Category: Movie Reviews

Epic in length – it has a runtime of nearly four and a half hours – but squarely focused on the minutiae of the life of three boys and their excessively stern father, Naangal (This Is Us) is an exceptional piece of cinema. Calling it a piece of anything would be somewhat incongruous – it...

Layers of darkness that lie behind and around the glitter and glamour of Mumbai showbiz pervades Showtime, a Disney+Hotstar series produced by Dharmatic Entertainment. Employing broad and familiar strokes, the show has no dearth of vim and vigour. Not much of it percolates beneath its shiny surface. Be that as it may, the first four...

In a hackneyed good versus evil construct that is as contrived as it is convoluted, Shaitaan centres on a happy family of four that finds itself up against a diabolical modern-day sorcerer who works his black magic on a young girl and makes her do his satanic bidding. The devil is out to put the...

In an all-girls boarding school in a hill town, a group of students grapples with strict regimen, the constant pressure to conform and the burden of legacy. They look for ways to break free from their ambitions, inhibitions and obsessions even as the hawk-eyed authorities at Vandana Valley Girls School strain to rein them in....

Saddled with a wayward screenplay that fires a string of blanks, Yodha fights a losing battle. The titular hero is a de-rostered soldier from a disbanded task force who boards a commercial aeroplane to nowhere. He is on a mission to wreak vengeance and seek redemption. That is what the screenplay by co-director Sagar Ambre...

Three days before election day at an upscale Delhi club, the members are rattled by the death of a brawny Zumba trainer. The incident is sought to be dismissed as a gym accident. But a seasoned police investigator, employing unconventional methods, sniffs foul play and decides that there is more here than meets the eye....

With history and politics increasingly serving as vehicles of blatant propaganda in the hands of some Mumbai filmmakers, it is with trepidation that one approaches Ae Watan Mere Watan. Mercifully, it turns out that the historical thriller produced by Dharmatic Entertainment and Amazon MGM Studios does not have agenda-tinged blinkers on. Streaming on Amazon Prime...

First-time director Jai Mehta’s high seas thriller Lootere rests on the defensive and/or despicable acts of men driven by greed, ambition and duress. Set in an African nation whose people are all at sea, and not only a metaphorical sense, the eight-episode series is chockfull of action.     The initial release of two episodes...

The film could well have been titled Madcap Express. Actor Kunal Kemmu’s directorial debut, Madgaon Express, is a wild and wacky comedy of errors that rarely, if ever, pauses for a breather. The film is deliriously funny as it moves effortlessly and incessantly between slapstick and sparkling silver-tongued wit. Emerging from a bloated movie industry...

A rambunctious and covetous trio of flight attendants steer Crew, a crime comedy that is at best a fits-and-starts affair. The low-yield film taxis to its designated runway without any visible hitch but, once airborne, runs into strong head winds and many an uncomfortable wobble. The positives first. Yes, there are a few, not the...