see this one with an open mind. Even for those familiar with the 1982 ‘Blade Runner’ (set in 2019), this film is sure […]
Take a few key ingredients, put on the gas, swirl them around in a frying pan, bring them to a boil, and serve hot. Something missing? Aha… it’s the condiments! That in a nutshell sums up the film ‘Chef’, sounding suspiciously like the first name of its protagonist Saif Ali Khan, who plays Roshan Kalra […]
Surely Sanjay Dutt could have chosen a more sensible (read: mature) vehicle to make his comeback. Even with the battle-scarred Dutt, the rape-revenge-retribution saga is turning out to wear thin. A blink-and-miss opening scene tells you that a woman is being sexually assaulted in a moving vehicle at night, with one of her shoes falling […]
In the dying moments of the film come the unintended guffaws from the audience — not the only time though — when the subject of the biopic makes a tongue-in-cheek (or should one say tongue-in-prosthetics) remark to the court that the presiding magistrate has no jurisdiction over the matter at hand. For the uninitiated, Haseena […]
Who says that art cinema in Hindi films is non-existent? In India, politics and politicians have always made strange bedfellows – as the inveterate R K Laxman would lampoon in his daily column and which second-time director Masurkar ( Sulemani Keeda,2014) would have done well to emulate. Both Masurkar and Mayank Tewari, without attempting to […]
If ever there was a female-centric film, Kangana brings it to life in ‘Simran’. A collaboration between a National award-winning director and a National award-winning actress is bound to create more than just a flutter. Well, it does – till you realise that the writing could have had more credibility than it does. A 30-year-old […]
To an extent, Farhan Akhtar’s tryst with musicals continues in his latest ‘Lucknow Central’. It’s a wonder that, having sung in six of his previous films, he doesn’t croon a single song in LC despite being the lead musician in his group! But moving ahead… Kishen Girhotra (Farhan Akhtar), an aspiring singer from Moradabad, is […]
The last time a film was made on vasectomy was four decades ago. The maverick comedian I. S. Johar had made one of his famed spoofs on the male sterilisation programme, only to see its release delayed till the Emergency ended. Now, on the heels of ‘Shubh Mangal Saavdhan’ (based on erectile dysfunction) comes this […]
Kids have always held a fascination for clowns. In celebrated author Stephen King’s 1986 novel, serialised in 1990 and now adapted for the big screen by Argentinian director Andy Muschietti; Pennywise, the Dancing Clown is a macabre supernatural who awakens every 27 years to prey on children. It’s October 1983 and seven-year-old Georgie (Jackson Scott) is […]
The title card at the beginning declares the film to be based on a true story. With the Gandhi cap, the prosthetically altered nose, the manner of speech and the intense look, there was going to be little doubt that it wouldn’t be a biopic. But the moot point is – how much of the […]
‘The Hitman’s Bodyguard’ resembles the buddy films of the late 80s and early 90s — apart form the fact that the word ‘mother—–r’ is overused. The VFX too belongs to that era and to a large extent so does the script. The film starts with an AAA-rated bodyguard Michael Bryce (Ryan Reynolds) failing to protect […]