Laal Singh Chaddha, Review: A run for your money, in branded underwear It’s been fifteen years after Aamir Khan acted in and directed Taare Zameen Par, about a dyslexic child, and 28 years after Tom Hanks captivated our hearts as Forrest Gump, who had an IQ of 75 and needed braces to correct what was believed to be a curved spine. In 2022, here comes a film that is the official remake of Forrest Gump. It could be among the warmest, heart-tugging tales you’ve heard being told, or i...

Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, Review: Witch ghost will be the soul survivor? Alternately calling itself a horror story and a humorous tale, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 (Labyrinth, Maze) does raise a few laughs. The horror, however, fails to strike terror. Songs, literally thrust into the film and one of them relegated to the end credit titles, are catchy, but they are either mushy or foot-tapping, neither kind blending with the theme. There is indeed a labyrinth of explanations for some of the spooky goings on in...

Super 30, Review: Inequality, equality and variable quality Two basic tenets form the paradigm of Super 30: a real-life story about a nondescript do-gooder who is a super achiever must strike a chord with audiences, and, secondly, any tale of a low caste and poverty-stricken protagonist, sacrificing his lady love and filthy lucre for the cause of educating fellow under-privileged ‘untouchables’ in his society, will have them rooting for the unlikely hero. How these doctrines pan o...

India’s Most Wanted, Review: Mission without ammunition, found wanting Indian spy thrillers have been on the scene ever since the first film of James from Thames was released in India in the early 1960s. They were broadly divided into categories: rip-offs of 007 and C grade thrillers, with action and a bit of titillation. Remarkably, some of them even managed to incorporate catchy songs into the narrative. In the last two decades, after international terrorism, other than the eternal bo...

Kalank, Review: Masochistic miasma Everything in Kalank (blemish, stigma) is grand, both in content and in form. Sets and décor, riches and poverty, locales and vehicles, make-up and costumes, dances and fights, colours and luminance, all are designed to make your jaw drop in awe. All this opulence is merely the canvas on which a heart-wrenching tragedy is painted, around the time of India’s partition, with the entire ensemble cast at the receiving end of a woeful operatic wail, ...